Student Involvement

If you're looking for a law school that focuses on issues related to LGBT rights, there's no better place to be than UCLA School of Law. UCLA School of Law is home to the nation's first think thank on sexual orientation law and public policy, moot court competition on sexual orientation law, and prize journal on sexual orientation law and public policy (The Dukeminier Awards). The school also has several out faculty and an active LGBT group on campus.

One of the goals of the Williams Institute is to encourage and train new lawyers and law faculty in the field of sexual orientation law and public policy. Thus, we encourage and rely heavily on participation by UCLA School of Law students. Interested law students and graduate students can become involved in the work of the Williams Institute, in the following ways:

Fellowship Opportunities

Sears Law Teaching Fellowship
The Williams Institute annually offers the Sears Law Teaching Fellowship to a recent law school graduate or practicing lawyer. The Fellowship will prepare outstanding law school graduates for careers in law teaching and scholarship in the field of sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, nationally or internationally, or any field necessary to create a comprehensive understanding of these topics. During the two-year fellowship, the Fellow will conduct research, write, and teach in this field, and assist the Williams Institute in its work and events. The Williams Institute has already supported four law teaching fellows, each of whom has successfully obtained a highly-competitive tenure track position at an accredited law school in the United States. This year's Sears Law Teaching Fellow is Doug NeJaime. The Sears Law Teaching Fellowship was made possible by a generous $1.5 million gift from Jim Hooker. See application information for the 2009 Teaching Fellowship position.

Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellowship
The Williams Institute also offers the Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellowship to a recent graduate or law school graduate who is interested in public policy research and writing on sexual orientation and gender identity issues. Peter J. Cooper and Norman Blachford gave a gift of $1 million to endow the Fellowship, which is offered annually. The Fellowship will be offered to a qualified applicant after graduation from an accredited college, law, public policy, or other graduate school, who has demonstrated interest in conducting research and writing on sexual orientation public policy issues. During the Fellowship, the Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellow will primarily support the public policy research and writing of the Williams Institute's senior staff and faculty, but may also conduct his/her own research and writing projects. This year's Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellow is Naomi Goldberg. See application information for the 2009-2010 Public Policy Fellowship.

For the summer of 2009, the Williams Institute will award two or more Summer Fellowships, including the Gleason/Kettel Law Fellowships, which provide law students, or recent law school graduates, with a $5,000 stipend to work with an organization, scholar, or research center, focused on sexual orientation law and public policy. Eligible summer placements include internships with the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), the Williams Institute, and similar national and local organizations and research centers. Eligible placements also include summer research positions with law professors where the applicant will be spending the entire summer assisting with sexual orientation law and policy scholarship. Applicants must have a strong academic record and have demonstrated their commitment to a career in sexual orientation law and public policy.

The Gleason/Kettel Law Fellowships are made possible by a generous endowment gift to the Williams Institute by Mike Gleason and David Kettel.

For more information about these opportunities, email us at williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu or call (310) 267-4382. Please specify which opportunities interest you and describe your relevant background in law and sexual orientation.

The Williams Institute annually extends a request for proposals for small grant funding for research related to issues affecting the LGBT community. Selected projects receive funding from $1,000 to $5,000.

Click here for more information on the request for proposals.
If you have any further questions about this program, please contact us at williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu or at 310-267-4382.

A Primer on Empirical Research on Sexual Orientation
This training is by application only.
Presented annually by the Williams Institute’s M.V. Lee Badgett and Gary J. Gates, this training is directed at graduate students who are or will be conducting empirical research on sexual orientation. The two-day workshop provides participants with the skills to identify the principal ways in which sexual orientation is identified on surveys; critically examine data that includes identification of sexual orientation; consider strengths and challenges associated with different methods of identification; consider the appropriate use of these data; and identify and access existing empirical data, including U.S. Census data, that permits the identification of sexual orientation. For more information about how to apply for the 2009 training, please click here.

Pride Law Fund: Tom Steel Post-Graduate Fellowship:
The mission of the Tom Steel Post-Graduate Fellowship is to fund a new lawyer each year to work in the United States on an innovative, public interest law project that serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. This Fellowship will help ensure that unmet legal needs are recognized and prioritized on an on-going basis, and that the next generation of legal advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community develops the critical skills necessary to secure civil rights into the future. Click here to view the Application (PDF).
For more information, click here to visit their website.

Berkeley Law Foundation Public Interest Fellowship:
BLF traditionally awards one to two grants per year to individuals undertaking public interest law projects that will serve legally disadvantaged or politically under-represented groups. We view our grants as seed money for innovative projects that will immediately provide sorely needed legal services and will continue providing such services for years to come. Click here to view the Proposal Request Form (PDF).
For more information, click here to visit their website.


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			If you're looking for a law school that focuses on issues related to LGBT rights, there's no better place to be than UCLA School of Law. UCLA School of Law is home to the nation's first think thank on sexual orientation law and public policy, moot court competition on sexual orientation law, and prize journal on sexual orientation law and public policy (The Dukeminier Awards). The school also has several out faculty and an active LGBT group on campus. One of the goals of the Williams Institute is to encourage and train new lawyers and law faculty in the field of sexual orientation law and public policy. Thus, we encourage and rely heavily on participation by UCLA School of Law students. Interested law students and graduate students can become involved in the work of the Williams Institute, in the following ways: Taking course on sexual orientation law with Williams Institute faculty, including Professors Rubenstein and Sears (see below for course information); Working on the editorial board of the Institute's new prize journal The Dukeminier Awards; Submitting original articles for The Dukeminier Awards Writing Competition; Presenting original research and papers at our annual new scholars panel; Receiving funding to work for LGBT and HIV civil rights organizations as a Williams Institute Summer Fellow; Serving as research assistants to Williams Institute faculty, including Professors Rubenstein, Sears, Littleton, and Carbado; Helping to plan Williams Institute events, such as our annual speakers series, sexual orientation law update, invitational policy roundtables, and CLE conferences. Fellowship Opportunities ANNUAL, 1-2 YEAR FELLOWSHIPS WITH THE WILLIAMS INSTITUTE Sears Law Teaching Fellowship The Williams Institute annually offers the Sears Law Teaching Fellowship to a recent law school graduate or practicing lawyer. The Fellowship will prepare outstanding law school graduates for careers in law teaching and scholarship in the field of sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, nationally or internationally, or any field necessary to create a comprehensive understanding of these topics. During the two-year fellowship, the Fellow will conduct research, write, and teach in this field, and assist the Williams Institute in its work and events. The Williams Institute has already supported four law teaching fellows, each of whom has successfully obtained a highly-competitive tenure track position at an accredited law school in the United States. This year's Sears Law Teaching Fellow is Doug NeJaime. The Sears Law Teaching Fellowship was made possible by a generous $1.5 million gift from Jim Hooker. See application information for the 2009 Teaching Fellowship position. Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellowship The Williams Institute also offers the Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellowship to a recent graduate or law school graduate who is interested in public policy research and writing on sexual orientation and gender identity issues. Peter J. Cooper and Norman Blachford gave a gift of $1 million to endow the Fellowship, which is offered annually. The Fellowship will be offered to a qualified applicant after graduation from an accredited college, law, public policy, or other graduate school, who has demonstrated interest in conducting research and writing on sexual orientation public policy issues. During the Fellowship, the Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellow will primarily support the public policy research and writing of the Williams Institute's senior staff and faculty, but may also conduct his/her own research and writing projects. This year's Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellow is Naomi Goldberg. See application information for the 2009-2010 Public Policy Fellowship. SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE WILLIAMS INSTITUTE The Williams Institutes invites law students to apply for these great opportunities to explore careers in sexual orientation law and public policy this summer. Williams Institute and Gleason/Kettel Summer Law Fellowships For the summer of 2009, the Williams Institute will award two or more Summer Fellowships, including the Gleason/Kettel Law Fellowships, which provide law students, or recent law school graduates, with a $5,000 stipend to work with an organization, scholar, or research center, focused on sexual orientation law and public policy. Eligible summer placements include internships with the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), the Williams Institute, and similar national and local organizations and research centers. Eligible placements also include summer research positions with law professors where the applicant will be spending the entire summer assisting with sexual orientation law and policy scholarship. Applicants must have a strong academic record and have demonstrated their commitment to a career in sexual orientation law and public policy. The Gleason/Kettel Law Fellowships are made possible by a generous endowment gift to the Williams Institute by Mike Gleason and David Kettel. Application Deadline March 20, 2009. For more information or to apply for the Williams Institute or Gleason/Kettel Law Fellowships, please click here (PDF). -------------------------------- For more information about these opportunities, email us at williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu or call (310) 267-4382. Please specify which opportunities interest you and describe your relevant background in law and sexual orientation. Small Grant Research Program The Williams Institute annually extends a request for proposals for small grant funding for research related to issues affecting the LGBT community. Selected projects receive funding from $1,000 to $5,000. Examples of topics appropriate for funding include: Demographics and socio-economic characteristics of the LGBT population, including same-sex couples, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, and youth; Economic impacts of LGBT-related rights and legislation; Use, impact, and evaluation of anti-discrimination statutes, hate crimes statutes, safe schools legislation, civil union, domestic partnership, and marriage legislation, domestic partnership benefits, and legal recognition of parenting rights for LGBT people or same-sex couples; Size, demographics, and socio-economic characteristics of the Transgender population; Voting patterns and behavior of LGBT population; and Analysis of public opinion data regarding LGBT rights. Click here for more information on the request for proposals. If you have any further questions about this program, please contact us at williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu or at 310-267-4382. A Primer on Empirical Research on Sexual Orientation *This training is by application only.* Presented annually by the Williams Institute’s M.V. Lee Badgett and Gary J. Gates, this training is directed at graduate students who are or will be conducting empirical research on sexual orientation. The two-day workshop provides participants with the skills to identify the principal ways in which sexual orientation is identified on surveys; critically examine data that includes identification of sexual orientation; consider strengths and challenges associated with different methods of identification; consider the appropriate use of these data; and identify and access existing empirical data, including U.S. Census data, that permits the identification of sexual orientation. For more information about how to apply for the 2009 training, please click here. Other Student Resources Pride Law Fund: Tom Steel Post-Graduate Fellowship: The mission of the Tom Steel Post-Graduate Fellowship is to fund a new lawyer each year to work in the United States on an innovative, public interest law project that serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. This Fellowship will help ensure that unmet legal needs are recognized and prioritized on an on-going basis, and that the next generation of legal advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community develops the critical skills necessary to secure civil rights into the future. Click here to view the Application (PDF). For more information, click here to visit their website. Berkeley Law Foundation Public Interest Fellowship: BLF traditionally awards one to two grants per year to individuals undertaking public interest law projects that will serve legally disadvantaged or politically under-represented groups. We view our grants as seed money for innovative projects that will immediately provide sorely needed legal services and will continue providing such services for years to come. Click here to view the Proposal Request Form (PDF). For more information, click here to visit their website.
			UCLA Courses related to Sexual Orientation Law Law 218 Race and Sexuality Prof. Russell Robinson This course will examine the ways in which race and sexuality intertwine to shape the law, public discourse and society. We will also explore issues related to the experiences of LGBT people of color and their relationship to the broader LGBT community. The latter issues are related to broader questions of intragroup discrimination and the capacity of any one social movement to represent all people who share a trait, as exemplified by black feminist critiques of male dominance in the civil rights movement. We will approach these provocative issues from a comparative perspective; for instance, we will compare the stereotyping of black male sexuality and Asian male sexuality. Pedagogical methods will include not just reading cases and legal scholarship but analyzing literary texts, viewing and critiquing film and television and discussing issues with various guest speakers. Questions we will study include the following: How do media represent the sexualities and identities of people of color, and of LGBT people of color? To what extent do interrracial couplings reduce or reflect racial stereotypes? Do legal analysis and public discourse regarding "gay rights" issues tend to assume a white male "prototype" and thus exclude other LGBT experiences? Are LGBT people of color best served by working within the predominant gay rights movement or developing their own identities, rubrics and movements? Law 317 Family Law Profs. Grace Blumberg, Francis Olsen As law firms become larger and more specialized and as fewer students expect ever to practice family law, academic interest in family law seems nevertheless to be increasing. The topics dealt with – marriage, divorce, parent-child relations, abuse and violence within the families, new reproductive technologies, gay couples and alternative family forms – are inherently interesting, and many students find that the study of family law changes and enriches their understanding of law and its relationship to fields such as sociology and politics. Law 318 Law and Sexuality Prof. Holning Lau This course explores the ways in which the law constructs and regulates sexuality. Subjects covered include the criminalization of sexual activity, protections against discrimination, regulations of sexually explicit speech and expressions of sexual identity, and family law issues such as marriage, alternatives to marriage, and parenting rights. In exploring these subjects, the class pays attention to how legal regulations affect the lives of sexual minorities including - but not limited to - lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered persons. Readings include cases from the United States and abroad, legal scholarship, and works from other academic disciplines. Students' grades are based on a series of reaction papers or a term paper that satisfies the law school's substantial writing requirement. Law 329 Women and the Law Prof. Christine Littleton This course examines the legal and social status of women in modern American society, law and policy relating to that status, legal tools developed to address sexual inequality, and the possibility that law both challenges and supports women’s subordination. Issues are approached intersectionally, addressing sex, race, sexual orientation and other differences simultaneously. The issue areas include: employment, family, reproduction, sexuality, violence, and equality theory. Law 555B Seminar: Feminist Legal Theory Prof. Francis Olsen In recent decades, sex discrimination scholarship has moved beyond its initial focus on legal doctrine and constitutional arguments to develop a criticism of the legal system itself. This seminar will focus on the impact that feminist legal theory is having on legal philosophy. We will read major works in feminist legal theory and discuss the practical effects these theoretical formulations have on selected legal issues of importance to men and women. Law 562 Seminar: Sex Discrimination Prof. Christine Littleton This seminar explores the tension between “traditional” sex discrimination doctrine and increasingly complex understandings of sex, gender, sexuality and sexual identity, as well as increasing attention to the intersection of these with race and other social signifiers. The focus will be on interpretations of constitutional equal protection and statutory equal employment opportunity (i.e., 14th Amendment and Title VII). Although there are no formal prerequisites, basic understanding of these doctrines will be assumed. Seminar members will be expected to present their own research and analysis and to provide constructive criticism to others. Paper topics must be approved by the instructor early in the semester. Completed seminar papers will satisfy the general writing requirement. Alternative grading options may be proposed, subject to instructor approval. Law 584 Seminar: Human Rights and Sexual Politics Prof. Lara Stemple The topic of sexual politics cuts across issues in human rights, encompassing debates about gay rights, gender equality, cultural relativism, and U.S. foreign policy (e.g., abstinence-only education to combat the spread of HIV and the so-called “Global Gag Rule”). This seminar will explore the role of law generally, and of human rights texts and principles in particular, in shaping global perspectives on sexuality. It will expose students to relevant theoretical issues in the legal literature and, to a lesser extent, in other disciplines grappling with this topic. Students will look at the theoretical framework early in the seminar, followed by issue-oriented sessions which will serve as a vehicle to examine the ways in which theory plays out in practice. Issue-oriented sessions will address sexual orientation and privacy, HIV/AIDS, reproductive rights, sexual violence, international sex trafficking, and related topics. The seminar will emphasize contemporary developments in human rights legal advocacy. We will study the role of NGOs, examining the potential for – and the limits of – using a rights-based approach to sexuality issues. What do advocates mean when they talk about sexual rights? Do such rights exist apart from privacy rights or the right to equality? How do cultural differences come into play? There are no prerequisites. Grading is based on class participation, an oral presentation critiquing an NGO conducting legal advocacy concerning sexuality, and a final paper. Law 592 Seminar: Sexual Orientation Workshop Prof. Dean Spade This seminar is limited to 16 students and students must apply in writing to Dean Spade. Students should have taken the basic sexual orientation law course (Law 318) to be admitted to this seminar. If they have not done so, they need to explain in their application why they did not take that course and why they have the substantive background to participate in the course. The course is on the Law School semester schedule. This course provides students a chance to look at recent legal scholarship addressing claims and controversies about queer and trans people. Each week, students will read and discuss several recent law review articles on these topics. In reading these articles, students will gain in-depth knowledge of a wide variety of legal fields subsumed within queer and trans law, including perspectives on constitutional law, critical race theory, poverty law, family law, and more. In analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the articles, students will also learn to think rigorously about scholarship itself and develop critical analytical abilities, considering whether articles make substantive contributions to the field, whether they are convincing in their arguments, well-supported by their authorities, and well-crafted. The course’s written assignments will fulfill the law school's writing requirements. Ultimately, the seminar will culminate with the selection of the best articles of the year, which will be published in the Williams Institute's prize journal, The Dukeminier Awards.

Student Involvement

Fellowship Opportunities

UCLA Courses related to Sexual Orientation Law