Future Justice Lawyers of Chicago

The purpose of the FJLOC program is to create a new generation of lawyers and advocates working to confront issues of injustice in our community and work to improve the legal system.

Chicago Appleseed created this program in partnership with the Chicago Council of Lawyers to give undergraduate and high school students a chance to discover how to balance a profession with their passion for doing something about the injustices that surround us. The FJLOC program’s aim is to provide the skills, guidance, and individual support necessary to make this happen.

The program has three objectives:

1. Professional Skill-Building: Students learn strategies to improve their professional, evidence-based writing skills, with a focus on social justice topics aligned with Chicago Appleseed’s mission to reduce the harms of the legal system. They will identify injustices, use research to explain those injustices, and suggest evidence-based interventions to advocate against them.
2. Mentorship: Each student is paired with a Lawyer Advisor who will assist with their research, writing, and provide general program support. Additionally, FJLOC alumni will engage with current members to help with their professional growth and networking.
3. Community: The purpose of FJLOC is to build a supportive community – through a diverse network of lawyers, legal professionals, local advocates, fellow students, and FJLOC alumni – who will support each other in an age of uncertainty.

At the conclusion of the program year, each student will come away with a better understanding of the issues facing justice in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, and nationally, as well as skills to support their educational and professional growth as justice workers.

Students will prepare a group research report that identifies and describes an injustice and possible methods for intervention and advocacy. The report will discuss the injustice using literature reviews and interviews that the students conduct with subject matter experts, the impact of this injustice, provide a call to action (what can be done to reduce or eliminate the harm from these injustices, and how students can assist).

Students will also work on individual projects focusing on injustices they are personally passionate about. Students will engage in court-watching and be supported in writing individual persuasive essays on these issues.

To be considered for the high school or undergraduate FJLOC program, students must:

• • Have an interest in possibly pursuing a career as a lawyer.
  • Have a genuine interest in confronting systemic injustices in our community.
  • Be enrolled at a college, university, or high school in the Chicagoland area.
  • Reside in the Chicagoland area from January 2025 through July of 2026.
  • Be able to attend monthly in-person meetings in the Chicago Loop from January through August 2026, as well as periodic Zoom meetings, and meet regularly with the Lawyer Advisor.
  • Commit to making meaningful contributions to group projects and completing both the group and individual projects, which will be overseen by Chicago Appleseed staff and FJLOC volunteers, before the end of August 2026.

The FJLOC program runs for approximately nine months, from mid-January to mid-October.

• September 23, 2025 → Applications for the 2026 program year open
• November 15, 2025 → Application portal closes
• January 2026 → Admissions decision; monthly meetings begin
• July 2026 → Individual project deadline; undergraduate capstone event
• August 2026 → Group project deadline
• October 2026 → Publication of group projects