The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, legal advocacy, and community education. For more information about AALDEF, please visit our website at www.aaldef.org.
Fall internships are available for the following program areas:
- Immigrant Justice Project – legal services, potential litigation, advocacy, and organizing/outreach with communities affected by post- 9/11 immigration and law enforcement policies. An additional emphasis on Asian communities’ access to representation and education about immigration policies and practices that may impact them, including deferred action policies and visa options for undocumented youth and nonimmigrant and immigrant humanitarian visa status for other immigrants, unconstitutional DHS stops, and collaboration between state/local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement. **Law students ONLY**
- Voting Rights – legal research and writing, community outreach, and fact development under the Voting Rights Act and Equal Protection Clause challenging anti-Asian voter discrimination in voter suppression measures, redistricting, language access, and other areas. Produce legal memoranda, briefs, and reports. **Law students and undergraduates with census/demography/GIS skills**
Description of Internships
Interns work can work remotely or on a hybrid model and are supervised by attorneys and/or AALDEF staff in specific program areas. Depending on what work needs to be done in each of the program areas, interns will work on litigation, legal and policy advocacy, community outreach and education, or client intakes; each program area differs in emphasis. The position is unpaid. However, in previous years many AALDEF interns have been successful at securing independent funding. Academic credit can be arranged. Interns work anywhere between 8 to 25 hours per week. The internship usually commences with the start of classes and ends in early December.
To Apply
- Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume, and writing sample (only for law student applicants). Please indicate in your cover letter the preferred program area(s) and state the number of hours the intern is able to work per week. Only law students qualify for AALDEF’s legal internships. Applications may be emailed to: info@aaldef.org with Subject Line: Fall Internship Search.
- Any bilingual ability should be stated in the application. Bilingual ability is helpful but not required. Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese), Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Khmer, Korean, Urdu, and Vietnamese-speaking skills are a plus.
- Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Students are encouraged to submit applications as early as possible, as decisions are made on a rolling basis. Only applicants with interviews will be notified of their advancement in the application process.
For more information, contact info@aaldef.org.
