Toby\’s blog

Anyone who’s considered working for the federal government after law school probably knows how coveted the positions are. Still, in spite of the prestige, the compensation can fall quite short of what one’s classmates can expect from the private sector (though with LIPP and the new Public Service Initiative’s 3L Tuition benefit, HLS can help a bit with that).

We recently reached out to Joan Ruttenberg, the Program Director for the Heyman Fellowship Program, to pick her mind on the issue.

Q: Generally speaking, what does HLS have to offer students interested in federal government work?

A: HLS has made a real priority of encouraging students to consider federal government work, and of supporting students who try it out. We offer targeted career advising for federal government work, extra stipends for federal summer internships, a competitive post-graduate fellowship program that offers both stipends and significant loan repayment assistance for grads starting federal careers, and on-campus programming with federal lawyers from all practice settings. Perhaps most important, Harvard’s network of willing alumni mentors in federal careers is unparalleled.

The result of these benefits is tangible: at DOJ alone, for example, in the past decade, from 26% to 41% of Harvard Law students applying to the extremely competitive post-grad DOJ Honors Program have received offers every year (from 14 to 26 students); the percentages for students receiving offers for the competitive second year DOJ Summer Law Intern Program are comparable, ranging from 22% to 46% of applicants each year (from 12 to 25 students). Typically, Harvard Law students receive more offers for the Honors and SLIP programs than students at any other law school in the nation. And dozens of students participate in the second year Volunteer Law Intern program at DOJ as well.

Q: What is the Heyman Fellowship Program?

A: The Heyman Fellowship Program was established in 2000 by HLS alumnus Samuel J. Heyman, ’63. Heyman spent the early years of his career in Robert Kennedy’s Justice Department, and still regards that experience as unmatched in excitement, challenge and commitment. Through the Heyman Fellowship Program, he seeks to encourage more of the best and the brightest of HLS students to enter federal public service. The Heyman Program has several components: a summer internship program, offering extra stipends to students in federal summer internships and providing the opportunity for students to meet and converse with prominent federal lawyers and judges; the graduate fellowship program, providing fellowship payments to 15-20 young HLS graduates in federal careers annually and (to a subset with heavy debt loads) loan repayment assistance on top of HLS’ already-generous loan repayment program; and on-campus programming, including visits from Heyman Fellows to talk about their careers, as well as brownbags and one-on-one counseling sessions with federal lawyers from a variety of practice settings.

Q: How does the Heyman Fellowship Program work?

A: Any first or second year student who is pursuing a summer job in federal government can apply to be a Heyman Summer Intern. Any federal position other than a judicial internship is eligible, whether in DC or elsewhere. Those selected will receive a stipend (that is in addition to any guaranteed Summer Public Interest Funding [SPIF] they may already be getting from HLS). During the summer, Heyman Summer Interns will be able to attend lunches with lawyers like the Legal Adviser to the State Department, top legislative counsels on Capitol Hill and United States Attorneys. They will also socialize with graduate Heyman Fellows and find mentors among them.

Current HLS graduates and those from the prior two years’ classes who are going into federal government work are eligible to apply for the graduate Heyman Fellowship Program. Those who are selected as Heyman Fellows will receive a $5,000 one-time fellowship payment, and some, based on debt load, will also be eligible for up to $25,000 in additional loan repayment assistance. Heyman Fellows agree to spend at least three years in federal government, and to act as mentors to HLS students and graduates interested in federal public service.

Programming throughout the year creates a wonderful sense of community among the Heyman Fellows; for example, upwards of 60 Fellows and program alumni attend our annual banquet in Washington, DC every year, where they welcome the new class of Fellows and hear comments from Dean Elena Kagan, founder Samuel J. Heyman, and other HLS alumni with impressive federal careers.

The Heyman Fellows are a growing and inspiring network of HLS graduates in federal public service. This network is available for all HLS students and graduates to use in their own career planning and exploration. Heyman Fellows have helped students get some great summer jobs at the last minute when other plans have fallen through (for example, when one student’s security clearance did not come through in time for her internship at the Department of Defense, a Heyman Fellow was able to point her to an opening in the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Department of Treasury, where she had a fantastic summer) and give each other the heads-up about job opportunities in their own offices (more than one Heyman Fellow has found a second federal job through information on the Heyman network). Heyman Fellows also return regularly to HLS to speak on panels and offer one-on-one counseling with HLS students interested in or curious about federal practice.

Q: How does the Heyman Fellowship Program differ from similar programs at other schools?

A: There are essentially no comparable programs at other law schools. A few schools have much smaller programs that offer assistance to one or two students a year, but none are of the magnitude of HLS’ program. Federal public service (or even government work in general) is often excluded from other schools’ loan repayment assistance programs, either categorically or de facto because of resource limitations. HLS has always had an incredible set of alumni who have had spent stellar careers (or portions of their careers) in federal government. But the Heyman Program has added to this a growing sense of community and giving back among its federal government alumni that is of tremendous value to current and future students. The size of the HLS student body and of the Heyman Program itself have resulted in a critical mass of alumni federal lawyers and active mentors that is not replicated at any other school.

For more details, and to see a roster of Heyman Fellows and where they work, go to www.law.harvard.edu/students/opia/fellowships/heyman/