LSC Summer Internship Program
Our 2025 summer internship program announcement will be posted this coming winter. Please visit this page then for information about how to apply.
Program Information
For program inquiries please contact: [email protected]
Every year, the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School accepts applications from law student and undergraduate candidates to serve as interns during the summer. Our summer program runs from late May until the end of July. (Note: on a case-by-case basis, we will also consider proposals for split-summers and summer schedules that begin before and/or end after the formal summer program).
Located at the crossroads of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, the Legal Services Center is Harvard Law School’s largest clinical placement, housing multiple clinics and providing direct legal services to hundreds of low-and-moderate income residents in the Greater Boston area each year. Our longstanding mission is to educate law students for practice and professional service while simultaneously meeting the critical legal needs of the community.
Law student summer interns will work in one of the following clinical areas:
- Clinical Areas to be announced
LSC’s student interns are supervised and mentored by experienced clinical instructors. Law student interns conduct interviews with potential clients seeking advice or assistance; counsel and advise clients; engage in investigation and formal discovery; develop case strategies; prepare pleadings for courts or petitions to administrative agencies; and research case-specific legal issues. Some law student interns appear before courts on contested motions, preliminary matters or assist in a trial; others represent clients before administrative agencies. Undergraduate interns experience a range of opportunities supporting Clinical Instructors and law student interns with client cases, and engaging in independent work on behalf of clients. Our summer program is also structured to include multiple learning and training opportunities, including weekly speaker events, ethics training, community partner site visits and guest presenters. Overall, all interns are provided with a singular opportunity to engage in mentored hands-on learning, to develop and practice new legal skills, and to interact with diverse client communities through immersion in the work of a community-based civil legal services office.
In addition to gaining practical lawyering skills, an internship at LSC provides students with a superb opportunity to explore Boston.
Funding
Internships are unpaid, but are eligible for public interest fellowship sponsorship, including through SPIF (Harvard Law School students only) and EJA. We would be pleased to work with applicants to provide sponsorship for other summer public interest funding. LSC will provide a modest stipend to all summer interns; more information on this stipend will be provided to successful applicants.
To Apply
Once we open the application portal, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until all positions are filled. To apply, please submit (1) a resume, (2) a cover letter which identifies your top two practice-area preferences from our clinical offerings list, and (3) a writing sample.
Submit your application materials here [Note: our summer 2024 program is filled, and we are no longer accepting applications; please re-visit this webpage in winter 2024-2025 to find out when the application portal will open for summer 2025 internship positions].
Undergraduate Summer Internship Positions
LSC also welcomes college students and recent college graduates to apply for summer internship positions. Interns are unpaid, but are welcome to seek funding from their schools or other sources. These positions entail assisting clinical professors and instructors, legal fellows, and law student interns in representing and advising low-income clients in one or several substantive areas of public interest law practice. Tasks typically include assisting with or conducting: client intakes, legal research, court records searches and filings, client correspondence, case memoranda, and record keeping. Undergraduate interns are invited to attend all of the LSC summer internship programming and events. Again, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until all positions are filled.
Clinics accepting applications for undergraduate/recent graduate internships are:
- To be announced
Once we open the application portal, candidates can apply by submitting (1) a resume, (2) a concise writing sample of 500 words or less, and (3) a cover letter which clearly states that you are an undergraduate or recent graduate applicant and identifies your top two or three practice-area preferences from the above list. Submit your application materials here. [Note: our summer 2024 program is filled, and we are no longer accepting applications; please re-visit this webpage in winter 2024-2025 to find out when the application portal will open for summer 2025 internship positions].
Other Internship Opportunities
In addition to its summer internship program, the Legal Services Center sometimes welcomes college students and recent college graduates to apply for internship positions during the academic year.
The following clinical areas are currently accepting applications from candidates for undergraduate interns for the upcoming fall/spring semesters:
- None at this time
Post-Graduate Fellowship Opportunities
The Legal Services Center welcomes applications from graduating law students and those completing judicial clerkships who are interested in sponsorship for a public interest fellowship. LSC has a strong track record of successfully sponsoring applicants for public interest fellowships. To apply for sponsorship, please send a resume and email expressing interest to LSC Faculty Director Daniel Nagin at dnagin[at]law.harvard.edu. We encourage potential applicants to contact us as early as possible in the fellowship cycle process. Decisions about sponsorships are made on a rolling basis.
In most years, the Legal Services Center actively seeks to sponsor applicants for a variety of fellowships, including the the Equal Justice Works Fellowship, the ABA Tax Section Christine A. Brunswick Public Service Fellowship, and other foundation and law-school based fellowships. Our subject-area interests for sponsorship are wide ranging and include consumer, tax, veterans, disability and safety net programs, housing and family law.
Persons interested in working for the Legal Services Center should also be sure to visit our Employment Opportunities page.