The Mitchell Fellows Program

An Honor and a Select Opportunity

Affect the Law and Enhance Your Career

If you want to affect the law as well as understand it, the Fellows Program at William Mitchell can give you the necessary edge. Designed for our most exceptional students, this program links you with a faculty member whose efforts and practical wisdom are changing the law itself. Our professors serve the law as critical observers and active participants, and they bring Mitchell Fellows into the core of that work.

• Mitchell Fellows Program Year-by-Year
• Faculty Projects examples of faculty research

A Mitchell Fellowship Enriches Your Education

The Fellows Program enhances your William Mitchell experience in four ways. First, you’re matched with a professor who is doing leading-edge research in an area that corresponds to your particular interests. Second, your mentoring professor employs you as a faculty research assistant for financial compensation or academic credit. Third, you receive specialized training beyond the regular curriculum, in legal reasoning, research, and writing. And fourth, you’ll have access to a range of special intellectual opportunities and networking events with judges, top practitioners, and leading academics.

Planned with Care and Forethought

The Fellows Program was designed to complement the distinctive, unfolding nature of your William Mitchell legal education. Each year of the program is different, with a mixture of required and optional components. Since the first year of law school already has plenty of intensity, first-year requirements are intended to stimulate and connect, but not overload you. As you progress through law school and are matched with a professor-mentor, you’ll receive more specialized training with engaged, constructive feedback, as well as continuing networking and educational opportunities. The program also gives Fellows the latitude to seek employment outside William Mitchell, for professional development and career-building purposes.

Who Qualifies for the Fellows Program?

When you apply to William Mitchell, the Admissions Committee reviews your application for the unique combination of traits and accomplishments that distinguish Fellows. There is no single factor that guarantees you will be asked to participate in this small, highly selective program. We look at academic performance, extracurricular activities, work history, and whether your background indicates a strong potential for abstract reasoning, intellectual curiosity, and a solid work ethic. Final decisions are made by the faculty director of the program in tandem with the assistant dean and director of admissions.