Corporate Fellowship Pipeline Program (CFPP) and Corporate Internship Pipeline Program (CIPP)

With increasing restrictions on departmental budgets and the pressure to diversify their talent pipeline, corporate legal departments are seeking innovative ways to minimize costs while continuing to provide clients with top-notch diverse lawyers. The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) created the Corporate Fellowship Pipeline Program (CFPP) and Corporate Internship Pipeline Program (CIPP) to serve as a unique solution to this pervasive challenge in the legal market. 

UHLC is on the cutting edge when it comes to educating law students about the multifaceted in-house practice of law. Through a combination of innovative class instruction, real-world legal experience, and essential professional development training, our business law-focused students have a complex skillset unmatched by their similarly situated peers.

UHLC’s CFPP and CIPP offer the exceptional legal services of recent UHLC graduates (CFPP Fellows) and current JD students (CIPP Interns) to in-house corporate legal departments looking to maximize cost savings while providing exceptional legal talent to their clients.

CFPP Program Description

The CFPP is specifically designed to offer transferable legal skills to recent law school graduates while providing corporations the flexibility to create a fellowship program that meets their unique needs:

• CFPP Fellows provide legal services and create work product, including legal research and analysis, document drafting, discovery, project management, document review, due diligence, etc., through projects and assignments provided by a supervising attorney;
• CFPP Fellows work full-time (minimum of 40 hours/week), from mid-August or mid-November for 12 months following the year of their graduation; and
• CFPP employers provide CFPP Fellows a one-year salary commitment of at least $65,000 to $75,000.

CIPP Program Description

The CIPP is specifically designed to offer transferable legal skills to current JD students while providing corporations the flexibility to create an internship program that meets their unique needs:

• CIPP Interns provide legal services and create work product, including legal research and analysis, document drafting, discovery, project management, document review, due diligence, etc., through projects and assignments provided by a supervising attorney;
• CIPP Interns work for the employer’s in-house legal department full-time (minimum of 40 hours/week) for 8 to 10 weeks during the summer; and
• CIPP employers provide CIPP Interns with a weekly salary commitment of at least $720.00 ($18.00/hour).

CFPP/CIPP Participation

If you are interested in participating in the CFPP or CIPP, please contact Kourtney James, Director of Employer Relations and Development, at 713.743.5622 or kljames3@central.uh.edu.