NOTE: We are no longer accepting applications for 2013
Pittsburgh Office
May 28-August 2, 2013
Neighborhood Legal Services Association (NLSA) is a private, non-profit Pennsylvania corporation established in 1966 to provide free legal services in civil cases to low-income people. The program serves the residents of four counties in Western Pennsylvania. The program's mission is to meet the civil legal needs of the poor and vulnerable in our community through effective legal representation and education.
Intern program:
We want to help you learn how to be a lawyer. Our goal is to provide an intensive hands-on experience which exposes aspiring lawyers to a range of legal issues and remedies. The most significant tasks:
● Students will participate in a summer Magisterial District Judge project in which they will interview and advise clients with Landlord Tenant problems who call in to the NLSA Helpline. Students will help prepare the clients for Landlord Tenant hearings and, if the student is certified, he/she may represent clients at those hearings and at motions and arbitration hearings in Common Pleas court.
● In addition to those housing-related cases, the students will: – draft pleadings in response to consumer credit card litigation and, if certified to appear in court, may present motions on procedural issues and represent clients at MDJ or arbitration hearings; -- assist at the evening clinics on consumer law; and – observe the wide range of NLSA services by accompanying NLSA attorneys to court.
● Students will help to plan and carry out NLSA’s participation in the downtown Gallery Crawl on July 12, 2013. This is your chance to use your creative talents and expand your ideas about how to look at the legal system and inform and engage the public. More than 600 people attended our July 2012 Gallery Crawl, and, among other activities, voted for their favorite fictional lawyer. FYI: Atticus Finch tied with Cousin Vinny.
The educational aspects of the program include five days of orientation during which students are introduced to the legal fundamentals of landlord tenant, evidentiary matters and client interviewing and negotiation. At weekly meetings, discussion of the cases and issues handled the previous week furthers the intern’s education in both substantive and procedural law. There are occasional "lunch and learn" meetings featuring speakers on a variety of legal topics.
At all times interns will be trained and supervised by staff attorneys at NLSA. This training will include interviewing, counseling, fact gathering, drafting, witness preparation, case analysis, and litigation. The students will learn about poverty law issues, lawyering skills, ethics, and professional conduct by working side by side with attorneys who have dedicated their professional careers to serving others.
Comments from interns in previous years:
● “From letter writing to client interviews, to District Magistrate hearings, onto the Gallery Crawl and finally the infamous (landlord’s name deleted), this was by far the most organized, well run and hands-on summer internship experience I have had.”
●"This definitely turned out to be a beneficial and intense learning experience. The best experience I have had during law school."
● “I very much enjoyed this experience—the work was challenging, the staff attorneys are very dedicated and passionate; this makes them great role models. I learned a lot.”
● "I was very impressed with this intern program. Expectations were very clear and the orientation covered materials effectively. Staff was very helpful and accessible, and it was nice to be given real clients and responsibility."
●”The programs are great and help a wide range of people while acting as a great teaching tool for law students."
● “The summer has been a great experience–not only because I learned a lot about the law, but because it allowed me to build confidence and actually impact people’s lives. I can’t think of another internship program I could have done after my first year of law school that could compare with the experience I got at NLSA this summer. Thank you!”
Will you be paid for working here?
The NLSA interns have always been volunteers, some of whom have received funding from other sources.
Fellowships:
NLSA will cooperate with any student accepted into the summer intern program to help him or her apply for funding to work here.
Some possible sources of funding include:
●Martin Luther King, Jr. Summer Intern Program: www.palegalservices.org/mlk_program.htm
●K& L Gates www.pittsburghfoundation.org/node/1640
●Equal Justice Works: www.equaljusticeworks.org/law-school/summercorps
●Equal Justice America: www.equaljusticeamerica.org/ApplyForFellowship.htm
●ABA John J. Curtin, Jr. Justice Fund www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/homelessness_poverty /2012_curtin_announcement_application.authcheckdam.pdf
●Federal Work/Study www2.ed.gov/programs/fws/index.html
●Site listing many summer grant programs: pslawnet.org/
●University of Pittsburgh Law School: students.law.pitt.edu/plisf/
●Duquesne Law School: www.duq.edu/law/student-services/organizations/pila.cfm
●The public interest program at your law school
How to apply:
Applications may be submitted beginning January 1, 2013. There is no deadline to apply but offers will be made on a rolling basis. Interviews will be offered to suitable applicants and may be conducted in person or over the phone. Preference is given to law students who are eligible to appear in court pursuant to Pa. Bar Admission Rule 321. For more information contact Attorney Catherine Martin at martinc@nlsa.us. To apply, email her a cover letter, unofficial transcript and resume. We will send you a brief writing project to complete and return to us. This project should take you no more than one hour from start to finish, and is designed to take the place of a writing sample.
