For more information and to apply to the opportunities below, please visit Symplicity.
♦ Please be sure to CHECK PRIOR BLOG POSTS! You can narrow your search by utilizing the “Blog post categories” widget at the ride sidebar and select accordingly to view posts regarding: (1.) Networking events, (2.) employment, fellowship, and internship opportunities, (3.) scholarships and (4.) writing competitions ♦
ELLA BAKER SUMMER 1L INTERNSHIP PROGRAM [DEADLINE: DEC. 18, 2015]
CCR created the Ella Baker Summer Internship Program in 1987 to honor the legacy of Ella Baker, a hero of the civil rights movement, and to train the next generation of social justice lawyers. The program uses a combination of theory and practice to train talented and committed law students on how to work alongside social movements, community organizations, and impacted individuals. Through the program, interns gain practical litigation experience and sharpen their theoretical understanding of the relationship between social change, organizing and lawyering.
The Ella Baker Program is sponsored by the Bertha Foundation which hosts law students and emerging lawyers at legal organizations across the world. As a result, Ella Baker interns are connected to a global community of social justice law students and lawyers through the Bertha Legal Network.
Intern Roles and Responsibilities: Interns work under the direct supervision of attorneys and are given high-quality assignments and periodic feedback. Interns also participate in weekly educational seminars. Topics range from litigation skills, theories of social change, and guest lectures by noted local organizers and activists. Interns’ responsibilities may include: Legal research & writing for domestic and international litigation, factual investigation, client & witness interviews, policy/legislative research, and participation in client and community meetings. In addition, students are provided opportunities to attend court proceedings, community and client meetings, view films about social justice issues, and attend other law related panels and events.
Selected interviews for 1L applicants will be held from January 18-27, 2016 and 1L students will be informed if they were selected in early February.
Who: 1Ls
Where: Students in the Ella Baker program are hosted at 4 sites. Each site offers students the opportunity to work at a legal organization where collaboration with social movements and community organizations is emphasized. CCR has stitched these sites together in a single program to expose students to the unique opportunities and challenges of social justice lawyering in different cities, institutions with unique and varying political histories and contexts.
· Miami, Florida – 4-5 interns
Ella Baker interns work at the Community Justice Project, Inc. and are supervised by CJP attorneys. Community Justice Project believes lawyers create social change by supporting the campaigns of grassroots organizations directed by communities of color most affected by social injustice. Interns in Miami will work on a varied caseload, including litigation, campaign strategy, community outreach/education, direct representation, human rights advocacy and policy advocacy. Students’ work will relate to local campaigns led by client organizations including those to: combat police brutality and racial profiling; dismantle the school to prison pipeline; preserve low-income mobile home parks; confront “slumlords” in low-income housing; and improve working conditions for taxi-drivers. Students may also contribute to human rights advocacy related to racial discrimination and police violence in the context of the broader Movement for Black Lives. Among the organizations we represent are the Dream Defenders, Miami Workers Center, Power U Center for Social Change, and New Vision Taxi Drivers Association. Students at this site experience the unique opportunities and challenges of utilizing a community lawyering approach in one of the most economically unequal cities in the U.S.
· New York City, NY – 12-14 interns
Ella Baker interns work at the Center for Constitutional Rights and are supervised by CCR’s attorneys. Students gain experience working on cases in CCR’s three docket areas: Government Misconduct/Racial Justice, Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative and International Human Rights. Students conduct legal research and writing, factual investigation, background research and legislative/policy advocacy. In the past, students have worked on cases involving solitary confinement, discriminatory policing practices, social and economic rights, immigrants’ rights, U.S. detention and targeted killing practices, universal jurisdiction over international human rights abuses, gender and LGBTI justice domestically and internationally. Students also have the opportunity to work with CCR’s Education and Outreach Department on various advocacy campaigns. Students at this site experience the unique opportunities and challenges of doing social justice lawyering at a national organization.
· New Orleans, Louisiana – 4-6 interns
Ella Baker interns work in the legal department for the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice and the National Guestworker Alliance. The legal department provides strategic legal advice and representation to three membership groups and their members: three grassroots membership organizations: the Congress of Day Laborers, Stand With Dignity, and the National Guestworker Alliance. Legal work focuses on forcing employers and federal, state, and local agencies to comply with existing laws, to develop better law and policy in the vision of low income workers and communities, and to promote new forms of bargaining with employers, the state, and on global supply chains. Our current work includes federal impact litigation and law reform cases, strategic immigration and detention work, administrative advocacy, policy analysis and advocacy reports, and campaign research and support. Practice areas include workers’ rights, housing, civil rights, and immigration.
· Boston, Massachusetts – 2-3 interns
Ella Baker interns in Boston work with the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), and are supervised by IJDH attorneys. IJDH and its Haiti-based affiliate, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), have over 17 years of demonstrated success enforcing Haitians’ human rights, in Haiti and abroad. IJDH works in four areas: 1) impact litigation that opens the doors of Haitian, international and U.S. courts to precedent-setting human rights cases; 2) documentation that provides public officials, human rights advocates, and grassroots activists the reliable information they need to speak up for human rights in Haiti; 3) transnational grassroots advocacy that compels governments and powerful institutions in Haiti and abroad to respect Haitians’ human rights; and 4) systemic capacity building that develops a corps of Haitian human rights lawyers and advocates trained to fight for sustainable change in their country. Interns will likely work primarily on ground-breaking litigation and advocacy seeking accountability from the United Nations (UN) for introducing cholera to Haiti. This work is done in collaboration with the BAI, and interns may have an opportunity to travel to Haiti for 1-2 weeks to work directly with the attorneys and apprentices at BAI. Due to the dynamic and fast-paced nature of legal work in Haiti, interns must demonstrate language proficiency in French or Kreyol; however, students with proficiency in both languages are preferred.
When: June 6, 2016 – August 12, 2016 (depending on worksite location, program end date may vary) (40 hours/week for 10 weeks minimum)
All students will be asked to attend an Orientation and a Final Debrief in New York City. The location for the orientation/debrief are TBD. Housing will be provided for students selected to work at our non-NYC worksites for the orientation and final debrief session.
Requirements:
- Skills: (1) Excellent legal research and oral/written communication skills; (2) experience and/or a demonstrated commitment to social justice, organizing and/or social movements; (3) familiarity with issues surrounding racial justice, gender justice, civil rights, international human rights, national security law; (4) Miami Interns – Proficiency in Spanish a plus; and (5) Boston Interns – Fluency in either Kreyol or French required (both preferred)
Submission components: (1) Application; (2) cover letter; (3) resume; and (4) list of 3 references with corresponding contact information
*Submit all application materials as 1 PDF
Complete details and Application: Available @ ccrjustice.org/home/BerthaJusticeInstitute/bji-ella-baker-summer-internship-program
Contact: If you have specific questions, please contact Mr. An-Tuan Williams, Center for Constitutional Rights, Bertha Justice Institute Associate @ awilliams@ccrjustice.org
EARTHJUSTICE SUMMER 2016 LAW CLERKSHIP [DEADLINE: DEC. 31, 2015]
Earthjustice is seeking summer law clerks who share a passion for justice and a healthy environment. Summer law clerks work with attorneys on case development and litigation. Under the supervision of an attorney, a law clerk’s primary responsibilities are to perform legal and factual research, and to develop case strategy and legal theories. Law clerks may also have the opportunity to assist attorneys with preparing briefs and motions, to meet with clients and experts, to participate in moots of oral arguments, and to attend court proceedings and conferences with opposing counsel. In addition to involvement in ongoing litigation, the summer program includes seminars with attorneys from across the organization on current environmental issues.
The Earthjustice Summer Clerkship position includes a stipend up to a maximum of $6,500, with the stipend amount dependent on the extent of a clerk’s funding from other sources for the summer. Earthjustice will pay $6,500 less the total amount received from other sources. They strongly encourage candidates to pursue outside funding, but the ability to secure outside funding will not be considered as part of the hiring decision.
Who: Law students who have a minimum of ten consecutive weeks to commit in the summer of 2016 are eligible to apply
Where: Earthjustice has ten regional offices:
- Alaska – Anchorage and Juneau
- California – San Francisco and Los Angeles
- Florida – Tallahassee
- International – San Francisco
- Mid-Pacific – Honolulu
- Northeast – New York and Philadelphia
- Northern Rockies – Bozeman
- Northwest – Seattle
- Rocky Mountain- Denver
- Washington, DC
Each of these offices accepts applications for summer law clerks and interested students may apply to multiple offices with one application. Learn more about clerkships by office/region @ earthjustice.org/about/jobs/law-clerk#regional
Requirements:
Submission components: (1) Cover letter (1 page – the best cover letters address why the applicant wants to work for Earthjustice and provide information about the applicant that is not apparent or fully explained in the resume); (2) resume; (3) recent writing sample (preferably a legal brief or memorandum of no more than 10 pages that primarily reflects your work); (4) unofficial transcript; and (5) list of 3 references
*NOTE: Please submit the writing sample, references, and transcript in 1 single PDF
Application: Available @ earthjustice.org/about/jobs/application-law-clerkship-summer-2016
Complete details: Available @ earthjustice.org/about/jobs/33038/law-clerkship-summer-2016#
Contact: If you’re having technical difficulties submitting your application, please reach out to jobs@earthjustice.org
◊ If you have any QUESTIONS, COMMENTS OR FEEDBACK, please utilize the “Contact Us” menu at the top of the site – all forms will be sent to Jessica Michelle Ciminero ◊
