NAACP Legal Defense Fund : Defend, Educate, Empower

The application process for the 2012 Summer Intern Program has ended.  Please check back in September for details on next year's program.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF)^* is currently accepting law student internship applications for Summer 2012.  Summer interns will be responsible for legal research and memorandum writing, policy analysis, monitoring federal legislation and administrative activity, factual investigation, development of educational and outreach material, discovery review, and/or other needs that may arise during the summer.  Intern assignments depend on the needs of LDF’s legal staff during the summer months. Summer interns will also enjoy a series of brown bag luncheons featuring prominent civil rights and public interest attorneys, attended by interns from numerous non-profit legal organizations.

The internship positions are unpaid and limited in number.  Students are advised to seek summer funding from their law schools and student-run public interest organizations.  (Some law schools do not provide funding; we accept students from those law schools too.)  Although we prefer second-year law students, exceptional first-year law students will also be considered. Interns are expected to work for at least eight weeks during the summer, but split summers may be accommodated on a case-by-case basis. 

The D.C. office awards internships independently.  Applicants should send a cover letter, resume, 5-10 page writing sample, and list of three references to the office below. Positions will be filled on a rolling basis; we encourage applicants to apply as soon as possible beginning October 2011.

Washington D.C. Office:
Summer Law Student Internship Coordinator
NAACP LDF
1444 Eye Street, N.W., 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
email: dfinley@naacpldf.org
website:  www.naacpldf.org
No phone calls please.

LDF remains committed to cultivating the next generation of civil rights attorneys; and we also rely on assistance from law students to support our litigation and advocacy efforts.  If you plan to pursue a career in racial justice and civil rights law, we want to hear from you.

BACKGROUND ON LDF: LDF is a non-profit civil rights law firm founded in 1940 under the leadership of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.  For decades LDF has worked through the courts and Congress to make our nation’s constitutional and statutory guarantees of equal treatment and civil rights a reality for African Americans and other disfranchised groups.  LDF’s current docket reflects its continued commitment to combating race discrimination and its effects, ensuring equality of opportunity, and promoting inclusion of those who have been excluded from full participation on account of race.  In addition, LDF is involved in policy and legislative work on civil rights issues at a national level.

LDF is nationally and internationally recognized for its pioneering and long-standing racial justice advocacy in its four main project areas: 

• EDUCATION:  LDF’s Education Group recognizes that African-American students and other students of color continue to be denied high quality, inclusive educational opportunities.  Through litigation, advocacy and policy initiatives, we vigorously challenge practices that limit educational access and opportunity and combat racial bias and discrimination in K-12 and higher education.  Interns will be actively engaged in these efforts to promote educational policy and structural reform.

• ECONOMIC JUSTICE:  LDF’s Economic Justice Group represents African-American working families to ensure equal access to jobs and housing, and to address other economic issues facing the African-American community.  To that end, we actively litigate employment discrimination, housing discrimination, environmental justice, and fair lending cases in trial and appellate courts around the country, including the United States Supreme Court.  As new barriers to full economic participation for people of color are erected, LDF challenges them through litigation, policy reform, and public education.

• POLITICAL PARTICIPATION:  For decades, from trial through the U.S. Supreme Court, LDF has been the leading minority voting rights advocacy organization.  Litigation aimed at enforcement of the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting rights laws, legislative advocacy and public education remain central to LDF’s Political Participation Group (PPG).  PPG also works on prison-based gerrymandering, redistricting, voter registration/access laws, and other allied issues.  Interns will work closely with PPG attorneys on litigation and other matters to ensure that minority voting rights are defended.  Interns selected to join the Project will also have the unique opportunity to assist with redistricting efforts after the 2010 Census, and to work on our Prepared to Vote campaign, a public education program geared at empowering communities for 2012 elections.

• CRIMINAL JUSTICE:  The Criminal Justice Project (CJP) focuses on the intersection between race and the criminal justice system.  The CJP docket includes, but is not limited to, work on the death penalty, jury discrimination, indigent defense representation, juvenile life without parole, and the “War on Drugs.”   CJP also maintains an active Supreme Court practice and has a long-standing history of representing death-sentenced prisoners throughout the country, leading to our involvement in some of the most seminal U.S. Supreme Court cases, including Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) and McClesky v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987).  Through litigation, legislative reform, advocacy and public education, CJP strives to fulfill its overarching mission to end the criminalization and mass incarceration of African Americans.

^*Although LDF was founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights, it has been an independent organization since 1957, with a separate board, program staff, office and budget.