Fellowships

The E.W. Scripps Legal Fellowship is a two-year fellowship that focuses on supporting local enterprise and investigative journalism, bolstering access to public records and encouraging greater government transparency.

The E.W. Scripps Legal Fellowship is an exciting opportunity for an early-career lawyer to play a hands-on role in the full scope of First Amendment and free press litigation matters handled by Reporters Committee attorneys. The E.W. Scripps Legal Fellow will report directly to our Legal Director and work on small litigation teams with other legal fellows and Reporters Committee staff attorneys on a variety of First Amendment and media law cases, with a focus on assisting with access to courts and freedom of information litigation brought on behalf of journalists and news organizations.

The E.W. Scripps Legal Fellow will participate in all aspects of litigation at both the trial and appellate level, including motion practice, discovery, brief writing, and hearing/oral argument preparation.

Candidates for this challenging and rewarding two-year fellowship should have a demonstrated interest in the First Amendment and media law. Post-law school judicial clerkship, fellowship, and/or litigation experience with a law firm or public interest organization is strongly preferred. However, recent law school graduates with strong credentials will be considered. Applicants should be admitted to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction or awaiting bar exam results/admission in at least one U.S. jurisdiction at the start of the fellowship term. Applicants who are not members of the D.C. Bar will be required to seek admission.

The salary for this position is $80,000 per year, with fully paid health insurance, paid time off, 401k and other benefits.

The Media Litigation Fellowship is an exciting opportunity for an early-career lawyer to play a hands-on role in the full scope of First Amendment and free press litigation matters handled by Reporters Committee staff attorneys. The Media Litigation Fellow will report directly to our Legal Director and work on small litigation teams with other legal fellows and Reporters Committee staff attorneys on a variety of First Amendment and media law cases, with a focus on assisting with access to courts and freedom of information litigation brought on behalf of the Reporters Committee, journalists, and news organizations.

The Media Litigation Fellow will participate in all aspects of state and federal litigation at both the trial and appellate level, including motion practice, discovery, brief writing, and hearing/oral argument preparation.

Candidates for this challenging and rewarding two-year fellowship should have a demonstrated interest in the First Amendment and media law. Post-law school judicial clerkship, fellowship, and/or litigation experience with a law firm or public interest organization is strongly preferred. However, recent law school graduates with strong credentials will be considered. Applicants should be admitted to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction or awaiting bar exam results/admission in at least one U.S. jurisdiction at the start of the fellowship term. Applicants who are not members of the D.C. Bar will be required to seek admission.

The salary for this position is $80,000 per year, with fully paid health insurance, paid time off, 401k and other benefits.

The Legal Fellowship is a one-year fellowship that focuses on First Amendment issues, primarily involving libel, invasion of privacy, and protection of confidential sources and materials.

The salary for this position is $70,000 per year, with fully paid health insurance, paid time off, 401k and other benefits.

The Jack Nelson–Dow Jones Foundation Legal Fellowship for a recent law school graduate honors Reporters Committee founder Jack Nelson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who for many years was Washington bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, and the Dow Jones Foundation, which has been generously supporting the Reporters Committee since 1973. Nelson, who died in 2009, is a former chair of the Executive Committee of the Reporters Committee and served on its Steering Committee for 25 years. The Dow Jones Foundation, established in 1954, supports organizations involved with journalism and press freedom, literacy and education as well as arts and culture.

The Jack Nelson–Dow Jones Foundation Legal Fellow focuses on state and federal freedom of information law. The fellow can expect to participate in many aspects of trial and appellate court litigation handled by Reporters Committee attorneys in these areas, including the filing of open records requests, motion practice, discovery, brief writing, and hearing/oral argument preparation. The fellow will also have an opportunity to contribute to RCFP’s amicus and policy work and to assist in responding to inquiries from journalists and news organizations on FOI law.

The salary for this position is $70,000 per year, with fully paid health insurance, paid time off, 401k and other benefits.

This one-year legal fellowship expands the Reporters Committee's capacity to better identify, support, and address the legal needs of journalists of color, newsrooms led by people of color, and reporters covering issues pertinent to communities of color, across the country. The Race Equity in Journalism Legal Fellow will be part of a team of Reporters Committee attorneys who provide pro bono legal services to individual journalists, including documentary filmmakers, and news organizations.

The salary for this position is $70,000 per year, with fully paid health insurance, paid time off, 401k and other benefits.