Tennessee OSG Honors Fellowship

The Tennessee Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) Honors Fellowship offers a recent law school graduate the opportunity to engage—in depth and hands-on—in the work of the Office of the Solicitor General.  This is a paid fellowship.

The Tennessee OSG Honors Fellowship Program

The Office of the Solicitor General oversees and manages all appellate work—state and federal—in the Office of the Attorney General.  It also oversees litigation at all stages involving challenges to the constitutionality or validity of Tennessee law, handles the preparation of formal legal opinions issued by the Attorney General, and evaluates and handles requests to join or author amicus briefs in state and federal litigation nationwide.  

The Tennessee OSG Honors Fellow will participate in all facets of the work of the Office and will work directly with the Solicitor General and attorneys in the Solicitor General’s Office.  The scope of the work is broad, deep, and varied; the Fellow will deal with a wide array of highly significant, cutting-edge issues, with a focus on federal and state statutory and constitutional law.  The Fellow will be involved in developing case strategy, preparing appellate briefs and oral arguments, drafting Attorney General opinions, and reviewing—and in some cases—drafting multi-state amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The Tennessee OSG Honors Fellow will have the opportunity to take primary responsibility for at least one case in a Tennessee appellate court, handling the case through the entire appellate process from initial briefing to oral argument before the court.  

Qualifications

Applicants must be recent law school graduates with an exceptional academic record and a passion for public service.  Because the Office of the Solicitor General is responsible for ensuring excellence in all the State’s appellate work and in all opinions issued by the Attorney General, applicants must have demonstrated outstanding research and writing skills, a familiarity with and interest in federal constitutional law and statutory interpretation, and an interest in Tennessee constitutional law.  Judicial clerkship experience, particularly at the federal appellate level, is strongly favored.  Applicants must be licensed and admitted to practice law in at least one State or have admission pending.  Admission to practice law in Tennessee is not a prerequisite for application, but an applicant who is not licensed in Tennessee and who accepts a Tennessee OSG Honors Fellowship will be required to apply for admission in Tennessee.

Applications

Applications can be submitted via our online applicant portal.   Please direct questions to hrteam@ag.tn.gov.

Pursuant to the State of Tennessee’s Workplace Discrimination and Harassment policy, the State is firmly committed to the principle of fair and equal employment opportunities for its citizens and strives to protect the rights and opportunities of all people to seek, obtain, and hold employment without being subjected to illegal discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It is the State’s policy to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment of an individual because of that person’s race, color, national origin, age (40 and over), sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, or any other category protected by state and/or federal civil rights laws. Offers for this position will be contingent upon a satisfactory criminal history check.