The first group of law students who participated in the Fellows Program attended the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova, Temple, Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark, Widener, Howard, and Penn State Dickinson law schools. Drexel University was added after its establishment in 2006. The Fellows Program was subsequently expanded to law students with significant connections to the Philadelphia area even if they attended law school elsewhere. To date, students have participated from a number of other law schools including - Harvard, Duke, Washington University of St. Louis, Virginia, Washington & Lee, Pittsburgh, American, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Columbia, Charleston, Northwestern, USC, Harvard, Emory, Cincinnati, Michigan, NYU, Cornell, Georgetown and George Washington.

During the Fellows  Program, in addition to their jobs as summer associate or law clerks, the students participate in various training seminars and workshops. Other diverse students working in the Philadelphia area through other programs, such as the Judicial Intern Opportunity Program of the American Bar Association and the Montgomery County Bar Association’s first-year law student summer program, are invited to participate in PDLG’s activities.

Many of the Fellows Program students have been hired as second-year summer associates by PDLG member organizations and many Fellows Program alumni have been offered jobs with PDLG members after graduation from law school. Some have gone on to work at government or public interest organizations.  Several have gone on to law firm partnerships, the most recent with a PDLG member firm.

The PDLG and Fellows Program alumni understand that the Program is not just a vehicle for finding summer employment, but is also an opportunity to join and help build the Philadelphia legal community. There is a vibrant network of PDLG alumni who give back to the organization and to those coming after them - as advisors, mentors and speakers at PDLG seminars and programs.