Both when considering applicants for admission as first-year students and when considering transfer applicants, as well as when considering LL.M. applicants, the program seeks to admit those students most likely to achieve academic success who also satisfy one or more of three admission criteria related to the public interest orientation of the program, as described below:

1. Commitment to public interest, which is evaluated in two ways:
   • Activities in high school, college, graduate school (including the first year of law school) or career. For this purpose, "public interest" is broadly defined to encompass any and all interests underrepresented by the private market, including the interests of the poor, ethnic minorities, unpopular social causes across the political spectrum, and broad-ranging interests such as the environment, peace, and the welfare of future generations.
      
   • Evidence that the applicant demonstrated, in the conduct of these activities, the personal qualities of tenacity, idealism, and initiative that are particularly important for public interest lawyers who may forgo material incentives in their careers.
      
2. Special abilities enabling the applicant to serve or represent groups or interests lacking adequate access to law and lawyers. While this criterion overlaps somewhat with the first one, this criterion would be evidenced by such things as language skills, cultural familiarity, insight into such groups, or other special skills.
    
3. Intellectual strengths and acquired expertise relevant to problem solving and policy analysis. This includes expertise in quantitative methods, social science, policy analysis, ethnographic and historical research, or similar skills, acquired through formal education or work experience.

If you are interested in applying to the Program as a first-year student, you must follow the J.D. application procedures and complete and submit the specific Program application. The Epstein Program application is included in the general J.D. application.

If you are interested in applying to the program as a transfer student from another law school, you must follow the J.D. transfer application procedures and complete and submit the specific program application. The Epstein Program application is included in the general J.D. application.

If you are a first-year student at UCLA School of Law, you also may seek to transfer into the program. The program holds a Transfer Information Session for current first-year students during the spring semester, and the application deadline typically falls before finals during the spring semester.

The School of Law’s LL.M. Program itself allows students to pursue a specialized LLM degree, including one in public interest. If you are interested in applying to the Program as an LL.M., you must follow the LL.M. application procedures and complete and submit the specific Program application.

The School of Law’s Office of Financial Aid and the Office of Admissions administer financial assistance programs for incoming law students, including need-based aid and merit-based scholarships, as well as provides information on external sources of scholarships, grants, and other financial assistance.  

Summer Public Service Fellowship Program

UCLA School of Law maintains one of the most generous law school programs to support students who engage in otherwise unpaid public interest work during the summer. The School of Law’s Summer Public Service Fellowship Program provides stipends to eligible students engaged in substantive, law-related public interest summer employment under the supervision of a legal professional in a nonprofit or government setting domestically or abroad. In summer 2019, more than 200 students received stipends to work with more than 100 diverse organizations and agencies.  The Program is administered by the School of Law’s Office of Public Interest Programs.

Additional School of Law Affiliated Funding Programs

The Office of Public Interest Programs also administers a number of additional funding sources supported by donors. An example is the Justice John Paul Stevens Public Interest Fellowship, which honors United States Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and supports two students engaged in otherwise unpaid summer work that promotes the public interest and social justice values that have characterized the work and career of Justice Stevens.

Independently or in coordination with the Office of Public Interest Programs, various School of Law Centers, Institutes and Programs also provide financial support to students engaged in summer public interest work in a substantive area of practice aligned with the mission of the specific Center, Institute or Program.

External Fellowships and Grants

There also exists an array of external fellowships and grants to support students working in a public interest capacity during the summer. The Office of Public Interest Programs provides guidance on how to research and apply for these external opportunities.  

Post-Graduate Public Service Fellowships

The School of Law’s Post-Graduate Public Service Fellowships provide one-year stipends for graduating students who have demonstrated a longstanding commitment to public service, enabling them to work with a variety of nonprofit organizations and government agencies, both domestically and abroad.

Community Economic Development Fellowship

The School of Law’s Community Economic Development Fellowship provides an opportunity for a graduate to pursue transactional legal work that advances the goals of community economic development in Los Angeles. The fellowship term is one year.

Gideon Fellowship

The School of Law’s Gideon Fellowship, the first fellowship of its kind in the country, is a partnership between the School of Law, Gideon’s Promise – a trailblazing organization that trains and places new law graduates and law students in southern public defender offices, and six public defender offices in the South. Beginning with the graduating class of 2014, one School of Law graduate has been selected as the Gideon Fellow, serving as a public defender with one of the School’s many public defender partner organizations and receiving training and mentorship from Gideon’s Promise. At the end of the one-year Fellowship term, the Fellow will move into a full-time permanent position as a staff public defender with the partner public defender office and continue to receive training and mentorship from Gideon’s Promise.

School of Law New Graduate Opportunity Fellowships

Administered by the Office of Career Services, the New Graduate Opportunity Fellowship funds part-time, temporary work with nonprofit organizations and government agencies after recent graduates have taken the bar exam. Participating graduates have a unique opportunity to further build their resume and to enhance their legal skills while awaiting Bar results.

External Fellowships

Working closely with the Office of Public Interest Programs, UCLA Law students have successfully developed innovative post-graduate projects addressing the legal needs of underrepresented and impoverished communities, and a number of UCLA Law graduates have secured competitive public interest fellowships including those awarded by the Skadden Foundation, Justice Catalyst, and Equal Justice Works.  Students also consult with OPIP to compete for public service opportunities, including government honors programs.

The School of Law maintains a competitive Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) for graduates working in the public interest. Under the School’s LRAP, administered by the Office of Financial Aid, graduates can apply to have a portion – and in some cases all – of the debt service on loans they incurred while at the School of Law subject to a forgivable loan from the School.

The School’s LRAP is coordinated with the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and the Direct Loan Program’s income driven repayment options, enabling the School to enhance its LRAP benefits.

The program seeks to admit students who are committed to pursuing long-term careers in public interest advocacy.

In reviewing applications, we are interested in students who represent a broad range of backgrounds, are pursuing a diversity of public interest practice areas, and are motivated to explore the many different forms of lawyering and advocacy that are part of public interest practice. The Program values demonstrated commitment to public interest work, including through activities before law school as indicated in the applicant’s job history, extracurricular activities, and academic pursuits. The majority of the students admitted to the program as 1Ls have meaningful post-college public interest work experience, though we recognize that financial circumstances may limit some applicants’ abilities to participate in unpaid or lower paid activities. We look for evidence of personal qualities conducive to public interest advocacy, such as leadership, persistence, initiative, and resilience. In addition, we value special abilities or experience that enable the students to serve underrepresented groups and communities, including insights into community needs, cultural familiarity, or language skills.

We seek students who are intellectually curious and eager to learn the broad range of skills needed to address the world’s most pressing problems. We welcome applicants who already feel committed to a certain area of public interest practice or working on behalf of specific communities, as well as those who open to exploring and do not definitively know what kind of law they plan to practice or what kind of lawyer they plan to be.

The program is quite competitive – for the JD Class of 2028, we received over 1300 applications. For each incoming 1L JD class, we create a cohort of 25 students. JD students at UCLA Law can also apply to join the Epstein Program at the end of their first year, as can students applying to transfer to UCLA Law. In recent years, the Epstein Program has admitted 20-25 JD students to join the program in their second year. We also have several LLM students apply to join the specialization each year as well. All of these students become valued members of our student and alumni community.

If you are interested in applying to the Program as a first-year student, you must follow the J.D. application procedures and complete and submit the specific Program application, which consists of two questions requiring short answers. The Epstein Program application is included in the general J.D. application.

The Admissions Committee that reads applications to the Epstein Program works in parallel with the Admissions Office. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. An applicant may receive an offer of admission to UCLA Law before being informed whether they have been admitted to the Epstein Program.

JD students applying to join the Epstein Program at the end of their first year at UCLA Law are required to submit a resume, two optional letters of recommendation, and complete a short application. The deadline to apply is usually in March and students are notified before the end of the spring semester.

If you are interested in applying to the program as a transfer student from another law school, you must follow the J.D. transfer application procedures and complete and submit the specific program application. The Epstein Program application is included in the general J.D. application.

The School of Law’s LL.M. Program itself allows students to pursue a specialized LLM degree, including one in public interest. If you are interested in applying to the Program as an LL.M., you must follow the LL.M. application procedures and complete and submit the specific Program application.

1. Participate in all mandatory Epstein Program courses:
   1. During 1L year (for those admitted as 1Ls): Law 150-Epstein Program 1L workshop and Law 108 A/B-Epstein Program Legal Research & Writing section
   2. Before graduation, take the Epstein Program upper-division seminar, Law 541 -  Problem-Solving in the Public Interest.
2. Fulfill all other Epstein Program specialization requirements, including the writing requirement and at least one unique class in each of the following categories: (1) substantive law, (2) advocacy sites, (3) inequality, and (4) applied advocacy (live-client clinic).  (More information here).
3. Help build and nurture the Epstein Program community, including supporting one another and strengthening relationships across the program (students, alumni, faculty, and staff).
4. Meet with your assigned public interest career counselor upon joining the Epstein Program and stay engaged with career counselor(s) regarding summer and post-graduate job searches.
5. Engage in pro bono or other volunteer work, such as through the Judge Rand Schrader Pro Bono Program or organized by student organizations.
6. Make a long-term commitment to public interest law, with the goal of a long-term career in public interest advocacy.

We recognize that commitment may take many forms and we do not prescribe any particular path to a public interest career. We support students and alumni in thinking through how best to pursue careers in keeping with their values through the many turns careers can take.

The Epstein Program’s curricular requirements are designed to develop attorneys with a deep understanding of how law, policy, and the legal profession might need to change to achieve a more just society.

In addition to educating law students, the Epstein Program consciously seeks to build a community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Members of this community have a diversity of interests and perspectives, but they share the common goal of using the law to achieve a more just world, and support each other in developing the skills and resilience to do so.

Epstein students receive public interest counseling through the Office of Public Interest Counseling. Epstein Program students also participate in alumni and faculty mentoring programs and community-building events. The Epstein community is truly a hallmark of the program. Alumni regularly return to campus to speak to students in classes, more formal events, and informal coffee chats, and the student community is a resource in and of itself, as students generously share their experiences and wisdom on questions like picking classes, joining law review, applying to clerkships and fellowships, and more.

Admission to the Epstein Program does not come with an Epstein-specific scholarship to UCLA Law.

UCLA School of Law public interest-minded students and graduates have access to financial support through the School and the larger university. Support is available for incoming students, students working in unpaid (or partially paid) public interest summer positions, graduating students, and graduates engaged in public interest work. More information can be found here. 

UCLA Law offers public interest counseling to all students, whether or not they are in the Epstein Program, through the Office of Public Interest Counseling. The Schrader Pro Bono Program is also a great resource and community for students interested in public interest law and access to justice. Other than Epstein-specific courses, all other courses taught by Epstein faculty are available to all students. Students with particular interests, such as in international human rights or in immigration, can get involved with our incredible centers and institutes. We have a truly rich and broad public interest community at UCLA Law!

Yes! A significant percentage of Epstein students also complete other specializations. The most common specialization Epstein students also obtain is in Critical Race Studies, as many of the same courses can meet requirements for both programs. But Epstein alumni have also graduated with specializations in other areas as well.

We have outstanding job outcomes for Epstein alumni, including those who have just graduated. Some alumni provide direct legal services through legal aid organizations and public defender offices. Others are litigation directors at national civil rights organizations, pursue policy advocacy at local, state, and federal levels, and work at government agencies at every level. We also have alumni who work in the private sector, at labor law firms, plaintiff-side law firms, civil rights and human rights law firms, and as solo practitioners.

The Program strives to provide an innovative and intellectually ambitious curriculum that trains students to engage in sophisticated representation of traditionally underrepresented individuals, communities and interests while utilizing a range of problem-solving tools. Thus, Program students are required to satisfy the general requirements for a J.D. degree while also satisfying the Program’s specific curricular requirements.

The Program curriculum is intended both to address fundamental questions about public interest lawyering that affect all areas of practice and to allow students to pursue a curricular path tailored to their individual interests and career goals. The Program curricular requirements include a first-year seminar, a special section of the first-year Lawyering Skills course, a second-year “problem solving” seminar, an additional four advanced courses from a designated menu of courses, and a writing requirement.

Program students also have ample opportunity to select from the general School of Law curriculum courses that relate to their public interest orientation and goals, as well as to enroll in other academic specializations and pursue joint degrees.

LAW 150 - FIRST YEAR EPSTEIN PROGRAM WORKSHOP

The First Year Epstein Program Workshop is designed to provide students with an overview of public interest practice. Through readings, guest speakers, and class discussion, students gain familiarity with the different substantive areas of public interest law, organizational settings for public interest practice, and modes of public interest advocacy. In addition, students are introduced to the faculty of the Epstein Program as well as influential public interest practitioners, many of whom are Epstein Program alumni. Students participate in group activities to foster and build a strong sense of community and further strengthen our Epstein Program public interest network.

LAW 108 A/B, Section P: LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING

The Legal Research and Writing course teaches students enrolled in the Epstein Program foundational lawyering skills necessary for success as a lawyer in a public interest setting. During this year-long course, students are introduced to the client-centered approach to lawyering, which teaches that the client’s perspective is front and center in the lawyering project. Students learn legal reasoning, basic legal research methods, the structure of persuasive arguments, the fundamentals of written analysis, and oral advocacy, all in the context of public interest practice. The course also supports the development of public interest leadership by fostering a safe and collaborative environment within the first-year curriculum to learn practice-oriented skills that will anchor and strengthen the public service careers of Epstein Program students. The class is taught by a Legal Research and Writing professor with training and background in public interest and social justice lawyering.

LAW 541: PROBLEM SOLVING IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST

This seminar focuses on public interest lawyering through a close analysis of case studies and the discussion of recurring issues in public interest practice. In this course, students explore social problems from a number of different perspectives, highlighting the many different ways of solving problems of the sort public interest lawyers confront. The seminar covers questions of how public interest problems come to be framed; how clients, lawyers and their allies think about problem-solving strategies; and how public interest lawyers use different modes of advocacy to address problems. Students in this seminar complete an individual paper project that addresses a real world problem and incorporates the modes of advocacy studied in the course.