The Florida Justice Institute Seeking a Law Student Intern For Summer 2013
The Florida Justice Institute (FJI), a nonprofit, public interest litigation firm, is seeking a law student intern to work during the Summer of 2013. Founded in 1978, FJI conducts civil rights litigation primarily on behalf of those incarcerated in Florida’s prisons and jails. These types of cases include wrongful death, deliberate indifference to serious medical need, unconstitutional conditions of confinement, excessive force, failure to protect, First Amendment (including free speech, censorship, and religious freedom), disability discrimination and others. FJI also conducts litigation for non-incarcerated victims of housing discrimination, disability discrimination, police misconduct and engages in various other forms of impact litigation for the poor and disenfranchised. They work collaboratively with other public interest organizations and private, pro bono lawyers around the country.
FJI also operates the Volunteer Lawyers’ Project for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which attempts to find pro bono lawyers for all the pro se cases filed in the District.
Since the bulk of FJI’s work is in federal court, there is a considerable amount of written legal pleading and practice work. Law students will be exposed to all phases of federal civil litigation practice, including legal research, drafting legal memos, drafting discovery requests and other legal pleadings, client interviews, visiting clients and witnesses in prison, reviewing and organizing discovery, drafting letters and public records requests, reviewing and responding to letters from incarcerated people and their families seeking assistance, and attending hearings, trials, depositions, mediations, settlement negotiations, and oral arguments as they may occur throughout the internship. Students will receive direct supervision, assignments, direction and feedback from FJI’s attorneys. The attorney supervisors take great care to see that each student receives challenging assignments, constant supervision, and regular feedback. FJI handles cases statewide, so there may be some travel involved.
Applicants should have excellent research and writing skills, a desire to work in a collaborative environment, and a demonstrated interest in social justice.
At this time, FJI is unable to provide any compensation to their student interns. They do, however, regularly work with students so that they may obtain academic credit and/or outside funding for their work. FJI has qualified as an extern clinical placement by many leading law schools.
Visit here for more information. All interested applicants should send a resume, writing sample, and cover letter to Jessica Pla. Applications are accepted year-round on a rolling basis. No phone calls please. Due to the volume of applications received, they are unable to respond to each one.
The opportunity is posted here.