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The Legal Department of the ACLU of Illinois seeks law students (any year of law school) for full-time Summer 2025 legal internships. (We do not have legal internships for undergraduates.) To be considered, law students must apply for funding through the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI), receive course credit or funding from their law school, or receive funding from another external funder (e.g., a bar association). Our internship program for this term will be a hybrid of remote and in-office work each week. Interns must be located in Illinois and able to come to our Chicago office at least once a week during their internships.
The ACLU of Illinois is an affiliate office of the American Civil Liberties Union, a national nonprofit organization devoted to the protection of civil rights and civil liberties through litigation, legislation, and public education. We work to fight mass incarceration and racism in the criminal and juvenile legal systems, promote full equality for LGBTQ people, challenge dangerous immigration detention conditions, to battle racially biased and abusive policing, advance gender justice and reproductive rights, to advocate for children in the foster system and people with disabilities, and to defend people from government abuse and overreach. We are a passionate and highly motivated group of lawyers, public policy experts, lobbyists, fundraisers, engagement and communication professionals, and administrative staff. To learn more about our work, visit aclu-il.org.
The Legal Department of the ACLU of Illinois advances civil rights and civil liberties through an active docket of cases in federal and state courts and administrative entities, as well as advocacy and public education in partnership with colleagues throughout the organization. Attorneys in the Legal Department provide supervision and mentorship to legal interns.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Legal interns will be exposed to, and participate in, the process of developing and pursuing impact cases and non-litigation advocacy to advance civil rights and civil liberties. The legal intern's duties may include:
- Conducting legal, policy, and factual research for current and potential cases and non-litigation advocacy projects;
- Drafting memoranda, affidavits, and sections of briefs;
- Cite-checking legal documents;
- Interviewing potential clients and class members; and
- Investigating the facts of specific cases.
Supervising attorneys are committed to providing mentorship and thorough and timely feedback on all work product.
