Law Firm & Legal Department Applicants

The following organizations are currently recruiting for OnRamp Fellows. To learn more about their open roles, please click here. Please continue to check back as law firms and legal departments continue to join our OnRamp 200 initiative.

Participating Law Firms & Legal Departments (as of March 2023)

Please note:  Applications should not be submitted directly to the participating organizations. Applications are only accepted via the Fellowship Director through our website.

The law firm and legal department Fellowship positions are one year.

Please view our Opportunities page to see our latest Fellowship positions. Positions are updated regularly so please check back to see the latest opportunities!

Current positions are located in cities across the U.S., including: Atlanta; Boise; Boston; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Dallas; Los Angeles; New York; Portland; Salt Lake City; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; St. Louis; and Washington, D.C.

Positions are available in a wide variety of areas, often too numerous to list, but generally fall within the broader categories of corporate/transactional, litigation, bankruptcy, IP, compliance, real estate, and regulatory work.

To learn more about the current open roles, including locations and areas of practice, please click here.

Fellowships are an equal employment opportunity, awarded without regard to gender or any protected trait, consistent with Title VII and other applicable laws.” All Fellowship applicants are rigorously screened to assess their current experience, skill set, and desire to return to and advance in the legal profession. As part of the screening process, each applicant is expected to:

1. Submit an application by clicking on the “Apply Now” button at the bottom of the page.
2. Complete a set of online skills, personality, and values assessments, which are similar to the hiring and development tools used in corporate environments. (The cost of the assessments, paid by the applicant, is $175).
3. Take a writing assessment developed by leading legal writing authority Ross Guberman.
4. Participate in a behavioral interview conducted by a hiring expert.

Please note:The skills and writing assessments are an essential component of the application process. They provide us (and the applicants) with in-depth information about the applicants’ skills, so we can better understand their strengths. After completing the assessments, applicants receive a comprehensive multi-page report with their results as well as developmental tips to assist in their career development efforts.

Please note, there is no guarantee of an offer or employment at any of the participating organizations.

To learn more about the current open roles or to apply, please click here.

Yes. Applicants must pay a $175 fee, which covers the costs of a series of online skills, motivation, values, and writing assessments, which are part of the application process. After the applicant completes an online application and eligibility is verified by the Fellowship Directors, the $175 fee is paid directly to the assessment vendors so that the applicant can begin the assessments. The assessment results provide in-depth information about the applicants’ skills, so we can better understand their strengths. After completing the assessments, applicants receive a comprehensive multi-page report with their results as well as developmental tips to assist in their long-term career development efforts.

Yes. In exchange for an annual stipend ($110,000 – $205,000, depending on the size of the organization) and benefits, which are paid by the organization, the Fellow works full time on complex projects and receives training, coaching, and ongoing feedback from the Fellowship and a designated advisor in their organization.

Projects range from independent research to direct client interface throughout the program. Although there are no set guidelines regarding the types of projects to which the Fellow can be assigned, there is a requirement that the projects support skill development in the areas that are necessary for advancement in the organization, such as business acumen and decision-making.

To further benefit their career advancement, Fellows receive external support from experts in the legal field, including:

• Monthly “Cohort Meetings” with other Fellows to share experiences and learn from each other.
• Training by experts in negotiations, leadership, oral advocacy, project management, and business development.
• Counseling from experienced career coaches who work one-on-one with the Fellows throughout the year to assist with their skill development and to prepare them for salary negotiations with future employers.
• For legal department Fellows, complimentary one-year membership to the ACC, including its wealth of learning and networking resources.

To ensure a successful Fellowship experience, the organization, the Fellow, and the Fellowship Director are expected to share responsibility for the program as outlined below.

The organization will: (1) designate an advisor in the Fellow’s practice area to serve as the main contact for work allocation and feedback, including providing the Fellow with three developmental check-ins/performance reviews during the year; and (2) provide the Fellow with a stipend and access to any internal training or career development activities during the program.

The Fellow will: (1) monitor their own workload and track their progress towards gaining the success traits needed to add value to the organization and its clients; and (2) check in regularly with their advisor and any other team members to obtain feedback on their work and skill development.

The Fellowship Director will: (1) check in at least quarterly with the Fellow and the advisor to obtain feedback on the Fellow’s performance and potential advancement possibilities; and (2) ensure that the Fellow has access to training resources, an experienced career counselor, and other external opportunities to develop skills and contacts.

Fellowship positions are generally full time, but part-time positions are occasionally posted. Remote/work-from-home or “hybrid” opportunities are also often available through the OnRamp Fellowship. These options will be noted in the job postings on the Opportunities page.

There are also a number of excellent part-time, flextime, and contract positions available through organizations such as Flex by Fenwick, Axiom, and PrioriLegal.com.

Ideally, Fellows who do excellent work will conclude the Fellowship with a current professional reference that can be leveraged to pursue their next endeavors. Additionally, if a relevant position is available, the organization can offer a longer-term role.

The end result of the Fellowship is a high performer who returns to the profession with upgraded skills and experience, additional contacts, an excellent reference, and a renewed ambition to serve clients. In turn, the legal profession as well as the individual organizations benefit by engaging with a previously untapped pool of high-performing talent and, hopefully, increased gender diversity in their mid- to senior-level leadership ranks.

There are four steps involved in the application, screening, and interview process.

Please note: Applications should not be submitted directly to the participating organizations. Applications are only accepted via the Fellowship Director.

1^st Step: Complete the online application linked here. After the Fellowship Director has received your application and confirmed your eligibility, you will receive an email with links to the online personality, skills, values, and writing assessments. These assessments are typically used in corporate environments to hire and develop high-level, executive talent.

2^nd Step: Eligible applicants are required to complete an online personality, skills, values, and writing assessment. In total, these online assessments usually take 90 to 120 minutes to complete. The total cost of the assessments is $175 U.S. dollars, and online payment is expected at the time of completion.

3^rd Step: Once the assessments are complete, the Fellowship Director will schedule an online meeting or teleconference with each eligible applicant to discuss the results of the assessments and conduct an interview.

4^th and Final Step: The applicants’ résumés, applications, and results of the assessments and interviews are sent to the participating organizations. The organizations’ leaders review the applicants’ information and select the candidates they want to interview for the Fellowship positions.

OnRamp hiring takes place following a structured timeline for postings, interviews, and offer decisions. Please see the “Important Dates” sidebar on the right side of this page, which lists the current application deadlines. To provide ample support and structure for OnRamp organizations and Fellows, start dates are typically aligned so Fellows start in small to midsize cohorts with other returners.

Applicants not chosen for a Fellowship after their initial application are welcome to reapply at any time. Anyone reapplying more than a year after the date of their initial application will need to meet with the Fellowship Director again to provide updated details.

New positions are posted regularly, so applicants are encouraged to check the Opportunities page often for additional opportunities.