Summer 2026 Legal Intern

About the Role

The ACLU seeks a Summer Legal Intern in the Legal Department’s Trone Center for Justice and Equalityof the ACLU’s National office in New York City. This position can be remote or hybrid.

Qualifying applicants must currently be matriculated legal students and must be based in the U.S. for the entire duration of the internship.

The Team:

The ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality focuses on America’s issues around crime, punishment, and racial justice. These three issues are constantly intersecting and the implications for social and economic success in communities of color are hanging in the balance. As a result race and class permeate the entire criminal justice system, and today robust discussions about race in America are bringing issues of racial justice into the spotlight. This is a critical time in the fight to advance racial justice and to truly reform the criminal legal system. The Trone Center contains five Projects/Programs working towards these goals: the Capital Punishment Project, the National Prison Project, the Racial Justice Program, Criminal Law Reform Project, and the John Adams Project.

What You’ll Do:

The Trone Center for Justice and Equality is seeking a law student intern to work on the issues it addresses, including the following: seeking to end excessively harsh criminal justice policies that result in mass incarceration, over-criminalization, and racial injustice; fighting for nationwide reforms to pretrial detention and surveillance, police practices, public defense systems, disproportionate sentencing, and prosecutorial abuses of authority in the name of public safety; challenging the unfairness and arbitrariness of capital punishment while working towards the ultimate goal of abolishing the death penalty; improving conditions for people in prisons, jails, and detention centers and increasing oversight and accountability in places of detention; and confronting racial discrimination in education, housing, fair lending, policing, and the criminal justice system. The internwill be responsible for conducting legal research and writing support to the Center Director and Staff Attorney. The intern will also work on other Center priorities and issue areas as assigned.

Your Day to Day:

• Conduct legal research and analysis
• Draft legal memos, briefs, and other written products
• Support the Center Director, Staff Attorney, and Legal Fellow in other tasks as assigned

What You'll Bring:

This Internship is open to law students who will have completed their first year of law school before the internship commences. Interns should possess the following:

• Second- and third-year law school students pursuing a J.D. degree from an ABA-accredited law school; applicants must have completed at least one year of law school before the internship commences
• Demonstrated commitment to the issues on which the Trone Center for Justice and Equality works
• Outstanding legal research, writing, and communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to perform complex legal analytical work
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to work independently as well as in a team.
• Ability to foster and contribute to a collaborative team environment is essential
• Strong computer skills, particularly web-based research including proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (i.e. Word, Excel)

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 conflicts

Internship Logistics

• Location: Our internship program offers a limited number of remote or hybrid intern positions. This internship may be remote or hybrid and based in our New York City office.
• Time Commitment: Summer internships require a full time (35 hour/week) commitment.
• Internship Duration: Summer internships span 10 consecutive weeks with a start date of May 26 or June 8.
• Stipend: A stipend is available for those students who are lawfully authorized to work. Legal interns receive a stipend amount $24/hour (stipends are taxed)

Priority Application Deadline: October 10, 2025

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

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 & 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 [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request accommodations for the interview process.

In order to be considered for this position, all candidates must formally submit an application. The ACLU does not accept unsolicited calls or emails from candidates regarding their application status.