Polking Family Fellowship

Who can apply

Apply for admission to Notre Dame Law School as a first-year J.D. student.
Submit the complete admission application and an additional personal statement about the specific fellowship interest by December 1, 2026.
Attach the statement as an addendum in the LSAC application. If the admission application has already been submitted, the statement may be emailed as a PDF to the Law School Office of Admissions.
Each fellowship statement must be no more than two double-spaced pages, with the applicant’s name, LSAC number and document title in the header.
Applicants seeking both the Polking and Murphy fellowships must provide two separate statements; a student can be selected for only one fellowship.
Selection committees normally notify applicants in mid-February. Law School scholarships renew for students who remain in good academic standing under the Hoynes Code.

About the scholarship

The Polking Family Fellowship at Notre Dame Law School combines scholarship funding with opportunities to work with the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, attend events, interact with visiting fellows and speakers, conduct research, and receive career mentoring and summer internship opportunities. The fellowship focuses on law and public policy as foundations for a sustainable culture of life. A complete admission application and the fellowship personal statement must both be submitted by December 1, 2026. The university does not list a fixed scholarship amount on the fellowship page.