The fellowship offers a full-tuition grant to enroll in UCLA Law’s LL.M. (Master of Laws) Program. This includes the full cost of tuition, health insurance, and mandatory health facilities fees. Applicants should note that the fellowship does not include assistance for living expenses, and they should be prepared to secure additional funding to cover the remaining costs of attendance.

Fellows will earn a specialization in Critical Race Studies, as well as the possibility of additional specializations in Public Interest Law and Policy, Human Rights, Law and Sexuality, or International and Comparative Law. Students will learn the fundamentals of the discipline in Civil Rights Law and Critical Race Theory courses and will take additional coursework that creates opportunities to apply the rigorous analysis arising from the fundamentals to legal areas such as immigration, incarceration, labor, or international law.

The fellowship is housed under UCLA Law’s renowned Critical Race Studies Program (CRS). CRS’s mission is to “Think. Teach. Transform.” by working at the intersection of race and the law to train advocates, leaders, and scholars committed to challenging injustice in all its forms. Founded in 2000, CRS became the first law school program dedicated to incorporating Critical Race Theory (CRT) into legal scholarship and teaching, enabling law students to graduate with a formal CRS specialization. The program remains unique in legal education. CRS faculty include authors of pathbreaking works in CRT that have introduced widely influential ideas and concepts to scholars across the academy, legal practitioners, and the general public, as well as emergent and more recently established scholars who are expanding the field in important ways, including by incorporating new empirical methods and by integrating CRT with clinical teaching and practice, and with international human rights and migration.

CRS is a preeminent training program for the next generation of legal advocates and scholars committed to racial justice. The diverse student body includes many first-generation college graduates and those from communities traditionally underrepresented in legal and academic fields. The program supplements a rigorous academic curriculum with clinical experiences grounded in community partnerships that integrate theory and practice. CRS alumni include racial justice leaders in legal practice, academia, and government around the country and the globe. The program also directly serves the broader public through widely-accessed webinars, symposia that include and collaborate with community organizations, and through our faculty’s frequent appearance in national media and public fora. More information on CRS can be found here.

The UCLA Law Critical Race Studies Fellowship is open to law graduates holding J.D. or LL.B. degrees with a B average or higher from their law school programs. Competitive applicants will also have a demonstrated commitment to race discrimination law and intersectional analyses, through work, volunteer or internship experience, and/or scholarship published in these areas.

As a condition of the award, fellows will be asked to certify that they will return to their home country upon completion of their LL.M. degree and commit to a legal career in related fields.

Although successful candidates initially came predominantly from Latin America, any applicant who demonstrates a background and commitment to the purpose and vision of the fellowship will be considered upon receipt of their application.

To apply for admission, prospective students must submit an online application to UCLA Law's LL.M. Program, a separate supplemental application form for the UCLA Critical Race Studies Fellowship, and supporting documentation.

1. UCLA Law LL.M. Program Application
   To create an account and complete the online LL.M. program application, click the link above and follow the instructions to submit your application and supporting documentation via the LSAC platform no later than February 1.
2. UCLA Law Critical Race Studies Fellowship Supplemental Application Form [PDF]
   Click the link above to download the supplemental application for the Critical Race Studies Fellowship. After completing this form, include it as part of the "personal statement" file uploaded as a supporting document through the LSAC platform.

Applicants for whom the LSAC fees present a barrier to application may email llm@law.ucla.edu to request consideration for a waiver of the LSAC process.

Please direct questions about the fellowship to vanzyl@law.ucla.edu, and questions about UCLA Law's online LL.M. application procedure to llm@law.ucla.edu.

Please note that UCLA is not able to reimburse any amounts paid to LSAC in the process of applying to the fellowship. Be sure to contact the address above before paying any LSAC fees.

Diya Maria Abraham
Critical Race Studies Fellow, 2026 (Expected)
LL.B. National Law School of India University, 2025
B.A. St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi

Diya Maria Abraham is a 2025-26 UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies Fellow and LL.M. candidate. She earned her LL.B. (Hons) from National Law School of India University in 2025 and her B.A. History (Hons) from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. Before joining UCLA, Diya served as a judicial clerk intern at the Supreme Court of India and contributed to criminal litigation across several Indian High Courts. She has a dedicated history of service to indigent and incarcerated populations, including working with incarcerated women in India and volunteering with UCLA’s El Centro Re-entry Clinic and Behind Bars Data Project. Her research and praxis are deeply rooted in criminal justice reform, prison law, and the intersection of caste, gender, and class in criminal justice institutions. Diya is an incoming volunteer law clerk at the LA County Public Defender’s Office.

Lamya Rahman
Critical Race Studies Fellow, 2026 (Expected)
LL.B. University of Sydney
B.A. University of Sydney

Lamya Rahman is a 2025-26 UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies Fellow and LL.M. candidate specializing in International and Comparative Law. She holds both her LL.B. and B.A. with Honors in History from the University of Sydney, where her research examined how legal definitions of racial discrimination shape civil rights protections. Her work explores how competing social groups invest in, contest and mobilize these definitions. In 2026, she will extend this research to the U.S. frame as a Salzburg Cutler Fellow. Before attending UCLA, Lamya was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and practiced in professional and financial disputes. She is currently a judicial extern for the Honorable Stephen V. Wilson of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. As a fellow, Lamya seeks to apply critical race theory to discrimination law, labor law, and international rights law, with an emphasis on the relationship between racial and economic justice.

Allyne Andrade e Silva, 2018-19

Julieth Balanta Zuñiga, 2015-16

Maryluz Barragan, 2013-14

Dayana Blanco, 2017-18

Andres Caicedo Berdugo, 2014-15

Andres Caicedo Sanchez, 2022-23

Thiame Carabali Hinestroza, 2016-17

Lina Cordoba Moreno, 2022-23

Marina de Oliveira Reis, 2019-20

Daniel Gomez Mazo, 2013-14

Ana Gonzalez, 2011-12

Diego Grueso, 2012-13

Angelica Mayolo Obregon, 2016-17

Sindis Meza Pineda, 2015-16

Kelis Moreno, 2017-18

Charquia Wright, 2019-20