Can I Get New Scholarships if I'm Already in Law School?

By Alice Foley, Associate Law School Consultant

So, you’ve gotten accepted to the law school that you were just so excited to attend. You’ve taken time to really think through the financial commitment that law school means for you. And at the end of all that… You’re happy and confident in your decision. It’s time to start law school!

Maybe you were one of those applicants that did… okay … through the application process. I mean, you got in, but you weren’t getting those high-dollar scholarships. Or maybe you went through the application process with a wing and a prayer (don’t be this person, future applicants, please), and your timing meant that you weren’t considered for a scholarship. You’re stuck paying what you pay for the next three years regardless of how well you may do in your classes, yeah?

Nope!

Many law schools offer limited scholarships to 2L and sometimes even 3L students! They’re regularly called “Continuing Scholarships” or something like that. A lot of the time these types of scholarships fall into two main categories:

First, scholarships tied to your interests or your performance AFTER you start law school.

Second, scholarships tied to you/your life BEFORE law school. 

Sometimes, there’s a third category that covers things related to unexpected financial needs - usually referred to as “emergency grants” or something like that. A great example of this is some of the school or donor-funded grants/scholarships that were made available to students in need after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

From here we’re going to cover a few main points. First, the performance and interest-related scholarships. Next, the scholarships tied to you and your life (often before law school). And finally, things to keep in mind if you’re interested in landing one of these continuing student scholarships! 

Before we really dig into this, I also want to remind you of something that - if you’ve seen anything else from me, should be no surprise - check with your law school for specifics. A good plan is to start with the admissions/financial aid office. If they don’t oversee this type of thing, they should know where to point you.

Okay, on to the scholarships!

AFTER You Start Law School (Interest + Performance)

If you want a look at a really well-made continuing scholarship site, I’d recommend Berkeley’s. It’s got everything you need to identify the different scholarships. It also has information on how the application process works. I’m also going to use the Berkeley site as an example for the rest of this post.

As you look through the list on the site, you’ll see a lot of “[fill in a name] Scholarship”. These are donor scholarships (or named scholarships), and donors often want to pick the way their money is spent - that means they pick the criteria for applicants, usually related to something that was important to them. For example, the Robert Barr Scholarship. Applicants need to have “committed interest in the field of law and technology.” The Victor Van Bourg Scholarship? It’s for applicants with a “commitment to the practice of labor law on behalf of unions and working people,” among some other requirements and preferences. 

The theme here? It’s your area of interest, or the type of law you want to practice, that qualifies you to apply for scholarships like this.

I love the Barr Scholarship particularly because it also supplies examples of what “committed interest” means! Just a few examples given are having a “technical degree or technical work experience,” “participation in BTLJ” (that’s the Berkeley Technology Law Journal), or enrolling in (and completing) courses “listed as ‘Intellectual Property and Technology Law.’” You can bet that similar activities in the other areas of law are good examples of how to show your interest or commitment.

I want to call out one other subtype of named scholarship, simply because of how common it is, and that’s the Public Interest Scholarship. This is a fairly common one, probably because everyone recognizes that public interest legal services are both necessary, and also not often lucrative. If you are planning to work in the public interest realm (sometimes there are specific areas of the field listed), you should consider these scholarships. If participation in the public interest student organization isn’t specifically required, it’s usually a pretty good idea to do that anyway.

There’s another category on Berkeley’s page, in fact, it’s at the very top of the list: the “General Awards.” These make up the other type of the “after you start law school” awards - the performance awards. If a law school offers any type of continuing scholarship, it’s often this one.

Most of the time you’ll find that anything without a name or a specific area listed in the title is this type. These scholarships reward outstanding academic performance. These are for the applicants that had a fine application but didn’t quite manage a merit scholarship and have excelled after starting law school. Occasionally additional criteria will be added in - for Berkeley, it’s “... or leadership skills have influenced Berkeley Law and/or the community.” 

 BEFORE You Began Law School

 The other major type of continuing scholarships are based on things related to your life before law school. The most common “things” are often where you grew up, attended school, have a connection, etc.

On the Berkeley site, the only one listed is the Judge Edward Dean Price Memorial Scholarship. In the description, the scholarship is for someone that “must demonstrate a connection to California Central Valley…”

The specificity of the scholarship criteria is basically up to the donor that initially created the scholarship. Without going into a whole other post about how that process works - the quick version is that the donor works with someone from the law school (or main university) to create the document that will govern the scholarship. The most important piece of this for students is the scholarship criteria. Donors are encouraged to make the criteria broad enough to ensure that the scholarship can be granted each year but do have a pretty large degree of control. In my time I’ve seen the criteria be as specific as a high school and as broad as “the eastern United States.”

The priority of the scholarship criteria can also vary greatly. Some, like the one at Berkeley, will say exactly what criteria must be met, and if no one meets those criteria, the award isn’t granted for that year. Others, often to avoid not granting the scholarship, will have prioritized criteria. Using the award language above it could look something like this: “...must demonstrate a connection to California Central Valley…Then, if no applicant meets these criteria, a successful applicant must demonstrate a connection to California. If no applicant meets the above criteria, the scholarship may be awarded at the discretion of the admissions committee (or some other committee).”

The Takeaways

There are a few key things to keep in mind when you’re thinking about continuing scholarships. 

First, continuing scholarships are typically not as large as first-year awards, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t worth investigating! Plus, some schools try to award continuing scholarships to students without first-year awards.

Second, your law school may not list them out as nicely as Berkeley, but many law schools do have some type of continuing awards. Look for an email or posting sometime in the spring semester after grades have been released. If you don’t see anything, check your junk folder. Then reach out to your financial aid office.

 Third, as a 1L, investigate the areas of law that interest you. While you likely won’t be able to take classes, you can join student organizations or attend events hosted by interest-based groups. Things like this, especially when you’re a 1L help build the “demonstrated interest” piece of continuing scholarship applications!

Fourth, if you need any additional incentive to do well in your first year, how does scholarship money sound?