2008 SUMMER LEGAL INTERNSHIP
OPPORTUNITY
NOTICE TO FIRST AND SECOND YEAR LAW STUDENTS
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
Women’s Rights
Project, NY
America's foremost advocate of individual rights, the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonpartisan organization founded
in 1920.
With national offices in New York and Washington and 53
affiliates throughout
the country, it is widely regarded as one of the
nation's premier public interest
law firms.
OVERVIEW:
Founded in 1972 by Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, the Women’s Rights Project has
been a leader in the legal
battles to ensure women’s full equality in
American society. WRP is
dedicated to the advancement of the rights and interests
of women, with
a particular focus on poor women, women of color, and immigrant
women –
those who historically have been the most deeply victimized by
gender
bias and face the most pervasive barriers to equality today.
WRP focuses on four core priority areas: employment (including the rights of
low-wage immigrant women workers, trafficking victims, women in
non-traditional
employment, and welfare recipients), violence against
women (including battered
women’s rights to be free from discrimination
in housing, employment,
and government services), criminal and juvenile
justice issues affecting women
and girls (including the impact of drug
laws on women and families and the rights
of girls in juvenile
detention), and education (including single sex education).
Cutting
across these core priorities, WRP seeks to bring an international human
rights framework to our litigation and advocacy. Through litigation,
community
outreach, advocacy, and public education, WRP pushes for
change and systemic
reform in those institutions that perpetuate
discrimination against women.
The Women’s Rights Project has overall responsibility for implementing
ACLU policy in the area of gender discrimination. WRP conducts direct
litigation,
files amicus curiae briefs, provides support for ACLU
affiliate litigation,
serves as a resource for ACLU legislative work on
women’s rights, and
seeks to advance ACLU policy goals through public
education, organizing, and
coalition advocacy. WRP has been an active
participant in virtually all of the
major gender discrimination
litigation in the Supreme Court, in Congressional
and public education
efforts to remedy gender discrimination, and other endeavors
on behalf
of women.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Women’s
Rights Project seeks summer legal interns to work on a wide
variety of
issues. Working closely with WRP staff, interns assist in all aspects
of litigation including legal research, factual investigation, and
drafting
of memoranda, affidavits, and briefs. Interns may also assist
WRP staff in providing
assistance and advice to ACLU affiliates,
private attorneys, and others who
seek our help; screening potential
cases; and researching or drafting materials
for public education.
The internship is open to all students who have completed their first or
second
year of law school. Interns should pursue public interest
fellowships or other
funding sources. In the absence of outside
funding, a small stipend is available.
HOW TO APPLY:
Applicants should send a
letter of interest, a resume, the names and telephone
numbers of two
references, an unofficial transcript, and a legal writing sample
of no
more than ten pages to:
Summer Internship Hiring Committee
ACLU Women’s
Rights Project
125 Broad Street, 18th
Floor
New York, NY 10004-2400
OR
Ltay@aclu.org
Subject:
WRP Summer Internship
We strongly encourage applicants to apply by January 4,
2008, but applications will be accepted until the positions are
filled.
Please indicate in your cover letter where you found this
job posting.
The ACLU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action
employer and encourages women, people of color, persons with
disabilities, and
lesbians and gay men to apply.
The ACLU comprises two separate corporate entities, the American Civil
Liberties
Union and the ACLU Foundation. Both the American Civil
Liberties Union and the
ACLU Foundation are national organizations with
the same overall mission, and
share office space and employees. The
ACLU has two separate corporate entities
in order to do a broad range
of work to protect civil liberties. This job posting
refers
collectively to the two organizations under the name “ACLU.”
