Law Students
Serving as a law clerk is an excellent opportunity to explore different areas of law while making a difference in the lives of low-income people. SLLS has opportunities for law clerks year-round across our service area.
Why Choose SLLS?
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services provides free civil legal services to the low-income population in southeast Louisiana. SLLS is the largest public interest law firm in the state of Louisiana.
What Do Our Legal Interns Do?
Our legal interns assist our attorneys with trial preparation, legal research, regular client contact, draft correspondence and pleadings, conduct intake interviews and attend our various outreach events throughout the community, among many other duties. We have positions available in Employment & Public Benefits; Tenants Rights; Family/Domestic Violence; Child in Need of Care/Children’s Law; Low-Income Taxpayer; Successions; Veterans; Consumer; Foreclosure Prevention; Homeless Advocacy.
Where Will I Work?
We have positions available in all six of our offices in southeast Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Gretna, Hammond, Covington, and Houma. We also sometimes have opportunities for remote legal interns.
Fellowship Opportunities
SLLS partners with organizations like Equal Justice Works to host summer law clerks through programs like the Rural Summer Legal Corps. There are also paid opportunities through Equal Justice America and the ABA Commission on Homelessness on Poverty John Curtain Fellowship. These programs often have different deadlines than our in-house opportunities.
When are Positions Available?
SLLS hosts legal interns every semester and during the summer. We also have short-term, spring break opportunities for visiting law students. The summer legal intern position requires a minimum commitment of eight continuous weeks, full time (37.5 hours weekly). Spring and Fall semester internships are 10-15 hours weekly.
To apply, send a cover letter and resume to volunteer@slls.org. Please indicate which office and/or unit you are interested in working. See deadlines below for academic semester and summer clerkships:
- Spring Semester – January 15th
- Summer – April 1st
- Fall Semester – September 1st
Are Legal Interns paid?
While SLLS is unable to provide any financial assistance to most volunteer summer interns, we are available to provide optional externship supervision and course credit or public service placement for students who need pro bono hours. Students are encouraged to seek outside funding and stipends. Some law schools have paid public interest law positions. You should contact your law school for more information on those opportunities.
We sometimes have paid opportunities for law students in our Right to Counsel project. The American College of Bankruptcy Foundation generously supports three paid Bankruptcy/Consumer Law internships for Southern University Law Center students. We post these opportunities and any other others when they are available on our employment page.