Spring 2025 Paid Graduate Legal Intern, Center For Liberty

The ACLU seeks law students for a Winter/Spring 2025 Legal Internship in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Center for Liberty based in New York, NY, Washington, DC, or remote.

The Team:

The Center for Liberty encompasses the ACLU’s work on reproductive freedom, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, freedom of religion and belief, and disability rights. Underlying all of our work is the principle that we are all entitled to determine the course of our lives based on who we are and what we believe, free from unreasonable government constraint, stereotypes, and discrimination. 

What You'll Do:

Center for Liberty interns are essential to the work of our small team. Our legal interns engage in legal research, participate in team meetings, and review and cite-check briefs. Our work currently focuses on combatting efforts to use religion to discrimination, veterans' health care discrimination, and the family regulation of parents with disabilities. The intern will work on other Center priorities and issue areas as assigned.

Your Day to Day:

Interns will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience by working alongside the team. Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to the following: 

• Conduct legal research and analysis to support new and active litigation projects   
• Aid in drafting of legal memoranda, pleadings, affidavits, motions, and briefs   
• Draft and edit public education and non-litigation advocacy materials   
• Provide support and assistance to ACLU affiliates and cooperating attorneys   
• Potential to work closely with clients and participate in outreach with impacted communities, discovery, and trial practice   
• Engage in special projects and other duties as assigned 
• Center principles of equity, inclusion, and belonging in all work, embedding the values in program development, policy application, and organizational practices and processes   

What You'll Bring:

This Internship is open to students who are in law school. Interns should possess the following: 

• Completion of 1L year of law school by fall 2024 or enrollment in an LLM program  
• Excellent research skills, including conducting internet and legal database research   
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and writing   
• Attention to detail, excellent organizing and time-management skills   
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite   
• The initiative to see projects through to completion   
• Demonstrated commitment to public interest law, civil liberties, and racial justice   
• Demonstrated ability to conduct complex legal analysis and fact finding   

Preferred Qualifications 

• Demonstrated interest in reproductive freedom, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, freedom of religion and belief, or disability rights 
• Familiarity with or previous experience working in reproductive freedom, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, freedom of religion and belief, or disability right

Future ACLU-ers Will: 

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU 
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives 
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflict 

Internship Logistics:

• Location: Our internship program offers a limited number of in-person, remote, or hybrid intern positions. This internship is remote or hybrid from our NY or DC National office. 
• Time Commitment: Term-time internships may be completed on a part-time basis (10, 15, or 20 hours/week) or full-time (35 hours/week).
• Internship Duration: Full-time internships span 10 consecutive weeks and part-time 12 weeks. This internship has a start date of: May 27 or June 9, 2025.
• Stipend: A stipend is available for students who are lawfully authorized to work and do not receive compensation from other sources. Students with external funding may receive a partial stipend to bring their total funding up to the level of the ACLU’s stipend amount for that term. Arrangements can be made with educational institutions for work/study or course credit. Below are the stipend rates: 
• $24/hour for graduate and law students or equivalent experience 

Priority Application Deadline: November 1, 2024.

While there is a priority deadline, our project is committed to review all applications on a rolling basis until the closing of posting.

ABOUT THE ACLU

The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union – beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees. For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach. 

Equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency, and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

 

Why the ACLU:

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy

protections for our digital age or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

Our Commitment to Accessibility, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion:

Accessibility, equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. 

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email benefits.hrdept@aclu.org. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.