KAP 2026-2027 - Legal Fellow - The Buckeye Institute

The Koch Associate Program (KAP) is a career accelerator for early to mid-career professionals with a drive to tackle our country’s most pressing challenges in more effective, principled ways. KAP equips associates with the tools, mindsets, and community to succeed as social entrepreneurs—individuals excited to find new and better ways to break barriers and eliminate injustice. Associates spend one day each week engaging in experiential learning with Stand Together Fellowships and work at one of our many partner organizations the rest of the week. Our curriculum is designed to supercharge your development and equip you for long-term success as you seek to have an impact on the problems that prevent people from realizing their potential.

About The Buckeye Institute

Founded in 1989, The Buckeye Institute is an independent research and educational institution— a think tank—whose mission is to advance free-market public policy in the states.

Buckeye accomplishes its mission by performing timely and reliable research on key issues, compiling and synthesizing data, formulating sound free-market policies, and promoting those solutions for implementation in Ohio and replication across the country. It files direct legal challenges and also supports the litigation of other parties through amicus briefs including at the highest levels of state and federal courts.

You can learn more about Buckeye by watching this video and visiting our website.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, The Buckeye Institute has become one of the most prominent players shaping the U.S. Supreme Court's agenda. The Buckeye Institute came in second place in the country for the number of amicus briefs it filed according to an independent analysis by Empirical SCOTUS.

Buckeye litigates on a wide range of constitutional rights, amendments, and powers issues. Buckeye primarily supports preventing governments from abusing power, exceeding authority, and infringing on rights.

The Buckeye Institute cases include, but are not limited to:

• First Amendment retaliation, speech, and association-related claims;

• Challenging public-sector unions’ ongoing collection of former members’ dues; and

• Rejecting Wickard v. Filburn’s expansive interpretation of the Interstate Commerce Clause.

The list of Buckeye’s existing cases and briefs can be found here.

Buckeye’s legal team also advocates for sound public policies that:

• Reform our criminal justice system while keeping communities safe;

• Increase worker freedom and vindicate workers’ First Amendment rights;

• Oppose abuses by the administrative state;

• Defend individual and property rights; and

• Uphold the proper balance of power between states and the federal government and checks and balances between the three branches.

About the Role

The Buckeye Institute is seeking a Legal Fellow to work on-site, in person, in Columbus, Ohio.

Duties include substantive legal and policy research involving exciting and cutting-edge issues and cases. The Legal Fellow may have active participation (under the guidance of Buckeye’s professional legal team) in high-profile cases pending before state and federal courts as well as preparing for filing new lawsuits. The role may also involve assisting with the preparation of amicus curiae briefs to be filed in federal circuit courts or even the Supreme Court of the United States. This position is open to newly-graduated law students who have not yet passed the bar as well as bar-admitted attorneys. Preference will be given to lawyers with one to five years of experience.

The Legal Fellow is expected to work full-time during regular business hours when The Buckeye Institute’s office in Columbus, Ohio, is open (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

The application process is highly competitive. Accordingly, applicants should demonstrate academic excellence, outstanding verbal and written communication skills, strong research capabilities, and a commitment to limited government and free-market public policy solutions.

To Apply

Please apply here and submit a cover letter explaining why you are interested in this position at The Buckeye Institute. If selected for an interview, we will also request the following items:

• Transcript (unofficial records are acceptable).

• Brief writing sample (no more than five pages in length that has not been edited by anyone else), which can be in the form of a blog post, a short paper, or an excerpt from a longer paper.

• Two to three references of people who have overseen your past professional work or academic research.

About Stand Together Fellowships
Learn more about Stand Together Fellowships.

Stand Together Fellowships believes that diversity in experiences, perspectives, knowledge and ideas fuels creativity, broadens knowledge, and helps drive success. Our admissions office treats all program participants and applicants with honesty, dignity, respect and sensitivity. We welcome all qualified applicants regardless of color, race, religion, religious creed, sex, gender or gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, ethnicity, ancestry, age, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy (including medical needs which may arise from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), military and veteran status, genetic information, marital or familial status, political affiliation, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances.