Columbia Legal Services: 2015 Summer Internship; WA

2015 SUMMER INTERNSHIPS

Seattle, WA
Yakima, WA
Wenatchee, WA
Olympia, WA 

COLUMBIA LEGAL SERVICES

http://www.columbialegal.org

Date Posted: 01/07/2015
Job Type: INTERNSHIP - Unpaid
Schedule Type: Internship

Practice Areas: Children's Rights, Employment/Labor, Farm Worker/Migrant Worker, Immigration, Legislative/Policy Issues, Litigation, Public Benefits/Social Security, Racial Justice Issues

Job Description

Columbia Legal Services (CLS) is a statewide legal aid program in Washington State representing low-income people and vulnerable groups with critical civil legal needs. We represent clients in a wide variety of civil cases including class actions and legislative rulemaking advocacy from five statewide offices: Seattle, Olympia,  Wenatchee, Yakima and Kennewick.

We offer several summer internship opportunities for law students. Summer Interns are expected to commit to full-time work for a minimum of 10 weeks. The following positions are offered for 2015:

Location	Project Group	Notes
Seattle	Basic Human Needs	Preference given to Seattle University or Gonzaga Students
Seattle	Children and Youth Project
Seattle	Institutions Project
Yakima, Wenatchee, or Olypmia	Laurel Rubin Farmworker Justice Internship	Paid position
Olympia	Working Families Project Foreclosure Work Group	Policy Intern
Seattle	Working Families Project Foreclosure Work Group
Seattle	Working Families Project Foreclosure Work Group

Summer interns are given the opportunity to participate in systemic advocacy on behalf of low-income people by engaging in legal research, writing, and community outreach and education.

Actual examples of the types of cases and projects that CLS has worked on causing systemic change and affecting the lives of many client communities in Washington State include protecting the health and safety of farm workers and their families working in Washington orchards; improving the foster care system for thousands of children; improving access to and quality of healthcare for prisoners, disabled individuals, seniors, and low-income people from public housing and mobile home communities.

Project Descriptions:

1. BASIC HUMAN NEEDS PROJECT
   Seattle location
   Law student interns working with the Basic Human Needs Project will focus on legal research and writing related to safeguarding essential benefits and rights for all low-income people. This intern will undertake larger projects and individual case work, likely including factual investigation, legal research, drafting memos and pleadings, client outreach, and litigation support. Legal topics may include the basic human needs of undocumented persons, and access to food, health care, and emergency financial assistance. Bilingual in Spanish and English preferred but not required.
2. CHILDREN AND YOUTH PROJECT
   Seattle location
   Law student interns working with the Children and Youth Project will focus on legal research, writing, and advocacy related to children and youth who are homeless, in foster care, immigrants, as well as advocacy related to the collateral consequences of juvenile justice involvement. Strong research and writing skills as well as experience working with at-risk children or youth are preferred.
3. INSTITUTIONS PROJECT
   Seattle location
   Law student interns working with the Institutions Project will focus on legal research and writing related to the treatment of youth in the adult criminal justice system, conditions of confinement in Washington’s jails and prisons, as well as participation in our efforts related to providing legal assistance to people reentering society after periods of incarceration. Strong research and writing skills as well as an interest in the criminal justice system are preferred.
4. WORKING FAMILIES PROJECT: IMMIGRANT WORKER GROUP
   Seattle location
   Law student interns working with the Working Families Project Immigrant Worker group will assist in litigation and policy advocacy on behalf of farm workers and other low wage. Duties will likely include legal research, investigating, and assisting with discovery and motions. Desired qualities include proficiency with legal research and writing consistent with experience and proficiency in Spanish. 
5. Laurel Rubin Farmworker Justice Interns
   Yakima, Wenatchee, or Olympia
   The Laurel Rubin Farm Worker Justice interns are $5,500 funded positions. Interns must speak Spanish. Interns will support litigation and policy efforts through research, writing and related assignments. Interns will also participate in outreach to the farmworker community in labor camps and migrant daycare centers.
6. WORKING FAMILIES PROJECT: FORECLOSURE WORK GROUP
   Seattle location
   Columbia Legal Services (CLS) seeks a summer intern to work on foreclosure and consumer rights litigation in its Foreclosure Work Group. The work will involve factual investigation, client counseling, legal research and writing, pre-trial discovery and motion practice, appellate briefing, and legislative and policy work and advocacy. The intern will be supervised by a CLS attorney in Seattle, and may also work with CLS attorneys in Olympia.
7. Policy Intern
   Olympia location
   Columbia Legal Services (CLS) seeks a summer intern to focus on policy work regarding consumers and housing.

Qualifications

-

Salary

 Most positions are for school credit, are paid under work-study, or are fellowship/public interest grant funded. 

Language(s): For those interested in working in our Yakima, Wenatchee, and Kennewick offices, it is strongly preferred that candidates have the ability to communicate in Spanish.

Application Instructions:

If you are interested in a summer internship with Columbia Legal Services, please send a cover letter, resume, two references, and a three page writing sample to jobs@columbialegal.org with Summer Internship 2015 in the subject line. 

Director of Program Administration
Trisa Kern
Columbia Legal Services
101 Yesler Way, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98104
jobs@columbialegal.org

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and will not be reviewed before February 6, 2015. 

Columbia Legal Services is committed to a policy of pluralism and equal opportunity in an environment free of barriers and discriminatory practices for its client communities, Board and staff. Pluralism refers to the active promotion of mutual respect, acceptance, teamwork and productivity among people who are diverse in work background, experience, education, race, color, national origin, sex, age, religious preference, marital status, sexual orientation, sensory, mental and physical abilities, veteran status, or any other perceived differences. The resulting diversity is both a source of program strength and a matter of fundamental human fairness.