Legal Intern

About the Role

The ACLU seeks a Spring Legal Intern in the Immigrant Rights Project of the ACLU’s National office. This position may be remote or hybrid and can be based in San Francisco. This internship is for course credit only.

Qualifying applicants must currently be matriculated legal students and must be based in the U.S. for the entire duration of the internship.

The Team:

The Immigrants’ Rights Project is part of the Legal Department of the national ACLU and has offices in New York and San Francisco. For nearly 40 years, the Project has litigated in trial and appellate courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court, to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of immigrants and seek equal justice under the law. Our work has focused on due process, access to the courts, unfair detention, equal treatment, and state and local laws and policies. For example, we have challenged removals under the Alien Enemies Act; the targeting of student activists for arrest, detention, and deportation; family separation; the Muslim ban; multiple attacks on the asylum system; indefinite and mandatory detention; immigration detainers; state and local anti-immigrant laws; racial and language profiling connected to immigration enforcement; and attempts to eliminate judicial review. We work closely with partners at the national ACLU and affiliates, as well as allied organizations, to pursue litigation and to engage in and support other forms of advocacy and education.

What You’ll Do:

The interns will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience working with IRP. They will learn about impact litigation and other legal advocacy tools on immigrants’ rights issues by working closely with attorneys in developing and litigating cases across various jurisdictions.

Your Day to Day:

• Drafting memoranda, affidavits, and briefs
• Conducting legal and policy research
• Researching prospects for new litigation, including both factual and legal claims
• Researching and drafting materials for public education
• Legislative bill tracking and analysis

What You’ll Bring:

The internship is open to students enrolled at U.S. law schools who will have completed at school before the internship commences. Interns should possess the following:  

• Excellent research skills, including conducting internet and legal database research
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and writing
• Attention to detail, excellent organizing and time-management skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite
• The initiative to see projects through to completion
• A commitment to civil liberties, civil rights, and social justice

Future ACLU'ers Will:

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts

Internship Logistics

• Location: Our internship program offers a limited number of remote or hybrid intern positions. This internship can be remote or hybrid based in our San Francisco office.
• Time Commitment: Term internships require a part-time commitment of 20 hours per week.
• Internship Duration: This internship is part-time (10, 15, 20hrs/wk) for a duration of 12 consecutive weeks with a start date of January 11 or January 25.
• Stipend: This internship is for course credit only.  This internship must be tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.

Priority Application Deadline: October 14, 2026.
While there is a priority deadline, our project is committed to reviewing all applications on a rolling basis until the closing of posting.

Why the ACLU

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people. 

Our Commitment to Accessibility, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

  Accessibility, equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.  

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.  

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please complete the Accommodation Request Form

If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

In order to be considered for this position, all candidates must formally submit an application. The ACLU does not accept unsolicited calls or emails from candidates regarding their application status.

ACLU’s internship program is supported in part by the Arnie Miller Fund for the Next Generation: The Arnie Miller Fund For The Next Generation | American Civil Liberties Union.