Legal Intern

About the Role

The ACLU seeks a Summer Legal Intern in the Women's Rights Project of the ACLU’s National office in New York City. This position may 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:

Since its founding by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1972, the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project has been a trailblazer in fighting for gender equity under law. We engage in systemic legal reform to ensure that everyone has the freedom to live, work, and learn free from stereotypes, harassment, and violence based on sex. Our recent work includes fighting the military’s ban on women in combat, challenging employment rules that penalize workers for their pregnancies or push them out of the paid workforce altogether and winning a historic settlement against Facebook for targeting ads for jobs, housing, and credit only at men.

What You’ll Do:

Interns will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience by working alongside the team assisting in all aspects of litigation, policy advocacy, and communications campaigns.

Your Day to Day:

• Drafting memoranda, affidavits, and briefs
• Conducting legal and policy research
• Researching prospects for new litigation, including both factual and legal claims
• Researching and drafting materials for public education
• Legislative bill tracking and analysis

What You'll Bring:

The internship is open to law students who will have completed at least one year of law school before the internship commences or are in an LLM or SJD program. Interns should possess the following:

• 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
• A commitment to civil liberties, civil rights, social justice, and gender justice

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 can be remote or hybrid and based in our NYC office.
• Time Commitment: Summer internships require a full-time (35 hours/week) commitment.
• Internship Duration: Full-time 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. Students who receive outside funding are eligible for a partial stipend to bring their total funding up to the level of the ACLU’s stipend amount for the summer. Legal interns receive a stipend amount $24/hour (stipends are taxed)

Priority Application Deadline: October 13, 2025

Application Deadline for 1Ls: December 5, 2025 

Applications for 2Ls, LLM students, and SJD students will be considered on a rolling basis and accepted until the position is filled, but priority review will be given to applications submitted on or before October 13, 2025. Applications for current first-year law students will not be considered until December 5, 2025.

• If you are a re-applicant to the Women's Rights Project, please note that in your cover letter.

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.