THE 2010 SUMMER INTERN PROGRAM IS CLOSED. NO FURTHER APPLICATIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED. APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER 2011 WILL BE ACCEPTED STARTING JANUARY 1, 2011.
Law Student Summer Internship Program 2010
Pittsburgh Office
JUNE 7-AUGUST 13
Neighborhood Legal Services Association (NLSA) is a private, non-profit Pennsylvania corporation established in 1966 to provide free legal services in civil cases to low-income people. The program serves the residents of four counties in Western Pennsylvania. The program's mission is to meet the civil legal needs of the poor and vulnerable in our community through effective legal representation and education.
Intern program:
We want you to learn how to be a lawyer, not a law student. Our goal is to provide an intensive hands-on experience which exposes aspiring lawyers to a range of legal issues and remedies. The most significant tasks:
● Students will participate in a summer Magisterial District Judge project in which they will interview and advise clients with Landlord Tenant problems who call in to the NLSA Helpline. Students will help prepare the clients for Landlord Tenant hearings and if the student is certified, he/she may represent clients at those hearings and at motions and arbitration hearings in Common Pleas court.
● In addition to those housing-related cases, the students will:
–draft pleadings in response to consumer litigation and present motions on procedural issues if certified to appear in court;
– assist at the evening clinics on consumer and family law, and
– accompany the Elder Law attorneys to Senior Centers to observe another aspect of NLSA client service.
●Prepare video presentations to be shown to clients in NLSA waiting rooms and on our website. We have never attempted this before, so we’re looking for some creative minds. We are seeking funding to hire a marketing professional to help with this project.
The educational aspects of the program include three days of orientation during which students are introduced to the legal fundamentals of landlord tenant and evidentiary matters. At weekly meetings, discussion of the cases and issues handled the previous week furthers the intern’s education in both substantive and procedural law. There are occasional "lunch and learn" meetings featuring speakers on a variety of legal topics. In 2009, the Lunch and Learn sessions included a meeting with Third Circuit judge Thomas Hardiman, and skills trainings on negotiation and opening statements by experienced trial attorneys in private practice.
At all times interns will be trained and supervised by staff attorneys at NLSA. This training will include interviewing, counseling, fact gathering, drafting, witness preparation, case analysis, and litigation. The students will learn about poverty law issues, lawyering skills, ethics, and professional conduct by working side by side with attorneys who have dedicated their professional careers to serving others.
Some comments from interns in previous years:
● “This definitely turned out to be a beneficial and intense learning experience. The best experience I have had during law school.”
● “I was very impressed with this intern program. Expectations were very clear and the orientation covered materials effectively. Staff was very helpful and accessible, and it was nice to be given real clients and responsibility.”
●”...after the judge ruled in my client’s favor, six bailiffs came into the courtroom and escorted both parties out. It was very exciting, and I was happy that justice prevailed. I really enjoyed the summer program–I learned a lot about how to be an attorney, and can’t thank you enough for the experience.”
●”The programs are great and help a wide range of people while acting as a great teaching tool for law students.”
● “The summer has been a great experience–not only because I learned a lot about the law, but because it allowed me to build confidence and actually impact people’s lives. I can’t think of another internship program I could have done after my first year of law school that could compare with the experience I got at NLSA this summer. Thank you!”
Will you be paid for working here?
The NLSA interns have always been volunteers, some of whom have received funding from other sources. NLSA is seeking funding for its intern program and will report here on that effort.
Fellowships:
If we are not able to obtain funding to pay all the summer interns, NLSA will continue, as we have in past years, to actively seek fellowships and grants for its summer students, and we will cooperate with any student accepted into the summer intern program to help him or her apply for funding to work here.
Some possible sources of funding include:
●Martin Luther King, Jr. Summer Intern Program:
http://www.palegalservices.org/mlk_program.htm
●K& L Gates
http://www.klgates.com/lawstudents/studentspublicservice/fellowship
●Equal Justice Works:
http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/programs/summercorps/general
●Equal Justice America:
http://www.equaljusticeamerica.org/ApplyForFellowship.htm
●Site listing many summer grant programs:
http://www.pic.org/
●University of Pittsburgh Law School:
http://students.law.pitt.edu/plisf/
●Duquesne Law School:
http://www.law.duq.edu/career/SerAwdFel.html
●The public interest program at your law school
How to apply:
Applications may be submitted after January 1, 2010. There is no deadline to apply but offers will be made on a rolling basis. Interviews will be offered to suitable applicants and may be conducted in person or over the phone. Preference is given to law students who are eligible to appear in court pursuant to Pa. Bar Admission Rule 321.
For more information contact Attorney Catherine Martin at martinc@nlsa.us.
To apply, email her a cover letter and resume. We will send you a brief writing project to complete and return to us. This project should take you no more than one hour from start to finish, and is designed to take the place of a writing sample.
Main Office: 928 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-3799
Telephone: (412) 255-6700
Toll-Free: 1-866-761-6572
Fax: (412) 355-0168
