Federal Work-Study for Law Students

• File your FAFSA. Federal Work-Study (FWS) is a need-based federal financial aid program. You must demonstrate financial need on the FAFSA to be considered.
• Amount of FWS awarded is based on your anticipated gross earnings for the academic year.
• The FWS award will replace an equivalent amount of your student loan eligibility.

Law Related Work Experience

• Lewis & Clark contracts with a variety of employers in the Portland-metro area to hire a few of our upper-division law students in FWS jobs. (FWS jobs are not available for first year of law students).
• Employers are billed for a portion of the student’s wages, and the rest is covered your FWS award.
• FWS funds are limited each year, and not all students will get an FWS job opportunity.

Build your Resume

• Many of the contracted employers would not be able to offer jobs to law students if not for the federal FWS funds.
• These FWS jobs will help you gain law-related work experience, professional references, and connections in the Portland legal community.

Career Services

• Career Services can help you learn which of the contracted FWS employers have open positions for law students.
• The FWS jobs will be filled by the employer using a competitive application and interview process. Work with Career Services to polish your resume and your interviewing skills.

Business Services

To accept an FWS job offered to you, visit Business Services at the LC Law School. Obtain and complete an FWS Request Form, and report the gross amount you expect to earn for each semester in the academic year. A few things to keep in mind:

• You will need to complete the required I-9 and W-4 in ‘Workday’ for the Lewis & Clark Student Payroll process. You may not begin work prior to completing the federally required I-9 authorization Form, which requires you to provide proof that you are eligible to work in the U.S in accordance with the Department of U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services. Provide proof to Business Services at the LC Law School. Examples of acceptable documents needed to complete an I-9 are:
  • Passport, or
  • Driver’s license/College ID AND Social Security card, or
  • Driver’s license/College ID AND a certified copy of your birth certificate.
• The employers have a contracted FWS spending limit, which may impact how much you can work.
• FWS rules stipulate no student can work more than 20 hours a week when classes are in session. During semester break(s) and summer months a student may work up to 40 hours a week.
• You must track time worked by entering your hours into ‘Workday’ and submit them in a timely manner for supervisor approval. (Report any time entry issues to Business Services at LC).
• You must monitor the amount of your gross FWS earnings each month in Workday. You are responsible for not going over the maximum FWS award allocated to you. If you exceed the FWS award the employer will be billed for 100% of those wages.