The Judicial Resources Committee of the United States Judicial Conference and Just The Beginning – A Pipeline Organization (JRC-JTB) are pleased to announce the sixth annual Summer Judicial Internship Diversity Project for Summer 2017 (Project). The Project’s goal is to provide summer judicial internships for law students from communities underrepresented in the legal profession. Operating nationally since 2011, the JRC-JTB Project has placed nearly 300 law students in successful internships to date. Over 100 judges have participated in our efforts and look to the JRC-JTB Project for summer internship candidates. Fifteen JRC-JTB intern alumni have secured post-graduate judicial clerkships. The Project is national in scope and will place about 100 students as judicial interns in federal appellate, district, bankruptcy, magistrate and select state appellate judges’ chambers across the country. Interns will have the opportunity to draft bench memoranda, judicial orders, and opinions on a variety of substantive matters, including motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, magistrate judge reports, and habeas corpus petitions.
Applicants should possess strong research and writing skills and be prepared to handle the rigors of working in judge’s chambers. There will be an initial screening, which will identify qualified candidates eligible for a first-round interview conducted in-person or by telephone. Applicants who move beyond this round will be referred to one of the Project’s Participating Judges for a second-round interview, after which each Participating Judge will make a final hiring decision. All of the application and project participation requirements are found on the application page. Please also note that a Memorandum of Understanding must also be included in the application.
Applicants who are hired must commit to participating in two mandatory training workshops (February 2017 and April 2017) prior to the beginning of their internship, either in-person or via videoconference, and must be available to work full-time as an unpaid intern for a minimum of six weeks.
At present, this is an unpaid internship, so applicants are encouraged to seek law school or non-profit funding. Also, applicants are strongly encouraged to apply to the ABA’s Judicial Intern Opportunity Program, which has been a source of funding for qualifying Project interns.
The application deadline is January 13, 2017 at 5:00pm Eastern and all applications must be submitted online. No paper applications will be accepted. Early applications are appreciated and strongly encouraged!