Legal Aid Society - New York, NY
posted about 2 months ago
The Legal Aid Society, the nation's oldest and largest social justice legal services organization, is offering Summer 2025 Legal Internships for the Criminal Defense Practice (CDP) throughout New York City. The Criminal Defense Practice serves as the primary public defender in the city, providing holistic, client-centered representation to over 200,000 individuals facing misdemeanor, felony, and homicide charges. Interns will have the opportunity to work in various CDP trial offices or choose among specialized practice offices, including the Criminal Appeals Bureau (CAB) and the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) unit. Interns in the Criminal Appeals Bureau will assist indigent defendant-appellants in challenging their convictions on direct appeal and will be responsible for drafting sentence reduction briefs, briefs challenging appeal waivers, and briefs related to the sufficiency of misdemeanor accusatory instruments. They will also have opportunities to observe appellate arguments and trial court SORA hearings, engaging in various aspects of the office's practice. In the DVSJA unit, interns will support the investigation, filing, and litigation of resentencing motions for survivors of domestic violence who meet specific criteria for sentence reduction. The ideal candidates for these internships are dynamic, passionate, and creative law students committed to the mission of providing legal aid to those in need. Interns will work directly with supervising attorneys and will be involved in drafting motions, conducting legal research, assisting with investigations, client interviews, and reviewing and organizing discovery materials. This internship provides a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in criminal defense and to contribute to the fight for justice for marginalized communities.