Ready to turn your skills into action? CILA’s internship is a perfect opportunity for law students looking to hone their research skills and impact immigrant families across the US!
CILA is searching for law students passionate about immigration law and interested in learning more about children’s immigration issues. Our ideal candidate is proficient at legal research and embodies CILA’s 4 C’s: Courage, Competency, Compassion and Creativity.
- 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.
- The internship program will train students 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; and
- Connect with the immigration legal community in Houston and across Texas
- Projects and Opportunities for Intern:
- Legal Research and Writing (50%): The legal intern will 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.
- 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 children facing deportation. 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 a plus but 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: cila@abacila.org by March 1, 2022. We will be setting up interviews on a rolling basis.