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About the Organization
Charitable Allies is a nonprofit law firm aimed at providing affordable, excellent legal services and education to nonprofit organizations around the country. Whether a new animal shelter is looking to get their 501(c)(3) status or a youth sports club is looking to set safety standards, we are here to help. Our team is made up of friendly, hard-working professionals who want to work hard to make the world a better place, one nonprofit at a time. We are continually improving and innovating to meet the needs of the growing nonprofit community.
We’re a fast-paced organization with a huge work ethic that not only invests strongly in our people and their professional growth, but that also takes time out to have fun on occasion. Slackers need not apply! ;)
Position
This is an internship for rising 2L or 3L students who are interested in pursuing a career upon graduation in the vibrant and diverse nonprofit sector. This is a paid position; it pays $18 per hour.
Charitable Allies will, as appropriate, facilitate students in pursuing academic credit for internships. Students pursuing internship credit must work the required hours for each credit. The duration of an internship is generally a single semester with the opportunity to continue with the organization thereafter, based on performance. Come help us save the turtles!
Description
We accomplish our mission by providing: (1) excellent, experienced nonprofit legal services to charities and charitable programs at greatly reduced rates; and (2) legal educational training in partnership with myriad other charities for boards of directors, officers and staff, related to governance, leadership, and charitable and philanthropic programming best practices. Internships at Charitable Allies comply with the ABA Standards for field placements.
Your role is to assist Charitable Allies with general legal intern work, but with a unique focus on work that supports nonprofits generally. This means that you will gain significant exposure to two very different worlds (legal and nonprofit/advocacy) during your internship. Nonprofits are quite different and diverse in their cultures compared to the more institutional legal community. We recommend you use your internship with Charitable Allies to build a foundational understanding of both worlds and start to identify where you think you fit between them.
During your time with Charitable Allies, you can gain experience in:
Traditional Legal Intern Work
- Researching rules, regulations, and case law
- Performing factual research pertaining to cases or filings
- Drafting legal documents
- Updating internal legal resources and forms
Nonprofit Legal Services
- Assisting in forming new entities
- Guiding organizations through mergers
- Programming partnerships
Learning How Nonprofits Really Function
- Analyze gaps between rules in Bylaws and actual operations
- Understand how to speak/interact with different types of nonprofits
- Learn what nonprofits are permitted to do and how this compares with stereotypes in the sector
Responsibilities:
- Legal research in regards to state filing requirements, federal filing requirements, and donor integrity
- Prepare basic legal and tax filings (appearances, motions for enlargement, 1023-EZs etc.) for review, approval and filing
- Prepare corporate legal documents (articles of incorporation or organization, amendments, bylaws, operating agreements, etc.)
- Prepare initial drafts of complex legal motions, memos and briefs based on substance, arguments and research provided by attorney
- Assist with traditional administrative needs of lawyers and nonprofits
- Proactively ensure legal team is prepared with necessary materials for meetings and depositions
- Prepare highly confidential documents and correspondence
- Demonstrate good judgment and professionalism and exhibit flexibility and versatility to provide support
- Demonstrate strong reasoning and resolution skills
- Perform special projects as required to increase the professional effectiveness and efficiency of the legal team
- Other projects and tasks as assigned
Qualifications:
- (Rising) 2L or 3L student
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Proficient in Microsoft Office and GSuite; able to become proficient in law practice management software
- Strategic thinking and analytical skills, including attention to detail
- Self-motivated, self-disciplined, well organized and dependable
- Able to multi-task, plan, and prioritize assignments and activities
Work Location:
- Indianapolis, Indiana. Specifically, Charitable Allies is located in the Pyramids on the northwest side of Indianapolis.
- Plan to work from this office at least 4 days per week throughout the summer.
How to Apply
Please send a cover letter, resume, and a writing sample to supervising attorney Robert Miller via our website hiring system.
