10 Law Internships for High School Students
If you're passionate about the legal field, eager to gain practical experience, and in high school, the best thing you can do is land a law internship. But that can be fairly challenging! Curated here is a comprehensive list of law internships specifically tailored for high school students.
Internships have a lot of benefits for high school students, even though they are challenging to find. So here are some tips on finding law internships!
How to Look for Law Internships as a High School Student?
Internships can add an edge to your profile, especially while applying to college. College admissions officers are looking for students who actively pursue skill-building and independent opportunities outside of their school curriculum - this demonstrates motivation and dedication toward a subject.
A legal internship can not only express this same motivation and dedication, but also help you gain insight into the legal profession, and even open doors to a future career in law.
Consider reaching out directly to law firms or organizations that interest you, even if they don't advertise internships. Express your interest and inquire about any available opportunities.
Seek out volunteering opportunities at local legal aid clinics or organizations that provide legal services to underserved communities. This can showcase your passion and provide valuable experience.
Be proactive and persistent in your search. Follow up with organizations after submitting your application and express your continued interest in interning with them.
Now, let’s dive into our list of 10 (plus a bonus opportunity!) of the best law internship programs for high school students!
The New York City High School Law Internship Program aims to connect interested high school students in the city with legal employers. The employers include law firms, corporations, non-profit organizations, and government agencies. The internship offers you practical training, panel discussions, and networking events to help you prepare for a career in law.
Internship duties may include assisting paralegals, filing paperwork, maintaining records, and organizing documents.
In addition to the on-the-job experience, you will also receive exposure to the legal profession through development programs offered by your legal employers as part of the internship program.
Cost: Fully-funded, paid ($15 – $21 hourly)
Location: New York City
Application Deadline: Applications for 2023 have closed. Based on this year, deadlines close in the last week of January.
Program Dates (subject to change): May 29th – August 28th, 2023
Eligibility: NYC public high school students are eligible to apply
Ladder Internship is a selective program for high school students to work with startups, including legal-tech start-ups.
Ladder Startups work in fields including media and journalism, technology, machine learning and A.I., finance, environmental science and sustainability, business and marketing, healthcare and medicine, and more. You can explore all the options here on their application form.
As part of their internship, each student will work on a real-world project and present their work at the end of their internship. In addition to working closely with their manager from the startup, each intern will also work with a Ladder Coach throughout their internship - the Ladder Coach serves as a second mentor and a sounding board, guiding students through the internship and helping them navigate the startup environment.
Note that as a Ladder Intern, you will engage in a coaching+work-based model - a component that sets it apart from most internships in this list. The virtual internship is usually 8 weeks long.
Cost: $1490 (Financial Aid Available)
Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world.
Application Deadline: April 16 and May 14
Program Dates: 8 weeks, June to August
Selection Rate: Selective
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates, and gap year students!
The California Innocence Project is a law clinic that provides pro-bono service to wrongly convicted individuals. The California Innocence Project hires a legal intern for their office every trimester. If you are interested in post-conviction law or criminal law then this unpaid internship could be insightful. You would be expected to work for 15 - 35 hours per week.
The CIP provides in-house training for their interns, so if selected you will be briefed and receive an introduction to wrongful convictions as well as the specific responsibilities and work you will have to do as a part of their greater mission. As a legal intern, you will be required to help with legal research, copying, filing, client support, and/or whatever else CIP specifies.
Cost: No cost, unpaid
Location: San Diego
Application Deadline: Summer – March 1st
Fall – July 1st
Spring – November 1st
Program Dates: Summer, Spring, and Fall sessions
Eligibility: high school, college, law, and post-bar students
The Atlanta Bar Association offers a highly rigorous summer internship to high school students. As an Intern, you will have to perform numerous duties for your employers including copying, summarizing depositions, making deliveries, bates stamping documents, answering phones, and assembling trial notebooks. Each intern will have the chance to attend a deposition or Court hearing.
Before beginning the internship, you will be put through intensive, mandatory orientations. These orientations prepare you for what is expected of them and what they can expect. The orientations focus on issues such as confidentiality, professionalism, and more. You will also have weekly meetings, where they will be tested on their progress.
Cost: No cost, stipend provided of $2000 for 6 weeks
Location: Atlanta
Application Deadline: not specified, opens in February
Program Dates (subject to change): May 31st to July 21st
Eligibility: High School Juniors and Seniors
The United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York Student Internship offers several unpaid internships to students interested in law. Some of the specialized placements within the internships offered are Automated Litigation Support, Library Legal Information and Resource Center, and the Paralegal-Legal Studies. If you’re interested in studying pre-law, criminal justice, accounting, information technology, library management, human resources, or community crime prevention, then internships at the US Attorney’s Office are a really good opportunity.
Cost: No cost, unpaid
Location: Brooklyn and Central Islip, NYC
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Program Dates: Summer 2024, dates TBA
Eligibility: Entering Seniors from an accredited high school
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office High School Internship offers an opportunity for high school students interested in criminal justice to gain insight into the workings of the DA's office.
As an intern, you will get to assist prosecutors in a variety of clerical tasks such as organizing and preparing case files for trials, contacting witnesses, and managing subpoenas and records surrounding both pre-trial hearings and jury trials (subject to attorney approval and supervision).
Cost: No cost, unpaid
Location: San Francisco
Application Deadline: TBA, but based on previous years, mid/late April
Program Dates (subject to change): TBA for 2024, but based on previous years likely to be between June and August, for 11 weeks.
Eligibility: High School students
The Baltimore City Law Links is an initiative managed by Maryland Youth and the Law (Non-Profit). It offers high school sophomores and juniors attending public high schools in Baltimore a full-time, paid summer internship for 7 weeks.
If selected, you are placed with a law firm or a law-related agency – and you will also get to attend and participate in the Law and Leadership Institute, a 56-hour educational seminar, held at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. The internship offers a lot of interactive activities, discussions with legal professionals from law firms, city agencies, and the courts, and field trips to Citi Watch and the Baltimore FBI Bureau.
Cost: No cost, paid hourly ($12.50)
Location: Baltimore
Application Deadline: TBA, based on past years could be in April.
Program Dates (subject to change): TBA, roughly late June to Mid August (7 weeks)
Eligibility: sophomore or junior year high school student attending a Baltimore City public high school
The Summer Law Intern Program is a joint initiative between the Dallas Bar Association and the Dallas Independent School District. If your application is selected, you are placed with a law firm, a non-profit, or a corporate legal department to intern for them for 8 weeks. Your work schedule however is set up with the employer you get partnered with – so you could work full-time or part-time. If selected, you will also receive a Summer Learning curriculum that briefs you on what’s expected of you as well as norms in law firms, you are expected to fully complete it. There are educational activities that are organized for interns by the DBA, and an end-of-program reception. If you’re based in Dallas, this is a very solid way to gain experience.
Cost: No cost, stipend provided. (between $1000 - $2000 depending on whether it’s part-time or full-time)
Location: Dallas
Application Deadline: TBA, usually March/April
Program Dates (subject to change): June-July (8 weeks)
Eligibility: high school juniors in Independent School Districts in Dallas
The Judicial Youth Corps Program is an intensive educational spring and summer internship offered by the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts. It focuses on educating student interns and exposing them to the Massachusetts court system and the rule of law. Selected interns have to mandatorily attend two sessions – an education training session where they will be mentored and taught by volunteer judges, lawyers, and court employees. This session covers a wide range of topics including juvenile law, criminal procedure, family law, landlord-tenant disputes, the jury system, and the appellate process. The second session is the summer internship itself, where you are placed as a paid intern at a local courthouse.
Cost: No cost, paid hourly (minimum wage or slightly more – $15/hour)
Location: Massachusetts (Boston/Worcester)
Application Deadline: TBA
Program Dates (subject to change): two compulsory components – education and training session from May through June (dates TBA) and Summer internship from July through August (dates TBA).
Eligibility: High School Students
Interns at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office are exposed to an insider view of the criminal justice system. The internship experience entails 35 hours of work per week, and interns get to engage in various workshops and discussions surrounding criminal justice, police brutality, civic engagement, and leadership. Interns have to take part in a series of presentations and conversations with staff to build a foundational understanding of how policies are developed and implemented. The Internship lasts six weeks.
Cost: no cost, stipend of $175 per week
Location: Manhattan
Application Deadline: March 30th
Program Dates (subject to change): July 10th - August 25th
Eligibility: sophomores, juniors, and seniors who live in or attend school in Manhattan
The Brooklyn District Attorney offers a paid summer internship to high school juniors and seniors in Brooklyn. Interns will be assigned to a unit within the DA’s office and will support the work of Assistant District Attorneys and other members of the DA’s staff. Interns assist with legal research and analysis using the Internet, news articles, and legal periodicals, assist attorneys on pretrial matters, work on case preparation, discovery, file maintenance and organizing court documents, participate in trial zone workshops, participate in judicial, legal and law enforcement-related field trips, and observe criminal proceedings including trials, guilty pleas, and sentencings. The internship does provide a MetroCard for transportation costs.
Cost: no cost, stipend of $150 per week
Location: Brooklyn
Application Deadline: TBA but usually late April
Program Dates (subject to change): July 5th - July 28th
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors who live and attend school in Brooklyn
If you feel like you have exhausted all options, check if your local bar association does a high school internship! They probably will also have something in store.
Another way you can demonstrate motivation and dedication is by conducting independent research.
If you are interested in doing university-level research in law, ethics, and policy, then you could also consider applying to the Lumiere Research Scholar Program, a selective online high school program for students that I founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 2100 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
Image Source: NYC Bar logo