How selective is the Peggy Browning Fellowship? Forum

[cfdon]

I'm a 1L at a T25 and have a strong interest in plaintiff-side employment/labor practice and thus am very interested in receiving the Peggy Browning Fellowship this upcoming summer. I'm trying to figure out how selective it is.

As I've said, I'm at a T25. I never had full-time work experience at a union or employment/labor firm but I did some light interning at a firm owned by my high school mock trial coach who is an employment attorney. Additionally, my grandfather was the president of a major union in a major US city for several years and 2 of my uncles (as well as my grandfather) were in that union for decades. My father works as a golf caddy and I worked as a caddy during my 4 summers during undergrad and we are members of a caddy association which is attempting to become a union in a way. I'm also a member of my school's labor law society and my open memo topic happened to be on a controversy over an employment contract which I found quite fun to research and write about.

Those are my main connections to labor and employment law and I'm just wondering if there is anyone here who knows how it stacks up to many of the Peggy Browning Fellows. Do these students all come in with union experience or are my connections and demonstrated interest with organized labor and employee rights pretty solid for the fellowship? I genuinely have a strong interest in this field and have thought about writing about my potential goal in my future career of starting a legitimate and impactful union for caddies which has yet to exist in my cover letter to help express that interest. Thoughts on how my "qualifications" might stack up? Assume im at the median for my class once grades come back.

[super12345chess]

I'm a 1L, also interested in applying. I've talked to a few former PBFs at my school.

I'm under the impression that they don't care at all about about grades, although I go to HYS so that could be school specific. Check out the brochures with previous years' fellows; that should give you a sense of how competitive you are. It seems to me that you should be a viable candidate, although it's hard to know what your chances are without a sense of what candidates are rejected. https://www.peggybrowningfund.org/news/fellows-brochure Remember that the decisions are made by the individual employer, and it would presumably be harder to get a position with one of the top national unions than it would be with a local or smaller union-side firm, all else being equal.

[jkrolrutgers]

Former Peggy Browning Fellow Here:

Currently a Labor and Employment Attorney for a Labor Law Firm in New Jersey; prior to this position i Clerked for a Judge. I was a Peggy Browning Fellow during my 2L Summer. I majored in Labor Relations in Undergrad and my father is also a Union member so that's where my background comes from in Labor law. Furthermore, I truly believe that the Peggy Browning Fellowship is highly valued and if you wish to pursue a career as a Labor Law Attorney; Union side then the Fellowship will bolster your resume in great ways. Prior to becoming a Peggy Browning, during law school I worked at the Teacher's Union in NYC, the EEOC, Plaintiff-Side Labor Law and Employment in NYC, and was a Peggy Browning Fellow at a Major Union in the NYC area.

I believe that the Fellowship has great connections and can say I got alot of my other jobs and my current job due to the Fellowship. The only drawback with pursuing Labor Law Union Side is salary; I currently make $70k and eventually do plan on moving over to Management Side to make more money.

If you have any other questions about the fellowship I will be glad to answer them.

[k5220]

Current union-side attorney. Peggy Browning is definitely a gold star if you want to pursue union-side labor & employment work, so it's worth pursuing if you're interested in that work. I'd give it your best shot, and let them see the fire in your belly / show that you really care about the labor movement. Good luck!