What is the CLAE Leadership Institute?
CLAE’s Leadership Institute is a transformative, yearlong program through which emerging legal aid leaders develop a comprehensive set of skills essential to the exercise of leadership in a social justice context, whether in an advocacy or administrative/managerial capacity. Leaders in training (we call them fellows) learn these skills and concepts at four multi-day onsite retreats and through web-based distance learning activities between retreats. They work in pairs with hand-picked mentors from outside their p
rograms who enrich their learning environment and provide ongoing support and encouragement. Through work on Leadership Initiatives - major projects designed to solve significant problems in their client communities or address important needs within their programs - the Fellows have the opportunity to practice the skills they’ve learned in a real world laboratory with support from their peers, their programs, their mentors and CLAE faculty.

