The Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice

As an incoming law student, you can apply to become one of a limited number of outstanding students who serve as Social Justice Fellows. Our Fellows:

• research current social justice issues, 

• enroll in courses that teach legal analysis through the intersecting lenses of race, gender, class and sexuality (including two of the following three courses, with at least one taken as a 2L: Critical Race Theory; Feminist Jurisprudence; Gender and the Law; Sex, Gender, Sexuality and the Law),

• complete externships with local social justice organizations, 

• participate in activities that seek to cultivate social justice scholars, leaders and activists,

• participate in an individual research project sponsored by the Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice,

• help with the Center’s annual colloquium(s) and attend Center events and programs throughout the academic year.

  Each Fellow receives:

• tuition assistance in the amount of $3,500 each year ($1,750 per semester) in exchange for work with the Center’s annual colloquium(s) and attend Center events and programs throughout the academic year.

The first of its kind in the nation, Cincinnati Law’s JD/MA program offers you a rigorous, interdisciplinary study of the law and the chance to earn both degrees over the course of four years. Your capstone experience is a semester-long externship that places you in the heart of social justice work—at a national public interest organization, such as the National Women’s Law Center, Equality Now, National Organization for Women or the Women’s Law Project.

Find out more and apply now.

As one of the nation’s leading social justice law schools, the concentration in Social Justice is designed to allow students to demonstrate their advanced knowledge of the subject area. To qualify for the concentration, students must satisfy both the Credit Hours Requirement and the Distribution Requirement. Students will verify their satisfaction of the requirements by submitting an "Application for Concentration in Social Justice" to the College of Law Registrar at least one month prior to the date of their graduation.

Students must satisfy the following number of credit hours through the courses, experiences, and activities listed in the Distribution Requirement:

• JD Students: 12 Credit Hours
• LLM Students: 10 Credit Hours

Students must satisfy each of the following four components of the concentration:

Students must complete at least 5 credit hours (for a letter grade) from these courses:

• Civil Rights Litigation
• Critical Race Theory
• Feminist Jurisprudence
• Race and the Law
• Sex, Gender, Sexuality and the Law

Students must take at least one of these courses:

• Access to Justice
• Asylum and Refugee Law
• Crimmigration
• Current Problems in Women’s Human Rights
• Directed Readings: Structural Racism and the Law
• Family Law
• Gender Stories
• Gender Identity
• Human Rights
• Human Rights Seminar
• Immigration Law & Policy
• Juvenile Law
• Labor Law
• Mental Health Law I
• Mental Health Law II
• Poverty and the Law
• Public International Law
• Race and Democracy
• Sexual Orientation
• An Individual Research Project on a social justice research topic (one credit maximum)

Students must complete at least one of these experiences:

• Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic
• Indigent Defense Clinic
• Legal Access Clinic
• Ohio Innocence Project
• An externship in the area of race, racial inequality or social justice
• Additional experiences as approved by the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, in consultation with the Director of the Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice

• 10 Jones Center events* (suggested planning is two events in the first year and four events in the second and the third years) * 
• 3 Jones Center events for LLM students

In order to apply for the Social Justice Concentration, you may request the application.

Join this groundbreaking team which, since 2005, has helped Cincinnati Law students represent more than 1,400 survivors of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault and human trafficking in civil protection order hearings. Thanks to the work of the Clinic, Cincinnati City Council was the first in the nation to pass a resolution declaring that freedom from domestic violence is a fundamental human right. 

Find out more