ABF/AccessLex Institute Doctoral Fellowship Program in Legal & Higher Education 2026

The Doctoral Fellow will receive an annual stipend of $48,000. The Fellow will not be an employee of the ABF and must retain benefits, including healthcare, through their home institution. The Fellow will have access to a modest research account to reimburse expenses associated with research, travel to meet with advisors, or travel to conferences at which papers are presented. Reasonable relocation expenses may be reimbursed.

The Fellowship will be awarded for at least one year, beginning September 1, 2026. The ABF is currently pursuing funding to support a second fellowship year and expects to be able to confirm the availability of such funding when applicants are notified about the status of their applications in mid-May.

Fellowships are held in residence at the ABF and are full time. Because this is a full-time program, the ABF does not allow fellows to hold concurrent fellowships, but we support fellows to apply for research grants. Fellows are expected to participate fully in the academic life of the ABF so that they may develop close collegial ties with ABF faculty and other scholars in residence.

Applications are invited from outstanding students who are candidates for LLM degrees, SJD degrees, and Ph.D. degrees across a broad range of disciplines, who will have completed all doctoral requirements except the dissertation by September 1, 2026. Doctoral research must address significant issues in the field and show promise of a major contribution to social scientific understanding of legal or higher education. Students from underrepresented minority groups and those attending schools not typically represented among law faculty are especially encouraged to apply. While there are no citizenship requirements for this fellowship, please note that we do not have the institutional capacity to sponsor visas, and the ABF is unable to advise on individual visa matters. If you have questions, we encourage you to discuss your circumstances with the international student services office at your institution

The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is a research institute committed to the principle that a deep understanding of the law is vital to a more just, equitable world. The ABF seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission, the ABF will produce timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and internationally. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment and the Fellows of The American Bar Foundation.

AccessLex Institute® fosters broad-based access to quality legal education for talented, purpose-driven students and works to maximize the value and affordability of a law degree through policy advocacy, research and student-focused initiatives. Learn more at AccessLex.org.