The National Employment Law Project 2013 Summer Legal Internship Opportunities – New York City, Seattle, Oakland
The National Employment Law Project is a non‐profit research and advocacy organization that partners with national, state and local allies – including community groups, immigrant advocacy organizations, worker centers, unions, policy makers and think tanks – to develop and promote policies and programs that create good jobs and enforce hard-won worker rights. They are currently seeking applications from interested law students for their 2013 summer legal internship program in New York City, Seattle and Oakland.
With a staff of lawyers, social scientists and policy experts, NELP’s approach is to work in close partnership with grassroots organizing groups and reformers to test new models in the states and then translate them to the federal level, in order to respond to the key problems of the U.S. labor market in the twenty‐first century. Theor work includes:
- Developing new strategies to improve enforcement of basic workplace rights in order to combat the growing number of low‐wage and immigrant workers who are not paid the minimum wage or overtime, endure unsafe workplaces and face retaliation when trying to organize;
- Developing policies and providing campaign support to raise minimum wage and labor standards at the federal, state and local levels, with a particular focus on eliminating loopholes that exclude immigrants, people of color, and contingent and temporary workers from these protections;
- Working with policymakers and community coalitions to make economic development accountable to community needs and create living wage jobs for local residents.
Summer legal interns will assist NELP attorneys in all aspects of their work. Interns will perform legal research and writing in support of policy advocacy, litigation and community education, and will assist in drafting manuals, articles and policy briefs for publication. Interns may also work with NELP’s National Wage and Hour Clearinghouse, a growing movement of unions, community groups, worker centers, legal services, plaintiff’s attorneys and public agencies working to make headway against wage theft and the erosion of the minimum wage floor and right to overtime pay.
Interested students should submit an application (resume, cover letter and writing sample) via email and indicate in the subject line which location(s) they are applying for. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, but students are encouraged to apply as early as possible.