Summer 2018 Clerkship Opportunities at Public Counsel

Public Counsel has 9 exciting law projects and several subprojects that accept summer interns.  Our projects include a comprehensive children’s rights program that handles school condition and discipline matters, special education cases, and adoptions; a community development team that supports affordable housing development and assists non-profit and small businesses with a variety of transactional needs; an immigrants’ rights group that does compelling asylum work on behalf of victims of torture and political persecution; a homelessness prevention unit that defends unlawful detainer complaints, advocates for welfare benefits, and eliminates outstanding tickets and warrants for persons at-risk of homelessness; a holistic legal initiative that addresses the specific needs of low-income women and girls; a complex consumer fraud division that focuses on litigation and policies to prevent consumer victimization; and an impact litigation department (Opportunity Under Law) that addresses economic injustices on a national level through strategic lawsuits and other means to accomplish systemic reform.  Click here to learn more about each of our practice areas.

Public Counsel’s 2018 summer internship program will run for ten weeks, commencing on May 29, 2018, and ending on August 3, 2018. Both 1L’s and 2L’s are eligible for these internships.  Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Public Counsel seeks summer interns who share our commitment to economic and racial justice, and we seek to have an inclusive group of interns.  Although Public Counsel does not provide funding to law students for its summer program, please be sure to consult with your law school’s public interest program to learn more about available scholarships and financial awards that might support your summer internship.

To apply, please email a cover letter, resume, transcript (or list of grades), and writing sample to Sandra Madera. If you are interested in more than one project, then please list up to three of the projects you would like to work with in order of preference.  It is helpful to describe in your cover letter the reasons for your interest in the project for which you are applying. Please be sure to include the following in the subject line of your e-mail:  “Application for 2018 Public Counsel Summer Internship.”  Your application will not be considered if the requested application materials or your preference are omitted.

The following projects are currently accepting applications for summer 2018:

  • Children’s Rights – Adoptions
  • Children’s Rights – Guardianship
  • Children’s Rights – Education Rights
  • Children’s Rights – Transition Age Foster Youth
  • Community Development Project
  • Community Development Project – Early Care & Education
  • Consumer Law Project
  • Consumer Law Project – Debtor Assistance Project
  • Federal Court Pro Se Clinic
  • Homelessness Prevention Law Project
  • Homelessness Prevention Law Project – Shriver Housing Project
  • Immigrants’ Rights
  • Opportunity Under Law
  • Women and Girls’ Rights