Intern, Consumer Law Unit

National Legal Aid & Defender Association; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 5,800 - 7,100; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Scholarship funding

Job summary

Legal Aid DC, a nonprofit organization, seeks a Summer Intern for the Consumer Law Unit in Washington, DC. The internship runs 10 weeks from May 27 to August 6, 2027, with full-time hours and a NW DC office base, potentially remote with supervisor approval.

The unit focuses on foreclosure prevention and consumer debt defense, with opportunities for meaningful assignments impacting clients. Interns receive substantive work, including legal research, drafting, intake interviews, client meetings,

Qualifications

• Enrolled law student (J.D. candidate)
• Ability to conduct legal research and draft pleadings
• Experience observing court proceedings is a plus

Responsibilities

• Perform legal and factual research
• Draft pleadings, motions, client correspondence, and other forms of legal writing
• Observe/shadow/take notes for court hearings
• Conduct or assist intakes and follow up interviews with applicants
• Assist with preparing for and conducting client meetings
• Provide litigation assistance to the attorneys
• Assist with courthouse projects and referrals for self-represented litigants
• Conduct outreach to self-represented litigants
• Attend consumer unit meetings, skills workshops, and staff meetings

Skills

Legal research

Pleading drafting

Court observation

Client interviews

Education

Law student (J.D. candidate)

Tools

Microsoft Word

Email/Outlook

Job description

Position Description

Legal Aid DC, a nonprofit organization with an approximately $18 million annual budget and a staff of approximately 125 employees, is seeking a Summer Intern to join our Consumer Law Unit.

Since 1932, Legal Aid has provided civil legal assistance to clients in individual cases and engaged in systemic reform. Currently, we provide individual representation in consumer law, domestic violence/family law, housing, public benefits, and immigration matters. We also help people with the collateral consequences of their involvement with the criminal justice system. From the experiences of our clients, we identify opportunities for law reform, public policy advocacy, and systemic impact and appellate litigation. Legal Aid also administers the DC Resource Bridge, a single access point for legal services in the District.

Legal Aid believes that meaningful pursuit of our anti-poverty mission requires an unwavering commitment to racial justice and equity. We aspire both to reflect the rich racial diversity of the communities we serve and to value, respect, and empower our staff and clients to be effective agents of change. For more information about Legal Aid please visit our website, www.LegalAidDC.org.

Our work is supported through public and private grants and private fundraising from individuals, law firms, and other contributors.

Interns at Legal Aid DC have the unique opportunity to receive substantive assignments that will have an immediate impact on our clients. This internship is for Summer 2027 and will be 10 weeks in duration. Summer interns should expect to work full-time (40 hours per week). Interns mainly work out of Legal Aid’s NW DC office, with the option to perform some work remotely if approved by their supervisor. Summer interns may be required to perform duties off site, and will be required to travel locally for summer programming events.

The summer term is from May 27th through August 6th.

The Consumer Law Unit helps clients protect their limited income and assets. We specialize in two principal areas of practice: foreclosure prevention and consumer debt collection defense. We also engage in significant efforts to address consumer issues of public policy.

Responsibilities

• Perform legal and factual research
• Draft pleadings, motions, client correspondence, and other forms of legal writing
• Observe/shadow/take notes for court hearings
• Conduct or assist intakes and follow up interviews with applicants
• Assist with preparing for and conducting client meetings
• Provide litigation assistance to the attorneys
• Assist with the courthouse projects, including providing referral information to the court or to self-represented litigants as appropriate
• Conduct outreach to self-represented litigants
• Attend consumer unit meetings, skills workshops, Legal Aid staff meetings

Scholarship Funding

Legal Aid DC can provide scholarship funding to ensure that summer law students receive no less than $6,440 per summer, including scholarships from the Lee Horton Memorial Scholarship for Aspiring Public Interest Lawyers.

Required

Summer law students are required to apply for outside funding to fund their internships in order to receive supplemental scholarship funding. We will provide a scholarship up to $6,440 to summer law school interns when:

They attend a school that does not provide funding OR they are not approved for at least $6,440 of funding from their schools

AND

They do not get funding from any other outside sources that gets them to total funding of $6,440 for the summer

Example: if a student receives $5,000 of outside funding, Legal Aid will pay them $1,440 in scholarship funding.

Students may waive funding if they are prohibited from receiving renumeration by their law school.