The Women’s Leadership Initiative Fellowship program provides future leaders with exemplars of excellence in leadership while supporting their professional identity formation and simultaneously providing them with tools and resources to achieve their goals. The program serves three main goals:
- First, it helps aspiring leaders to develop foundational knowledge and skills.
- Second, it creates a sense of community for students who aspire to leadership roles.
- Third, it builds strong professional networks and connections.
The WLI Fellowship is scaffolded at each stage of law school. First-year WLI Fellows are given extracurricular opportunities to gain knowledge about careers, gain insight into their individual values and aspirations through self-assessment, and begin to build their professional networks. Upper-class Fellows take specific courses, complete trainings that will prepare them for leadership positions, participate in a mentorship program and complete an experiential capstone.
This application is open to all first-year JD students seeking to join the Fellowship program.
All applications are due by 5pm on September 18, 2026, and newly admitted WLI fellows will be notified by October 5, 2026.
Newly admitted fellows must attend orientation on October 9, 2026.
If you have questions about the Fellowship, please contact the Women’s Leadership Initiative Director Bria Barnes-Coleman at bbarn@albanylaw.edu.
Please read this application carefully before you begin. This application is for admission to the Albany Law School Women’s Leadership Initiative Fellowship Program only.
