Summer Internship Opportunities

In our efforts to help you find a summer position, we asked an alumni on for his thoughts. Here was his response:

There are several Christian oriented internships. Some are religiously motivated, some advance religious or religio-political ends.

Legal Aid programs can be found here: http://www.clsnet.org/sites/default/files/2010_Directory_Legal_Aid_Programs_02_03_10.pdf. There are literally scores of them. These are specifically legal aid, meaning helping the poor with their legal problems and being Christ to them. Most of these organizations (some are just attorneys in their private practice willing to help out) would welcome potential interns. The vast majority, if not all, would allow B547 or similar credit b/c of its legal-aid organization affiliation. This is true even of those in attorneys' offices. Some, particularly those who are attorneys, would be far more likely to hire a CLS-esq. intern (or help them out early in their careers by passing them clients) than other potential interns/associates. This is because they take on a few pro bono clients for religious reasons but engage in extensive private practice otherwise.

There are, of course, many religio-political internships. The Alliance Defense Fund's Blackstone Legal Fellowship, CLS, and American Center for Law & Justice. The Pacific Justice Institute and Thomas Moore Law Center do as well. Each of these organizations share information and expertise. People move back and forth between and among them often. The ADF really has the summer intern market wrapped up regarding religious right internships because it farms its interns out to these places.

However, ADF receives hundreds of requests for interns but only has about 120, meaning there are many requests for CLS people but not enough interns. Many of these internships go unfilled; many are not religious right but rather Christian working environments for top-quality legal services in all sorts of fields. I have a call out to Melissa Roberson at ADF (1-800-TELL-ADF) requesting more info on that.

Also, many Christian Universities and Colleges would welcome (unpaid) interns in their general counsel's offices. This is very good experience for those interested in government, corporate, or nonprofit work.