Summer 2025 Law Student Internship

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia offers a summer internship program for approximately 15-20 students that have completed their first or second year of law school. 

CLS offers a rich and exciting summer internship experience. Our law students receive exceptional training and the opportunity to work with some of the most talented legal minds in civil legal services.

Student interns at CLS will be placed into one of our seven legal units, the Youth Justice Project, or our Medical-Legal Partnership, and students will also learn about the other areas of CLS’s work through programming offered throughout the summer. All CLS interns will have the opportunity to work directly with clients, engage with the communities we serve, and contribute to systemic advocacy efforts to advance economic and racial equity.

At CLS, we are actively engaged in dialogue regarding how legal services organizations can contribute to and advance racial justice for low-income communities. CLS’s Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer, supported by the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, structures this conversation as CLS continues to find ways to enhance its legal practice model. 

CLS is also committed to ensuring our staff, including our law student interns, reflect the clients and communities we serve. We strongly encourage law students from diverse backgrounds to apply for our internship. In your cover letter we invite you to tell us how your unique background and/or experiences can contribute to the diversity, vitality, and cultural perspective of our staff, clients, and legal practice. 

CLS also recognizes that the law student internship experience is a critical career steppingstone, as many of our former interns eventually go on to be selected as attorney fellows. CLS offers the Senator Roxanne Jones Fellowship and the Amber Racine Fellowship, which are awarded annually on a competitive basis to two law students of color who have accepted an offer to intern with CLS. Both Fellowships include a financial award and mentorship support to enable future leaders in public interest law to spend their summer interning at CLS.

Internships at CLS are otherwise unpaid. Students whose financial circumstances are such that an unpaid internship would be an exceptional hardship are encouraged to disclose this in their cover letter or reach out to one of the co-chairs of the law student hiring committee. CLS will work with our students to find sources of funding for the summer if needed.

Students who are interested in applying for post-graduate legal fellowships with CLS should apply to our summer program. In recent years, CLS has hosted attorney fellows sponsored by Skadden, Independence, Equal Justice Works, and other fellowship funders. The experience gained during the summer and contacts made during an internship at CLS can be invaluable in the fellowship application process.

To apply for a summer internship please submit the following below by clicking "Apply Now" 

• Resume 
• Cover letter addressing interest and experience in public interest and poverty law/racial justice advocacy
• Law school transcript
• List of three (3) references

Second-year law students are welcome to apply for a 2024 summer internship now. CLS will not review any applications submitted by first-year law students until after December 1, 2024. We ask that first-year students refrain from submitting applications through our website until after December 1, 2024.

Gillian Schaps and Rachel Gallegos are the Co-Chairs of the Law Student Hiring Committee.  If you have any questions about the summer internship program, email Gillian or Rachel.
Click here to read our Diversity & Inclusion Committee mission statement.