Tips For Finding Pre-Law Internships

Here is a post about my own pre-law internship experience and some tips on how to find one yourself. I want to stress though, that legal experience is NOT required nor expected for law school applications. It’s a great opportunity for insight and exposure to the field if you can do it, but don’t stress is you aren’t able to!

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My Pre-Law Internship Experience

I took to google for the area around my university. I was fortunate because not only did my college have a law school, but I was located right next door to the state’s capital with a ton of legal internships. I ended up at the public defender’s office for the county. This was unpaid work, and I generally set my own schedule and hours (the attorneys never really kept track of the undergrad interns). I worked on filing, copying, assembling discovery, and gathering records from the courthouse. Occasionally, a law student intern or public defender would bring me with them to court so I could observe. It was a nice, easy way to get exposure to the legal field and get a letter of recommendation for my law school application. 

Another internship I did during college was less “legal” and more in line with my area of interest. I worked at the California Environmental Protection Agency as a student assistant in an office that dealt with recycling and waste management policy. I interacted with attorneys sometimes, but mainly I dealt with environmental policy analysts and scientists. I did get to learn quite a bit about how laws turn into regulations and Administrative Law is now a breeze. 

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Tips:

• Definitely take to Google and Linkedin to search for internships.
• Don’t be afraid to post on Linkedin announcing you are looking for a legal internship.
• Linkedin stalk pre-law students of your college and the nearby law schools’ students to see where THEY intern in the area and then get ideas for offices to search.
• Check with your school’s pre-law association/advisor, career or grad school advisors, or even the political science department advisors and professors for ideas and leads on internship opportunities.
• Always always ALWAYS email these places even if they don’t mention non-law student interns or internships in general on their website. It doesn’t hurt to try and maybe they’ll have something for you. Attorneys can always certainly use the extra help. Find either an email of an HR employee, a recruiting coordinator, or some sort of secretary. If none of those are available, just email their general “contact us” email and include your resume and why you would want to intern there.
• Don’t be picky with your internship options. You are just trying to get exposure to the legal field, a professional reference, and something onto your resume (and be aware that this work is almost always going to be unpaid). Be open to opportunities even if they aren’t in your main area of interest.
• Bottom line is…. do NOT stress out! Legal experience is absolutely not required to apply to law school. Any experience on your resume, even if it’s just clubs is great! If you’re struggling to find an internship and really want one, maybe try looking for a legal-adjacent internship in your area of interest. For example, I am interested in environmental law and in undergrad I worked in recycling policy. We interacted with the legal office often when we were helping to draft new regulations.

A list of places to look:

•law firms in the area (usually have paralegal/secretary type roles you don’t need a law degree for, also internships but you might have to look hard for ones that take undergrads) smaller firms may be more likely to take you on informally as an intern than a big firm

•city attorney / city clerk / city counsel / county counsel / board of supervisors

•district attorneys + public defenders  (best one to look at as an undergrad/non law student in my opinion, they can definitely use the help filing, getting documents, assembling discovery etc and it’s easy work + a great way to get some exposure to the legal field)

•your municipal and state representatives 

•your local congressmen/senators 

•legal nonprofits in your area 

•state and federal jobs websites like CalCareers 

•local universities/colleges may have an internal legal office (campus counsel) 

•companies/businesses have in-house counsel that may take interns, mainly posted on Linkedin, Indeed, or their own websites. Look into what companies have a corporate office in your area