Dear everyone,
I was wondering how people find internships related to the law field without being in law school?
I am currently looking, and when I do ask, most law offices ask for law school experience.
If I don’t land an internship in a Law office, what similar types of summer interns should I look for?
Any advice is extremely beneficial.
If I don’t find any internship my rising Sophomore year, then what should I do?
Colleges usually have pre-law advisers who can help. The DA/PD/Legal Aid often have programs for undergrad volunteers,
There are many other law-related jobs, as alluded to by @Demosthenes49 .
Prisoner’s Legal Services takes volunteers and interns
The court system may have formal internships. Also contact judges to see if they need help in their courtrooms with the paperwork, discovery sessions, etc.
Sometimes there are youth programs related to law in communities.
Immigration counseling services have legal advisors
Domestic violence groups ditto
Gender identity groups ditto
Reproductive rights groups
Animal rights and humane society groups
Environmental protection groups
Nearly any social issue that includes advocacy for legislation or for the individual will have some sort of legal arm someplace.
Also your local government deals with law all of the time, but from the other end. See if you can get work with a local government agency, such as the environmental entity, social services, education, etc.
My daughter interned at legal aid and district attorney office. She applied in Dec-Jan to get summer internships.
@oldfort Thank you so much for your advice !
It might depend on what kind of job / internship you are asking for. Most law firms, including the one where I practice, hires law students to serve as law clerks or interns. But many law firms, including mine, also hire file clerks or runners, and you don’t necessarily need to be in law school for those jobs. As a file clerk or runner, you don’t do research or draft anything, but you might run a pleading over to the courthouse or take a document to another law office, or work with the firm’s files. That might be the best you can do without being in law school, but it can give you some general exposure to the legal field, help you get your foot in the door at a firm that might let you law clerk for them when you do eventually go to law school, and possibly make some connections in the legal field. Good luck!
My son2, an English lit major/Econ minor who isn’t sure if law school is in his future, wanted to pursue something law-related (he’s already done summer internships in a start-up, and last summer in a branding/business strategy consulting org. This spring semester, he’s interning for his university’s in-house legal counsel. Should be interesting…working on all sorts of issues, including Title IX. So, see if your college/ university has an internship w their own in-house lawyers.