Spring 2012 Legal Internship at the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project

Spring 2012 LEGAL INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY

NOTICE TO SECOND AND THIRD YEAR LAW STUDENTS

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION

Immigrants’ Rights Project

New YorkOffice

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU), founded in 1920, is a nationwide, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with more than 500,000 members and is dedicated to the principles of liberty and equality embodied in the U.S. Constitution.The Immigrants’ Rights Projectof the ACLU’s National Office in New York City seeks legal interns for the Spring of 2012.

OVERVIEW:

The Immigrants’ Rights Project (IRP) is a national project of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation with offices in New York and California. Using targeted impact litigation, advocacy and public outreach, the Project carries on the ACLU’s historic commitment to protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of immigrants. In federal district and appellate courts, including the Supreme Court, the Project conducts the nation’s largest impact litigation program dedicated to defending and expanding the rights of immigrants, enforcing the guarantees of the Constitution, and achieving equal justice under the law.

The Project has focused on challenging laws that deny immigrants access to the judicial system, impose indefinite and mandatory detention, and constitute discrimination on the basis of “alienage” by governmental and private entities.In addition, the Project has been challenging constitutional abuses that arise from immigration enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels, including litigation against worksite and home raids, local anti-immigrant employment and housing laws, and improper enforcement of federal immigration laws by local sheriffs. IRP’s efforts in the enforcement arena seek to ensure the constitutional protections of the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments, combat racial profiling arising from actual or pretextual immigration enforcement that subjects immigrant communities to racism and hostility, and challenge government policies and practices that undermine or deny immigrants’ ability to effectuate their existing legal rights.

The Education component of the Project provides information about immigrants’ rights to immigrant communities nationwide. The Project works with the English and non-English language media, immigrant advocacy organizations, and ACLU affiliates around the country to empower immigrant communities through presentations about their rights and about current and proposed immigration laws.

INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW:

The Project is offering Spring Legal Interns the opportunity to work on a variety of litigation projects. Our Spring Legal Internship requires a minimum commitment of 12 to 16 hours per week and is part-time. This is an unpaid internship. Students are highly encouraged to seek Public Interest Fellowship funds for the internship. Arrangements can also be made with the student's law school for work/study stipends or course credit.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Spring Legal Interns will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience by working alongside the IRP team. Interns will assist in all aspects of litigation. Interns will gain experience by working on the following:

• Conducting legal and policy research.
• Drafting memoranda, affidavits and briefs.
• Assisting with research on prospects for new litigation, including both factual and legal claims.
• Assisting with research and drafting materials for public education.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

The Legal Internship is open to all law students that have completed their first year of law school.

• Excellent research, writing and communication skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including internet research.
• The initiative to see projects through to completion.
• Demonstrated interest in social justice and legal issues.
• A strong interest and commitment to civil rights and civil liberties issues.

Applicants should send a cover letter, a resume, the names and telephone numbers of three references, an official or unofficial transcript, and a legal writing sample, preferably 10 pages or fewer in lengthto the office in which you wish to intern by email to hrjobs@aclu.org reference [IRP - NY Spring 2012 LegalInternship] in the subject line - or by mail to:

If you wish to apply to both internships (locations), please apply separately to each and indicate that you have done so in both of your cover letters.

New York

Legal Internship Selection Committee

ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project

125 Broad Street, 18th Floor

New York, NY 10004

Or email: hrjobs@aclu.org

(Subject line: IRP-NY Spring 2012 Legal Internship)

Please indicate in your cover letter(s) where you learned of this internship opportunity.

Students are encouraged to submit applications as early as possible, as decisions are made on a rolling basis.Applicants are encouraged to submit their applications by December 31, 2011.

The ACLU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and encourages applications from all qualified individuals including women, people of color, persons with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

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.”