Legal Internship for Summer 2024

POSITION SUMMARY 

Founded in 2017, the Lawyering Project is a legal advocacy organization that blends traditional impact litigation with movement lawyering to promote reproductive health, rights, and justice throughout the United States.  We are fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center, a 501(c)(3) organization. 

Laws that undermine reproductive health, rights, and justice deprive people of moral agency, rob us of control over our bodies, and compound other forms of oppression like racism, sexism, and poverty.  Our mission is to eliminate these laws and the harmful impacts they have on people’s lives.  We are especially focused on laws that limit the availability or affordability of abortion care; contribute to disparities in reproductive health outcomes; embody gender-based stereotypes; or discriminate against people based on their reproductive decisions. 

We envision a society with laws that enable each of us to make decisions about intensely personal matters like sex, pregnancy, family, and healthcare based on our own beliefs and values, and ensures that we all have access to safe pregnancy care, safe abortion care, and safe communities for our families. 

We have three legal programs: Litigation, Access & Innovation, and Pro Bono Initiatives.  Our Litigation Program leverages the courts to eliminate barriers to reproductive health services and promote equity in access to care. Our Access & Innovation Program provides legal advice and technical assistance to healthcare providers, researchers, abortion funds, and organizations that facilitate access to abortion care. Our Pro Bono Initiatives Program operates the Abortion Defense Network, a collaborative effort by nonprofit organizations, private law firms, and government officials aimed at ensuring everyone threatened with liability for providing or supporting abortion care in post-Roe America has access to high-quality, values-aligned lawyers.  For further information, visit https://lawyeringproject.org and https://abortiondefensenetwork.org.  

The Lawyering Project is seeking three legal interns to support its legal programs during the summer of 2024. The legal internship is remote, and legal interns may choose to work from a minimum of eight weeks to a maximum of twelve weeks.  

The Lawyering Project will provide legal interns with a stipend of $625 per week (up to a maximum of $7,500 for 12 weeks), minus any funding that an intern receives from their law school.  We ask all interns to apply for summer internship funding if their law school offers it.   

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Conduct legal and factual research, analysis, and writing; 
• Cite-check and copy-edit legal documents;  
• Assist with court filings;  
• Assist with client advising; 
• Provide additional support to the Lawyering Project’s legal programs, as needed; and 
• Cultivate an organizational culture that aligns with the Lawyering Project’s core values. 

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE 

The legal intern must be currently enrolled in law school.  Both 1Ls and 2Ls are encouraged to apply.   

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES 

The legal intern must have 

• A demonstrated commitment to social justice and an interest in reproductive health, rights, and justice. 
• Skill in legal research, writing, and analysis. 
• Ability to analyze complex legal issues, meet deadlines, work well under pressure, and contribute to a collaborative team environment and a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture. 

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS 

The legal intern will report to a Litigation Counsel and work closely with other Lawyering Project staff.  

PHYSICAL DEMANDS  

This is a remote position that will require working for extended periods of time from a computer. The legal intern will not be required to travel. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT 

Legal interns will work from home. 

TO APPLY: 

Please submit a cover letter, resume, legal writing sample (5-10 pages), and list of two professional references to jobs@lawyeringproject.org. Please write “Summer Internship” in the subject line of the email.   

To best achieve our mission, the Lawyering Project is committed to cultivating an inclusive and equitable workplace in which differences are acknowledged and valued.  Accordingly, in a section of your cover letter, please describe, in no more than 150 words, the identities, perspectives, and experiences that you would bring to the Lawyering Project that are important to you and/or relevant to our work. 

Internship applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until January 12, 2024.  

EEO NOTE: 

The Lawyering Project, a project of Tides Center, is an “at-will” and equal opportunity employer.  At the Lawyering Project, we believe that a team with varied perspectives and experiences will best enable our organization to thrive and achieve its mission.  We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive work environment that values individual differences.  We welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences, identities, and backgrounds to apply.  We will not discriminate against applicants and employees because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity or expression), pregnancy, color, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law or ordinance.  

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to pregnant people and qualified individuals with disabilities, including in the application process.  If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, please send an email with the subject line “Reasonable Accommodation Request” to jobs@lawyeringproject.org.