Graduate Assistants are students who assist law faculty and departments with research, administrative and teaching support and technology. A research assistant should have successfully completed the first year of full-time law study. For full tuition waiver eligibility the university requires that research assistants be enrolled for a minimum of nine credit hours during the fall and spring semesters, or six credit hours during the summer term.   For a half-tuition waiver, the university requires that the student be enrolled at least half time for a minimum of six credit hours during the fall and spring semesters, or three credit hours during the summer term. Research assistants cannot take an academic overload during the semester of employment and cannot serve as a student assistant or in any other employment category in another department or college except as a research assistant.

Graduate Assistants are employed either annually or on a per-semester basis. Graduate assistants receive a stipend and tuition waiver. Graduate assistants have a minimum obligation of 120 hours of work (60 in the summer) which is to be completed before the beginning of the next academic semester, with a recommended work load of 8-10 hours per week. Law research assistants are recruited and selected by individual faculty members and department heads.

The typical compensation package for graduate assistants in the College of Law includes a ½ tuition waiver and $1,000 stipend for fall and spring semesters and a ½ tuition waiver and $500 stipend for the summer semester, however, depending upon the scope of the work, some full tuition waiver positions are available. Along with a full tuition waiver, these positions would typically carry a $2,000 stipend for fall and spring semesters and/or a $1,000 stipend during the summer.

Student Requirements

• The student must have completed the first year full-time program.
• To be eligible for a full tuition waiver the student must be enrolled for a minimum of 9 credit hours during the fall or spring semester, or 6 credit hours during the summer term.  To be eligible for a 1/2 tuition waiver the student must be enrolled for a minimum of 6 credit hours during the fall or spring semester, or 3 credit hours during the summer.
• The student cannot take an academic overload during the semester of employment.
• The student cannot serve as a student assistant or any other employment category in another department or college except as a research assistant during the semester of employment.

College of Law GA Vacancies

Faculty Research
There are no current position vacancies at the time.

Departmental/Administrative
There are no current position vacancies at this time.

Law Library
There are no current position vacancies at this time.

Law Technology Services
There are no current position vacancies at this time.

Selection Process

Graduate Assistantships in the College of Law are awarded both through general appointment and competitively for selected positions based on the applicant pool and their qualifications. A variety of factors are considered when evaluating an applicant's qualifications: research or professional experience, academic record, and the correlation between the applicant's specific experience and the particular assistantship positions that are available. Once selected, students may or may not be reappointed for subsequent terms, subject to performance, departmental policy, and position availability. Assistantships are limited and only awarded to a small percentage of students.

Because of the limited number of assistantships available in the College of Law, we give priority to students within our own programs. If you are a student in another graduate program at Georgia State University, it is unlikely that you will be selected, unless there is a very unique fit between your skills and the available assistantship.

GA Vacancies in Other Departments

Graduate research and teaching assistantships in the various other colleges may be available to qualified College of Law students. Graduate teaching assistants teach one course in each of the academic semester or mini-mesters, receive a stipend, and receive tuition reduction. Graduate assistants devote approximately 10 hours per week to their assigned duties, receive a stipend per semester, mini-mester, or year, and receive tuition reduction. To serve as a research or teaching assistant students must be currently enrolled in the College of Law, be in good academic standing, and have the approval of the dean.

Inquiries about non-law graduate assistantships may be made to the Office of the Dean of the various other colleges:

Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
College of Arts & Sciences 
College of Education
College of Health & Human Sciences
Robinson College of Business

Other Departments that hire law students as GRAs: 
Legal Affairs 
University Housing

If you are offered a position in a department other than the College of Law, you should complete a request form for approval to work outside of your home department prior to formally accepting the position.  The request form can be found below:

College of Law GRA Request to Work Outside of Home Department

Appointment Deadlines

College of Law priority deadlines for Graduate Assistant appointments are as follows:

Fall Semester: August 1
Spring Semester: December 1
Summer Semester: May 1

Tuition waivers

Graduate Assistants eligible for tuition waivers must have completed appointment forms on file by the following dates to be awarded tuition waivers:

Fall Semester: September 25
Spring Semester: January 31
Summer Semester: June 30

It is the student's responsibility to verify that a tuition waiver has been applied to his/her account by the dates above.  Waivers will not be applied to student registration records after these dates.

Appointment Forms

Please read appointment information carefully and return a completed Departmental Appointment Form and Personnel Action Form to Room 407 UL.  If you have not been employed in any capacity within the University System fo Georgia in the past 6 months, you will also need to submit a hire packet to the University Human Resources Department. 

Graduate Assistant Appointment Information
College of Law Appointment Form 
College of Law Personnel Action Form  
GSU Graduate Assistant Policy
GSU Graduate Assistant Hire Packet
Access to ADP
Graduate Assistant Performance Evaluation Form 
College of Law Graduate Assistant Time Log

Litigation Program

A special group of fractional graduate teaching assistantships are available for the College of Law's Litigation Program.  These assistantships are available by appointment only.  For additional information on the availability of these appointments, please contact Professor Paul Milich, Director, College of Law Litigation Program.  If you have already been appointed as a Litigation Associate, please review the following information, complete the following form, and return the form to Room 407 College of Law/Urban Life Building:

Information for Litigation GRAs

Litigation GRA Appointment Form

If you have not been employed in any capacity within the University System fo Georgia in the past 6 months, you will also need to submit a hire packet to the University Human Resources Department.  Hire packet information is found in the Appointment & Hire Form Section above. 

Summer Semester Hourly Research Assistants

A special group of hourly assistantships are available for College of Law students over the Summer Semester.  These assistantships are available for students who do not otherwise qualify for research assistantships over the Summer because of non-enrollment or enrollment below 1/2 time.  There are a very limited number of these appointments available and advanced appointment approval is required.  Students who work in this employment category are classified by the University as non-student temporary employees and earn an average $12.00/hr for aproximately 10 hours of work per week over a 10-week Summer Session.  Students who work an hourly appointment are required to log in hours through the University's Automated Data Processing System.  Payroll deductions for these employees will consist of deductions for federal and state taxes, FICA, and contributions to the Georgia Defined Contribution Plan.  Please note that if you have not been employed in any capacity within the University System fo Georgia in the past 6 months, you will need to submit a hire packet to the University Human Resources Department. 

Information on appointment sign-up, sign up for payroll, ADP System access, payroll schedules, and training information is found below:

Summer Hourly Assistant Appointment Form
Hourly Assistant Hire Packet
Payroll Schedules
eTime Registration
Access to ADP
eTime Training Manual 

Mandatory Research Training

All faculty graduate assistants are required to attend research training offered through the College of Law Library.  All training sessions will be held in Room 113(B).  For dates, times, or additional information on research training please contact Pamela Brannon.

Getting Started With ADP

The University System of Georgia (USG) has contracted with Automated Data Processing (ADP) for access to employment data. Employees, including graduate assistants, have access to self-service applications for pay verification, address and telephone number changes, emergency contact changes, direct deposit allocations, and W-2 forms. In order to use this system you will need to register. Information on how to register is found in the Login and Training Page link below. If you are a new graduate assistant, you will not be able to register in ADP until you paperwork has been filed in the University's HR office. If you have worked as a Graduate Assistant during the past year and have made changes to personal data such as your name, marital status, address, telephone number, direct deposit information, etc., you will need to update this information in ADP. 

Links to ADP Login Page & Training Modules