Law students: are you ready to get out from under your law books and hit the ground running in the field of children's immigration law?
CILA is looking for law students with a passion for empowering children and immigrants who love to research novel legal issues in an dynamic legal field. Learn the law while connecting with immigration advocates on the front lines in Texas and collaborate with us to implement systems change.
- 10-week, full time, internship at ABA-CILA Houston office located within South Texas College of Law-Houston
- CILA team is working virtually through the pandemic so the internship will be remote until/unless the American Bar Association has deemed it safe for us to return to the office.
- Training program that will train the Intern to:
- Understand the sources of immigration law and policy including working with unaccompanied children, removal proceedings, asylum and special immigrant juvenile status.
- Enhance both oral and written presentation skills.
- Learn practical trial skills for immigration court.
- Learn practical lawyering skills including research, assessing legal options, and counseling clients.
- Connect with the immigration legal community in Houston and across Texas
- Projects and Opportunities for Intern:
- Legal Research and Writing (50%): The Legal Intern would spend about half of their time assisting staff attorneys with research requests that come in from advocates around the state. Additionally, the Legal Intern will be responsible for 1-2 independent research projects to be completed over the course of the summer under the supervision of a CILA attorney. The completed project(s) will be used to create original resources for advocates, shared on our website and in our newsletter.
- Collaboration with Advocates (20%): The Legal Intern will have the opportunity to participate in 2-4 working groups depending on their scheduled time with CILA (our working groups are scheduled on June 9, July 7, July 20, August 12, August 18).
- Training (20%): The Legal Intern will have the opportunity to participate in trainings designed to empower advocates to better meet the legal needs of unaccompanied children as scheduled over the summer.
- Systemic Advocacy (10%): Through its unique lens as a statewide legal resource center, CILA identifies systemic trends and legal barriers to permanency in the United States for Unaccompanied Children. The Legal Intern will have the opportunity to conduct legal research and help collect and analyze data that CILA collects to identify these trends and share with community stakeholders including the American Bar Association.
Qualifications:
- Applicants should have an interest in immigration law and/or working on behalf of children.
- Applicants should have strong research and writing skills. Spanish language is not required.
- We encourage and support students who are seeking fellowships or course credit during their internship.
- In addition to the summer Internship, we may also have short-term and project-based opportunities. To search for short term opportunities, visit cilacademy.org/pro-bono.
To apply, please send your resume, a writing sample and cover letter to: chloe.walker@abacila.org by March 1, 2021. We will be setting up interviews on a rolling basis.