Summer 2019 Clerkship Opportunities at Public Counsel
For law students who want to spend their summer practicing law in one of the country’s most prestigious public interest law settings – this opportunity is for you!
Public Counsel, the nation’s largest pro bono law firm, is now accepting applications from 2L’s for its 2019 Summer Clerkship Program. 1L students will be able to apply as of December 1, 2018.
Public Counsel has eight exciting law projects that accept summer interns who will work on a variety of direct services, policy advocacy, and impact litigation projects. Our projects include a comprehensive children’s rights program that encompasses school climate and discipline, special education, adoptions, guardianships, and transition-age youth; a community development team that supports and protects affordable housing and assists non-profit and small businesses with a variety of transactional needs; an immigrants’ rights group that assists undocumented victims of crime, domestic violence, persecution, and torture; a homelessness prevention unit that defends unlawful detainer complaints, advocates for public 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, including sub-projects focused on bankruptcy and pro se assistance in federal cases; a veterans’ rights project that helps veterans and their caregivers overcome obstacles to obtaining VA benefits; 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 seeks summer interns who share our commitment to economic and racial justice. The large majority of Public Counsel’s clients are working class people of color who have experienced a number of intersectional forms of oppression, often barring them from access to legal representation. We seek to have a group of interns who have a personal and/or professional understanding of these experiences, consistent with Public Counsel’s active, ongoing commitment to increase equity and inclusion within our organization.
Public Counsel’s 2019 summer internship program will run for ten weeks, commencing on May 28, 2019, and ending on August 2, 2019. Both 1L’s and 2L’s are eligible for these internships. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. 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 2019 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 2019:
- 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
For complete information on the summer program, including how to apply for a clerkship, interested students should visit Public Counsel’s 2019 Summer Clerkship Application page.