Each fellowship will include a grant of up to $60,000 maximum for a 12 month term. Grants are typically distributed to the host organization but may be made directly to the alumnus/a if the host organization cannot receive the grant (such as when the host is a government agency). We encourage our fellowship recipients to seek host organizations who can supplement the SLS grant by increasing the Fellow’s salary and benefits.

After the Fellows are selected and before payment can be disbursed, each host agency is also expected to sign a Memorandum of Understandinglink1 outlining each party’s responsibilities. International or governmental hosts who cannot accept the funds from Stanford would sign this Memorandum of Understandinglink2, which grants the funds directly to the Fellow.

Grant payments are made after September 1 due to Stanford University’s fiscal calendar. Thus, the fellowship start date is usually after September 1, with some flexibility upon consultation with Levin Center staff. If a Fellow ends their fellowship before the 12 month period for any reason, the fellowship grant is prorated and remaining funds must be returned to Stanford.

Finally, SLS’ Loan Repayment Assistance Program will provide additional funds directly to JD alumni to meet qualifying educational loan repayment obligations during the fellowship year.

The 2025-2026 Civitas Fellow will be Chloe Kimball, JD ’25. She will join the Brooklyn Defender Services, where she will provide holistic representation to indigent criminal defendants. She will have her own docket of misdemeanor cases and will assist in BDS’s specialized defense units.

The 2024-2025 Civitas Fellow was Anais Carell, JD ’23. As a Trial Attorney Fellow for the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California, Anais participated in all aspects of indigent criminal defense and represented clients at various stages of their cases. This included assuming responsibilities for a case load, appearing on behalf of clients on ‘duty’ days, arguing for pretrial release, meeting with clients, family members, and witnesses, evaluating disposition offers, conducting legal research and writing, advocating at motion and sentencing hearings, and participating in case strategy meetings. With the direct supervision of Assistant Federal Public Defenders, Anais also represented clients in court and at trial.

The 2023-2024 Civitas Fellow was Hannah Subega, JD ’23. She joined the Spero Justice Center, where she advocated on behalf of incarcerated persons in Colorado who were convicted of their crimes as emerging adults (18-25 years old), and were still serving their excessive prison sentences.

There were two 2022-2023 Civitas Fellows. Bailey Colfax, JD ’22, joined the California Appellate Project, where she assisted appointed counsel in state appellate and state habeas corpus proceedings; maintained and developed case-specific documents, training materials, and other resources to enhance the representation of appointed counsel in capital post-conviction cases; and assisted unrepresented condemned prisoners while they awaited appointment of habeas corpus counsel. Courtney Colwell, JD ’22, joined the New York Civil Liberties Union to expand the rights of New Yorkers impacted by the carceral state and challenged the conditions of confinement in state jails and prisons through policy reform and litigation.

The 2021-2022 Civitas Fellow was Mallorie Urban, JD ’21, who joined the San Francisco Public Defender. She represented indigent clients accused of crimes in San Francisco, first by acting as second chair for felony jury trials, then by taking on a caseload of roughly thirty clients, whose cases will be her sole responsibility from start to finish.

There were two 2020-2021 Civitas Fellows. Anjuli Branz, JD ’19, worked as a public defender at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, collaborating with attorneys across the criminal and civil practices to provide holistic representation to low-income residents of Upper Manhattan. Zach Waterman, JD ’20, worked in two separate capacities–as a misdemeanor attorney and second chair felony attorney–at the San Francisco Public Defender to give teeth to indigent San Franciscans’ rights to a reasonable expectation of privacy, effective assistance of counsel, a jury trial, and due process.

The 2019-2020 Fellow, Christen Philips, JD ’18, was unexpectedly hired by her host agency, Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. Thus, we reserved the fellowship funds to support an additional Fellow in 2020-2021.

There were two 2018-2019 Civitas Fellows. Aaron Forbath, JD ’18, joined the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and represented San Francisco Bay Area clients navigating the civil law consequences of the criminal justice system. He also supported litigation and policy projects on traffic court and bail reform, civil forfeiture, and discriminatory police practices. Kelsey Townsend, JD ’18, worked with the San Francisco Public Defender to advocate for low-income clients facing misdemeanor and felony charges and to support the organization’s programs on immigration representation, bail reform, mental health services, and reentry.

The 2017-2018 Civitas Fellow was Laura Douglas, JD ’17. At Metropolitan Public Defender in Portland, Oregon, Douglas provided holistic representation for clients with addiction. She also worked on the unmet needs of this community, both within the office and in the wider community, and tried to reframe addiction as a mental illness.

The 2016-2017 Civitas Fellow was Rebecca Vogel, JD ’15. She joined the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she represented clients on parole and supervised release who were facing revocation by the U.S. Parole Commission for alleged violations. Vogel advocated to keep her clients out of prison and allow them to remain with their families and communities.