Fellowships

The Ken Starr Institute hosts and is developing several Fellowships for aspiring academics and law students. This includes the Ken Starr Fellowship, which is designed to assist attorneys with backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in the legal academy to pursue a full-time legal academic tenure-track career. The fellowship is a two-year appointment that will provide such attorneys with the time and resources to obtain the skills needed to successfully transition to a tenure-track legal academic position.

Fellows will have ample time to pursue scholarly projects. They will be fully integrated into the faculty community and will be invited to attend and actively participate in all faculty presentations and workshops. Fellows will also have the opportunity to present a paper to the faculty and receive feedback in preparation for the entry-level job market. Fellows will also receive financial support for their scholarship including access to research assistants as well as funds to travel to and attend conferences. This is a full-time position, and Fellows will be expected to be in full-time residence at Pepperdine Caruso Law during the academic year.   

In the first year, Fellows will teach one doctrinal course in a subject selected in consultation with the Academic Dean. This will provide the fellow with the opportunity to obtain teaching experience, as well as receive feedback on and mentoring in teaching. In the second year, Fellows will further develop their teaching skills by teaching the same doctrinal course for a second time, as well as an additional course on a topic of their choosing in consultation with the Academic Dean. 

Fellows will also be assigned one or more faculty mentors to help shepherd them through the transition to academic life with regard to both teaching and scholarship.

The position is designed for Fellows to apply for full-time tenure-track legal academic positions during the fall semester of the second year of the fellowship. Fellows would remain eligible to apply to a full-time position at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law as part of a national search. 

The salary for the position will be competitive with well-regarded law fellowship and VAP programs.  

Fellowship Application Process 

Review of applications for fellowships will continue on a rolling basis until the position is filled. For more information, please contact Professor Trey Childress at donald.childress@pepperdine.edu.