Catalyst Fellowship Marks 10 Years, $4 Million Invested in Public Service Lawyers
6.2.2026
The Catalyst Public Interest Fellowship Program, administered by The New York Bar Foundation, has reached its tenth year, having distributed more than $4 million to support law students entering public service. Since its inception, 511 students have participated in the program.
This year, the program placed 60 student fellows across more than 30 organizations throughout New York State. The fellows are working in District Attorneys’ offices and at legal services providers such as Lawyers for Children, from the five boroughs to the Finger Lakes, serving families, children, immigrants, incarcerated individuals, and older New Yorkers.
Catalyst provides first-year law students with a $5,000 stipend for summer public interest work, addressing a longstanding dilemma for students who might otherwise have to choose a paying job over an unpaid internship. The stipend includes a monetary match provided by the participating 15 law schools in New York State.
The fellowship was established in 2016 by former New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, who seeded it with remaining campaign funds from her tenure as Westchester County District Attorney.
“Ten years ago, the goal was simple: remove the financial barrier that kept talented students from public service. Seeing where these fellows have gone has been deeply gratifying,” DiFiore said.
This summer, approximately 25 fellows gathered in Albany for a kickoff program at the New York State Court of Appeals. Chief Judge Rowan Wilson and Associate Judges Michael Garcia, Madeline Singas, Shirley Troutman, and Caitlin Halligan spoke candidly with the students, tracing the journeys that carried them from their earliest work in public service to the bench of New York’s highest court. The judges answered questions and offered guidance to students beginning to consider their own careers.
For some alumni, the fellowship proved decisive. Rachel Farr, now a Staff Attorney in the Criminal Defense Unit, Felony Division, at the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, credits the program with shaping her career.
“Because of the Catalyst Public Service Fellowship, I was able to work a public interest job at the Volunteer Lawyers Project,” Farr said. “That helped me realize my own goal of working in public interest, which led to me accepting a position as a public defender right out of law school. I’ve never looked back. I love my work, specifically being able to directly combat common injustices of the current criminal justice system on a personal and case-by-case basis. The Catalyst Public Service Fellowship was an honor when I received it; and in hindsight it was a gamechanger.”
Across ten years of cohorts, Catalyst alumni have cited the fellowship as a factor in their decisions to remain in public service. The program introduces students to legal services organizations, public defenders’ and prosecutors’ offices, government agencies, and nonprofit providers early in their training, building a pipeline of mission-driven lawyers.
“Catalyst is the Foundation’s mission made tangible. Every fellowship we fund is an investment in a more just New York and in the lawyers who will help build it,” said Justice Cheryl E. Chambers, President and Board Chair of The New York Bar Foundation.
For The New York Bar Foundation, Catalyst reflects its broader mission of promoting the rule of law, expanding access to justice, and supporting the people who carry that work forward.
