Apply To The Justice Entrepreneurs Project
About The JEP Program
The Justice Entrepreneurs Project empowers lawyers to launch socially conscious and innovative law practices serving everyday people. We facilitate a program providing business development training, substantive legal training with pro bono partners, business coaching, mentorship, and heavily discounted resources including office space.
The program begins with a week-long boot camp that will kickstart participants’ practices. Thereafter, participants receive weekly business development training to grow their business. Participants will also be provided with structured hands-on legal training through a legal aid organization or law firm to get hands-on legal experience and a better understanding of the legal aid community and the legal service delivery system in Chicago.
During the last months of the program, participants focus on developing fuller caseloads and receive mentoring and professional coaching. Beyond graduation, program alumni continue to enjoy all program resources and a community of diverse attorneys sharing the same values and approach to their practices.
Boot camp and training sessions are held in person at the JEP Office. The time commitment and program structure vary and will range between approximately three to six hours per week depending on the participant’s practice experience at the start of the program. The program costs a total of $3,600, which is paid in increments throughout the program.
Application Process
If you’re interested in applying for the Justice Entrepreneurs Project’s 23rd cohort, please review the following steps before submitting an application.
We strongly suggest interested applicants attend an information session to learn more about the program. Our last information session is Friday, October 23 at 12:00 pm on Zoom (register here).
Interested applicants need to submit the following materials to JEP@chicagobarfoundation.org by Friday, October 30.
- A resume
- A lean business plan (template linked here)
- A statement of interest (template linked here)
After applications are submitted, applicants will participate in an interview process. All selected applicants will be notified of their application status by the week of December 5.