Corporate Fellowship Program (CFP) and Corporate Internship Program (CIP)

With increasing restrictions on departmental budgets, corporate legal departments are seeking innovative ways to cut costs while providing their business clients with top-notch legal services. The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) recognizes this unique channel and has launched two new programs to address this issue.

UHLC’s Corporate Fellowship Program (CFP) and Corporate Internship Program (CIP) provide corporations with substantive legal services from recent UHLC law graduates and current law students at a reasonable cost.  Recent graduates and current students gain a comprehensive, practical foundation of corporate law and practice while helping corporations achieve business goals, increase profits, manage risks, and reduce costs.

Below are highlights of each program:

Corporate Fellowship Program (CFP)

Program Description

The Corporate Fellowship Program is specifically designed to offer recent law school graduates with transferable legal skills while providing corporations the flexibility to create a fellowship program that meets their unique needs:

• CFP Fellows provide essential services and create substantive work product for in-house corporate legal departments, including research, drafting, analysis, legal and business strategy, discovery, transactional documents, project management, etc.;
• CFP Fellows work full-time (minimum of 40 hours/week), from mid-August for 12 months following the year of their graduation; and
• CFP Employers provide a yearly commitment of at least $60,000 ($28.50/hour).

 

Participation

Employers identify LFFP Fellow candidates before or after graduation through three convenient ways:

• Job postings and resume collections;
• On campus interviews/employer-site interviews; or
• Video conference interviews.

 

Corporate Internship Program (CIP)

Program Description

The Corporate Internship Program is specifically designed to offer current JD students with transferable legal skills while providing corporations the flexibility to create an internship program that meets their unique needs:

• Current JD students (CIP Interns) are assigned substantive projects, including research, drafting, analysis, case strategy, discovery, transactional documents, project management, etc.;
• CIP Interns work for the employer’s in-house legal department full-time (minimum of 40 hours/week) during the summer; and
• CIP Employers provide a weekly commitment of at least $600 (full-time).

 

Participation

The application process for the CIP follows a specific registration process and timeline:

Date	Activity	Details
Mid-December	Application for students opens	The students will prepare a resume and cover letter which will be general (i.e. not tailored to a particular company).
Late-January	Application for students closes
Late-January	Registration form from interested companies due	The company will fill out a registration form with basic information about the summer internship opportunity.
Early-February	Resume books created and distributed to companies	Create resume book based on employer’s specific needs as well as resume book with all candidates.
Early-February to Late-February	Companies conduct interviews	Companies will conduct on-site interviews with candidates of their choice. Companies must conduct at least 3 on-site interviews.
Early March	Recommended date for companies to make decisions	The companies are invited to be in direct contact with the students regarding any offers. Companies will report offers and acceptances to UHLC.

The UHLC Advantage

UHLC is on the cutting edge when it comes to educating law students about the in-house practice of law. As CFP Fellows and CIP Interns, you will apply your legal knowledge and skillset while learning from attorneys committed to excellence, efficiency, and complex, client-centered legal services. The CFP and CIP demonstrate UHLC’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its already rich business law curriculum with hands-on learning experiences for our students and graduates.

Recent graduates and current JD students interested in participating in the CFP/CIP should contact:

Kourtney James, Director of Employer Relations and Development
Career Development Office, University of Houston Law Center
713.743.5622/kljames3@central.uh.edu