2019 Davis Polk Fellows

Fellowship Overview

The Davis Polk Leadership Fellowship is a year-long program that provides recipients with resources and support from faculty, staff, and leadership coaches to build their leadership capacities through weekly development sessions and project creation. The Fellowship is open to currently enrolled Columbia Law School students of any year. Fellows receive a $5,000 award, attend weekly leadership development sessions with other Fellows, receive individualized mentorship, and are automatically accepted into the Lawyer-Leadership seminar and Public Education Policy Lab for the following year or semester (if interested, and as applicable). In addition to the award, Fellows receive project funding (up to $1,000) and support to design and implement a year-long project that builds leadership and creates positive change within the community, broadly defined. Fellows also mentor others as stewards of leadership within the Law School. 

In 2026–2027, with the generous support of Experienced Practitioner-in-Residence Mike Ullmann, the Initiative will once again be offering an additional special Fellowship for a student with a strong project proposal related to in-house counsel work and/or health care law. This In-House Counsel or Health Care Law Leadership Fellow will join the program as a full Fellow and will participate in the weekly Fellowship sessions described above. 

Please note that DPLI projects should not involve direct legal work, which is more suitable for a clinic or externship opportunity.


Fellowship applications for 2026–2027 will open on August 31 and will be due by Wednesday, September 16, 12:00pm (noon) ET. This is a hard deadline, and we will not grant extensions.

 

General Questions

Fellowships are open to currently enrolled J.D. and LL.M. students at Columbia Law School. Students may apply as individuals or in groups of up to three students.

We think of leadership as identifying a shared goal and enabling a group of people to effectively achieve that goal. More specifically, we view leadership as existing along three dimensions (Leading Self, Leading Others, and Leading Change) and five domains (Vision and Strategy, Management and Teamwork, Problem Solving, Cultural Literacy, and Learning and Improvement). For more information, please see this matrix.

Fellowship applications open once a year, in August. Applicants fill out an online form that includes a few short answer questions focused on your leadership experience and project proposal. Applicants also submit a resume and transcript. Once the application period closes, the Leadership Initiative reviews all applications and selects a subset of applicants for interviews. Applicants are interviewed over Zoom by at least two members of the Leadership Initiative Selection Committee. Based upon the interviews and application materials, the Initiative makes final selections and announces the Fellows in early October.

We typically select between five to six Fellowship projects. The Initiative allows for group Fellowship projects, so the number of Fellows may be greater than the number of projects in a given year.

Each project may receive up to $1,000 in funding for any expenses allowable by the Law School Business Office. The $1,000 may be used to compensate others for time and labor, but cannot be used to pay yourself. Charges incurred for ordinary and reasonable use of Law School facilities (i.e., room reservations and cleanup for lunch events) will not be counted towards the project budget (meaning the Initiative will cover that cost separately from your funding).

$1,000 is a hard cap, and the Initiative does not allow for exceptions. We want the money to be a starting point for your project, but not the primary or permanent source of funding. For that reason, we place a great emphasis on thinking about project sustainability and fundraising early on in the design and implementation of each project.  

Yes!

Yes! Positive change in the community can mean many different things to different people. We are actively looking for participants across the full spectrum of interests and career aspirations, and we are particularly interested in innovative projects related to private sector interests.

Yes! A number of our Fellows are students who were not selected in their first application cycle and reapplied. Those interested in reapplying are encouraged to contact Director Eunice Hong (eh2646@columbia) for feedback on their prior applications.

Additional Questions

We are looking for a cohort that will bring together a diverse set of backgrounds, interests, career focuses, and perspectives. Fellows should show strong engagement with and capacity for leadership, broadly defined. They should also have a demonstrated track record of academic excellence (again broadly defined—we are looking for commitment and enthusiasm, which may not necessarily be reflected in letter grades) and a compelling project proposal that seeks to create positive change within the community. Fellowship projects should relate to and build leadership capacity within the Law School in some way, but the Law School need not be the primary focus on the project.

Yes. As a Fellow, you will receive a $5,000 award, which is yours to spend however you wish. Separate from the award, each project is also entitled to receive up to $1,000 in project funding, for any actual expenses incurred in implementing your project. Please note that this $1,000 in funding can be used to pay others for time and labor, but cannot be used to compensate yourself for any work you do on your own project.

Fellows should expect to spend 1–3 hours per week in Fellowship-related training, meetings, check-ins, and the like. This includes a mandatory weekly session with your Fellowship cohort and leadership coaches, which will take place during the Wednesday lunch hour (12:10–1:10 p.m.). Fellows will spend additional time on their project-related efforts, and that time commitment will depend upon the nature of the project. Fellows may also spend time toward the end of the year planning a leadership-related symposium or other event; the time commitment there will depend on the cohort’s conceptualization of the event.

Fellows may also be asked to help build interest in the program throughout the Law School community by, among other things, participating in events and information sessions, and identifying other leaders who may be interested in applying.

We accept Fellowship group applications for up to three students. Your group should plan to collaborate on the application, just as you would collaborate on your project if selected to receive a Fellowship. Please submit one application for the whole group. Please designate one point person, who will submit the application under their name. You will be able to upload multiple resumes and transcripts in the application form.

Each member of a group Fellowship project will receive their own award of $5,000. Project funding will still be capped at $1,000 for the entire project. For example, if two co-fellows apply with a joint project, the Initiative will give each of the co-fellows a $5,000 award, but will only reimburse up to $1,000 in expenses incurred for their project.