The OPIA office and all HLS admin offices will be closed on Monday, January 19, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Advising appointments are available with OPIA's alumni adviser, Rachel Pemstein. If you are having technical difficulties making an appointment, please make sure you have claimed your HarvardKey to access CSM and our secure password-protected web content. For help with creating or accessing a Harvard Key, please contact HLS ITS at 617-495-0722 or submit a ticket through the HLS Services Hub.

If you are still having problems making an appointment, please email opia@law.harvard.edu or call us directly at 617-495-3108 for assistance.

Employer registration for resume collection for our annual public sector Spring Interview Program (SIP) is still open!

Is your organization hiring for summer or postgraduate positions? Consider registering and recruiting through the HLS Spring Interview Program.

Please use our registration survey to sign up for resume/materials collection.

Read more

International Legal Studies (ILS) is accepting applications for the 2026-2027 International Legal Studies Post-Graduate Fellowships. These fellowships are designed to improve participants’ understanding of international and/or transnational law by supporting graduating HLS students or recent J.D. or LL.M. graduates who will be clerking or interning at an international or foreign regional/supranational court or tribunal in 2026-2027. Fellowships are open to HLS graduates from the classes of 2023 to 2026.

Applications are due to International Legal Studies by 5:00 p.m. EST (UTC-5) on Monday, January 12, 2026. Please review the ILS Post-Graduate Fellowship web page for complete information on the program and the application process, and contact ILS with any questions at ils@harvard.edu.

January is a busy month for Harvard-funded fellowships, and in particular, for Harvard-funded international fellowships. Be aware of the following upcoming deadlines:

January 6, 2026 by 11:59 PM: International Court of Justice Judicial Fellows Programme nomination application due

January 12, 2026: International Legal Studies Post-Graduate Fellowship application due (for work in international courts and tribunals)

Students/graduates applying for a PSVF Org-Based Fellowship need to ensure any requests to change the MOU are submitted by January 12, 2026 and to make an appointment with an OPIA adviser by January 21, 2026 to discuss the job search process.  
 
Watch or listen to our PSVF info session to learn more about these fellowships and the application process.

Please keep in mind these exciting, fast-approaching fellowship deadlines:

Harvard Law Review Fellowship
Applications are due November 21, 2025, at 5 PM EST.

Justice Catalyst Fellowship
Submissions for the full application are open through December 1, 2025.

A reminder to 3Ls and judicial clerks about the approaching deadlines for two wonderful fellowship opportunities.

David A. Grossman Fund Fellowship
January 5, 2026, 5:00 pm  ET
The DAG Fund awards a $65,000 fellowship to one HLS student or alum on a judicial clerkship who demonstrates exceptional promise as a public interest attorney to work at an existing nonprofit using a community-based lawyering model.

Seaman-Plancher Legal Aid Fund Fellowship
January 5, 2026, 5:00 pm  ET
The SPLA Fund awards a $65,000 fellowship to one HLS student or alum on a judicial clerkship who demonstrates exceptional promise as a public interest attorney to work at either a legal aid organization or at an organization serving clients and communities impacted by the criminal legal system, with preference for innocence work.

OPIA needs your help! We are seeking public sector alumni to conduct mock interviews with 1L students to help prepare them for their summer internship interviews. Register to participate in the Virtual Mock Interview Program, which will run from November 13-25. Please register to volunteer!

This is our last call! OPIA is recruiting members of the HLS public interest alumni community to mentor 1Ls through our alumni mentor matching program. Our hope is to match public interest 1Ls with alumni mentors who share similar career interests and/or who have navigated similar challenges. 

Read more and sign up

Here are the deadlines for OPIA's internally administered fellowships for which 3Ls and alumni are eligible to apply. Mark your calendar and make an appointment to speak with an OPIA adviser!

OPIA’s job postings can now be found in CSM/Symplicity!  You can search for jobs by keyword and location, filter by sector, save postings to return to later, and set up job alerts. For some jobs, you can apply directly within CSM. 

We will continue to include a sampling of recently added public sector jobs in our weekly emails. 

To access CSM, you must have a HarvardKey. You may claim your HarvardKey here. If you need assistance with claiming your HarvardKey, contact the alumni Help Desk. 

We appreciate your patience as we make this transition. If you have any questions, please contact opia@law.harvard.edu.

The Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants (ORI) is working to establish a new legal services program to assist immigrants and refugees, and is seeking attorneys interested in joining the program.

Earlier this year, the Massachusetts Legislature appropriated funds to ORI to establish this new program, which ORI has called the Massachusetts Access to Counsel Initiative (MACI). MACI attorneys will provide direct legal representation to eligible, income qualified immigrants and refugees in Massachusetts through single consultations or ongoing legal representation, consistent with the legislative mandate.

Read more about the Massachusetts Access to Counsel Initiative.

Applying for the U.S. Department of Justice's SLIP or Honors Program? Our application guide is now updated for this year's application cycle.

Read the 2025 OPIA Insider’s Guide

Alumni Speak brings public interest alumni voices to our current students and other alumni on topics related to law school, life, jobs and getting it all done with resilience, intentionality, and confidence. Throughout the academic year or after graduation, your messages will help students and fellow alums navigate the various challenges of law school and beyond.

We'd love to hear from you about:

Training - How and where did you develop the skills to be effective in your field? 

Belonging - When you were at HLS, did you ever feel like you didn't belong, harbor self-doubt, or struggle with lack of confidence?

Please share your thoughts through our Alumni Speak Survey. Thank you!

Bidding closes for V-PIIP virtual interviews on August 18 at 12 p.m. ET. All applications must be submitted through Symplicity CSM. Visit the step-by-step guide on how to submit your bids through Symplicity CSM.

CPCS has received funding from the Massachusetts legislature to double in size by September of 2027. They are currently looking to hire post-bar graduates (including those who sat for the July '25 bar exam) to start September 8, 2025.  They will also be hiring continuously for the next two years.

Applications for those who can start September 8, 2025, can be found here: Committee for Public Counsel Services - 2025 Public Defender Division Trial Attorney - Statewide Positions.

Hiring for Fall 2026 will have a different application process (likely starting in a couple of weeks) and we encourage you to monitor the CPCS website as well as our Alumni Digest for that cycle and all future hiring.

If you do apply, please email OPIA's Alumni Adviser, Rachel Pemstein, so we can alert the CPCS hiring team.

To help address serious staffing shortages at the state public defenders’ and county prosecutors’ offices, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court is allowing licensed attorneys from other states to work at these agencies without taking the state bar exam.

Read more

If you are searching for positions and opportunities, don’t forget to check the HLS Job Bank in CSM regularly.

If you are searching for positions and opportunities, don’t forget to check the HLS Job Bank in CSM regularly.