2026 Open Door Fellows

The NCBF Open Door Fellowship is a unique, competitive opportunity for first-year North Carolina law students. Open Door Fellows gain valuable, hands-on legal experience while widening their professional networks to “open doors” and prepare them for the next steps in their legal careers.

We seek applications from first-year law students who have demonstrated a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion through their activities, background and life experiences, as well as first-year law students who are members of groups that have been historically underrepresented in the legal profession, including first-generation college students and those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Applicants must be interested in practicing law in North Carolina, be enrolled full-time at an ABA-accredited North Carolina law school and have a demonstrated commitment to the NCBF’s mission and values.

Congratulations to Fangzhou Esther Dong and Daiana Mendoza-Acosta, the 2026 NCBF Open Door Fellows!

Fangzhou Esther Dong is a 1L at UNC Law and a recipient of their prestigious Chancellor’s Scholars Program. A graduate of UNC–Chapel Hill with dual degrees in Communications and Media & Journalism, she has been active in several student organizations, serving as a 1L Class Representative for both the Carolina Intellectual Property Law Association and the Asian American Law Students Association. Esther brings experience in public interest communications from her work with the Durham Partnership for Children before law school and is passionate about using her legal training to serve communities, advocate for people and in how IP law intersects with various industries. She will be working with Melissa Thirer Hayward, Deputy General Counsel, and Kearra Richardson, Counsel at Syncfusion, Inc.

Daiana Mendoza-Acosta is a 1L at Campbell Law where she participates in the Innocence Project and the 1L Townsend Kilpatrick Mock Trial Competition. She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Education, Human Development & Family Science and Public Policy. A former community organizer with Poder NC, she has led outreach and communication efforts connecting the LatinX population across the state to resources. Daiana is passionate about advancing equitable public policy and strengthening communities across North Carolina.  She will be working with Sofia Hernandez, Senior Deputy City Attorney & Anne Marie Tosco, Deputy City Attorney at the City of Durham Attorney’s Office.