Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) Internships

Founded in 1974, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans.  By combining litigation, advocacy, education and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all.

SUMMER LEGAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 2010

Internships for the summer of 2010 are available in the following program areas:

• Anti-Trafficking Initiative - legal research on the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as outreach, community education, and advocacy on the rights of women and youth trafficking survivors.
• Community Health Care Initiative - legal research, community education and outreach in the areas of immigration, government benefits, language rights, and health care access;
• Economic Justice for Workers - litigation on behalf of garment, restaurant, and other low wage workers;
  • New Jersey - Asian American Legal Project - community outreach, education, and organizing with Asian immigrant workers in New Jersey; performing client intake and legal interpretation; managing workers’ claims with government agencies; conducting legal research and writing, and administering community surveys with workers.
• Educational Equity and Youth Rights - legal services, policy work, community education, research and litigation concerning educational equity, juvenile justice, affirmative action and post 9-11 hate violence and racial targeting;
• Housing Justice Project - community outreach/education, community planning, research, and litigation on housing and land use issues affecting low-income Asian immigrant communities;
• Immigrant Access to Justice - litigation, legal services, and organizing/outreach with communities impacted by 9-11, including special interest detainees, special registration, racial profiling, voluntary FBI interviews, and local and state enforcement of immigration laws.
• Voting Rights - legal research and fact development under the Voting Rights Act and Equal Protection Clause challenging anti-Asian voter discrimination, advocacy on bilingual ballots, and state and local election reform; produce reports and organize public forums.
• Census 2010 - legal research on the confidentiality of census information and enforcement of civil rights law, conduct client intake to protect the anonymity of undocumented immigrants, conduct outreach and legal trainings.

Description of Summer Internship Program:
The summer program is ten weeks, from approximately June 7 through August 13.  Interns work full-time and are supervised by attorneys in specific program areas.  Interns will work on litigation, particularly legal research and writing, legal and policy advocacy, community outreach and education, and client intakes.  Each program area differs in emphasis.  Summer interns attend weekly brown bag lectures on a range of public interest legal topics along with interns from other legal defense funds and civil rights groups.  AALDEF also provides trainings in housing law, naturalization procedures, and immigration law.  The position is unpaid.  However, in previous years many AALDEF interns have been successful at securing independent funding.  Academic credit can be arranged.

To Apply:
Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume, and writing sample to be received by AALDEF on or before Friday, February 8, 2010 at the address below.  Please indicate the top three program areas on which you would be interested in focusing.  Only law students qualify for AALDEF’s legal internships.  Fax or email applications are acceptable.

Any bilingual ability should be stated in the application.  Bilingual ability is helpful but not required.  Gujarati, Hindi, Khmer, Korean, and Urdu-speaking applicants are especially urged to apply. 

Applications will be reviewed upon receipt until the February 8, 2010 deadline.  Interviewing will take place in February and early March, however, some interviews may be conducted on a rolling basis prior to that time.  Please note that only applicants who have been granted interviews will be notified of their advancement in the application process. 

Summer Internship Search (Legal)

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
99 Hudson Street, 12th floor
New York, New York 10013-2815
Fax: 212-966-4303  Email: info@aaldef.org 
For more information, contact:

Bethany Li  at 212-966-5932 x213 or bli@aaldef.org
Alex Saingchin at 888-406-1555 x1 or asaingchin@aaldef.org

* * *Please do NOT email applications to bli@aaldef.org or asaingchin@aaldef.org
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Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center Summer 2010 Law Clerk and Internship Positions in DC Metropolitan Area - Updated!

The Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC) is a 501(c)(3) community-based legal organization that works with low income and limited-English proficient Asian immigrant communities across the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The APALRC runs a multi-lingual legal intake helpline, a legal interpreter project, and provides legal representation and policy advocacy in language access, immigration, domestic violence and family law, employment, tenants' rights and community planning, and other areas. The APALRC combines innovative and collaborative approaches to legal services, advocacy, and organizing to meet emergency needs and address the systemic inequities faced by Asian American, immigrants, and all residents in our region.

The APALRC has 4 – 6 full-time legal internship opportunities available in Summer 2010, as well as other opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates to assist in our work.

Domestic Violence and Family Law Project:
Work alongside staff attorneys in Maryland or Virginia on domestic violence and family law cases,
outreach, and community education. This project includes conducting outreach to Asian immigrant
communities about their legal rights in domestic violence and family law, ensuring holistic services
through partnerships with social service agencies, and provision of linguistically and culturally appropriate representation on immigration and family law issues to domestic violence survivors and their families.

Asian Immigrant Youth Assistance Project
This project focuses on working with Asian immigrant youth and their families to ensure safety,
permanency, and overall well-being through direct immigration legal services, education, and outreach initiatives. Law clerks will be assisting Asian youth who may be abandoned, abused, and neglected, victims of crime, and victims of human trafficking. This project also includes protecting the rights of limited English proficient Asian American youth in the community and ensuring that these children are safe from hate crimes and bullying in schools. The ideal candidate will have an interest in immigration law and policy, youth advocacy, and be able to assist with community outreach and education in D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Language Access Project:

This project focuses on language access issues in the District and throughout the region. The APALRC played a central role in the writing of the D.C. Language Access Act, one of the most comprehensive local laws in the nation that protects the rights of individuals with limited-English proficiency. As an active member of the D.C. Language Access Coalition, the APALRC has filed successful language access complaints concerning D.C. agencies. Language access law clerks will work with the staff attorney to outreach to local communities, identify potential language access violations, and assist community members with language access complaints and/or complaints under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Housing and Community Justice Project:
This project focuses on the rights of low-income and limited-English proficient tenants, tenant groups, and communities. The project focuses on unlawful evictions, housing code violations, access to government subsidies, community planning, tenant group formation and representation, and other local advocacy and community lawyering efforts. The ideal candidate(s) has interest and/or experience in housing, poverty law, writing, and work with local Asian immigrant communities. Undergraduate and graduate students in urban planning and organizing are also encouraged to apply for direct work in Asian communities in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.

Community Organizing Program:
The APALRC has a number of internship opportunities available for Fall 2009 for undergraduate, postgraduate, or graduate students to assist with outreach and community organizing work in various project areas including the Housing and Community Justice Project, Crime Victims Assistance Partnership, Nail Salon Project and other initiatives. Each program area differs in emphasis and specific job tasks, ranging from research to one-on-one outreach with community members. Interns will be able to work on project areas of interest, but will be expected to work on multiple projects where needed. Language ability in at least one Asian language is strongly preferred for organizing interns.

Fundraising Internship:
The APALRC seeks an undergraduate or recent graduate intern with an interest in developing fundraising skills in a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring justice for the Asian American communities in the D.C. metro region. Under the supervision and guidance of a mid-level APALRC development staff, the development intern will play an integral part in achieving the organization’s fundraising goals through tasks including prospect research, grant writing, donor relations, and special event planning.

Communications Internship:
The APALRC seeks an undergraduate or recent graduate with an interest or degree in journalism, public relations or marketing to apply for an internship to assist with various communications tasks including drafting media advisories and press releases, monitoring media coverage and preparing news clips, updating and maintaining media lists, and preparing marketing materials.

     Internship Description
Legal interns are expected to conduct intake interviews with new callers. Each program area differs in emphasis and specific job tasks, which might include intake, interviews, legal and other research, writing, outreach, and community education. Full-time interns must work 40 hours/week for a minimum of 10 weeks. Part-time interns work between 15 to 20 hours per week and internships usually commence with the start of the summer session.

Full-time summer interns might be eligible for a stipend from the APALRC, and interns are encouraged to identify and apply for external funding resources. Interns are expected to make their own arrangements for academic credit. While not a requirement, applicants who are proficient in an Asian language spoken by the communities that we serve are strongly encouraged to apply.

To apply:
Please send a single email with the following attachments in PDF format by January 25th, 2010:
1) Cover Letter (1 page): explaining the specific project(s) in which you are interested, and your past experience or future plans for work in the Asian American community;
2) Resume (2 page max): please include relevant course/clinical work, experience, and all Asian
language skills; and
3) Writing Sample (up to 5 pages): that shows legal writing skills and/or ability to convey legal issues in plain English (for non-legal positions, please send a writing sample that demonstrates strong writing and critical analysis skills).

Addressed to:
1) Legal Internships and General Inquiries: Mr. Parag Khandhar (parag.khandhar@apalrc.org), with the subject line "Internship Application for Summer 2010."
2) Organizing Internships: Ms. Tina Pham (tina.pham@apalrc.org) with the subject line “Internship
Application for Summer 2010.”
3) Fundraising/Communications Internships: Ms. Aeda Chung (aeda.chung@apalrc.org) with the
subject line “Internship Application for Summer 2010.”

No Phone Calls, please. We will contact all applicants via email regarding their application status.
Candidates will be interviewed and offered positions on a rolling basis, so early applications are
encouraged. Not all applicants will be contacted for interviews, and incomplete applications will not be considered. Internship applicants are automatically added to the APALRC mailing list unless instructed otherwise. The APALRC is an equal opportunity employer.
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McGuire Woods NAPABA Law Foundation Internship Program, Summer 2010 - Updated!

McGuire Woods LLP, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
(NAPABA), and the NAPABA Law Foundation (NLF) are proud to announce the
establishment of the McGuire Woods Internship Program. The program will
support Asian Pacific American (APA) students interested in the legal
profession and will help students develop a commitment to advocacy on behalf
of the APA community. The Program seeks to achieve these goals by providing
undergraduate and law school students with meaningful internship
experiences at the Washington D.C. offices of the National Asian Pacific
American Bar Association (NAPABA) and the NAPABA Law Foundation (NLF).
Each Program intern shall be assigned tasks that directly or indirectly further
the missions of NAPABA and NLF, including:
• Promoting justice, equity and opportunity for Asian Pacific Americans.
• Fostering professional development, legal scholarship, advocacy and
community involvement.
• Developing and supporting programs to educate the legal profession and
Asian Pacific American communities about legal issues affecting those
communities.

For the summer of 2010, the Program will award stipends to one full-time law
clerk and one full-time fundraising and policy intern. The law clerk (who shall
be a law student) will be awarded a stipend of $3,000 to work for NAPABA for a
minimum of ten weeks. The fundraising and policy intern (preferably an
undergraduate student) will be awarded a stipend of $2,000 and will spend
50% of his/her time working on NLF projects and 50% of his/her time on
NAPABA projects for a minimum of ten weeks.

The responsibilities of the NAPABA law clerk may include:
• conducting legal and policy research on issues affecting APAs and the
legal profession;
• drafting talking points and letters on issues affecting APAs and the legal
profession;
• analyzing proposed state and federal legislation;
• updating and drafting NAPABA reports and white papers; and
• drafting memoranda regarding policy-oriented operations within NAPABA.
The responsibilities of the fundraising and policy intern may include:
• conducting policy research on issues affecting APAs and the legal
profession;
• conducting outreach to the APA community and the legal community;
• researching and writing grants;
• promoting NLF at events targeted at high school and law school
students; and
• drafting press releases.

To apply, you must submit your resume, transcript, three references, and a
short essay (1-2 pages) explaining your interest in interning for NAPABA and/or
NLF to Priya Bose at PBose@napaba.org by February 1, 2010. Applications will
be reviewed by a committee including members of NABABA and NLF.
Applicants shall be notified of the results no later than March 1, 2010.

Questions and inquiries may be directed to Priya Bose at PBose@napaba.org or
202-775-9555.
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NRDC 2010 China Summer Legal Interns – Beijing Office - Updated!

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of the world’s most effective
environmental organizations, is seeking 1-2 China Summer Legal Interns to work in
its Beijing office. NRDC hires passionate students who possess the intelligence, skill,
self-confidence, and maturity to take on significant responsibility. In exchange for
their hard work, our interns will have an opportunity to play an active role on the
frontlines of the environmental movement in China.
China Summer Legal Interns will work with the staff of NRDC’s China
Environmental Law Project to carry out research and implement programming related
to environmental law, legal development, environmental public interest litigation,
environmental health governance, and/or climate change. Internships typically last
from ten to twelve weeks. No funding will be provided, and interns have typically
been able to secure funding through their schools or other sources. Work is mainly
based in NRDC’s Beijing office, but may require some travel within China.

Qualifications
•Current candidates for J.D. degrees or environment-related graduate degrees, with
relevant academic backgrounds and work experience.
•Ability to work independently on research and writing regarding the China
Environmental Law Project’s areas of work.
•Working proficiency in both English and Chinese is preferred.

How to Apply
Applicants should send a resume, writing sample, and cover letter to
xzhang@nrdc.org.
by February 15, 2010. Offers will be made on a rolling basis to
well-qualified candidates, so we strongly encourage you to apply as early as possible.
________________________________________________________________________

MetLife Summer Law Clerk Position - Updated!

MetLife is seeking two current law students to fill open Summer Law Clerk Positions in its office located in New York, New York (Midtown). The clerkship is for 10-weeks beginning May 24, 2010 and ending July 30, 2010. Each law clerk is expected to work 40 hours per week and will be compensated at a rate of $32.50 per hour. Practice areas in the New York office generally include: Insurance, Commercial, Significant Tort, Securities, Marketing and General Corporate Litigation; Employment Law, Litigation and Benefits; Personal and Group Insurance Law; ERISA Products / Tax; Intellectual Property and Technology; Public Company and Corporate Law; Securities Products and Regulations; Corporate Real Estate and Procurement Operations; and International Law.

Applicants may send their resumes to:
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Legal Affairs
1095 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Attn: Karen Bellamy

Applicants may also send their resumes via e-mail to: kbellamy@metlife.com. If sent by e-mail, the subject line should state: “Summer Law Clerk Position.” Please submit resume either by U.S. mail or e-mail; do not send it both ways.

To be considered for the positions, resumes must be received by no later than Friday, February 5, 2010.

Due to the anticipated number of resumes, only applicants selected for interview will be contacted and resumes received after February 5, 2010 will not be considered. Please do not call unless we contact you. If you require any additional information, please e-mail -Ms. Bellamy at the above address.
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4th Annual Critical Race Studies Symposium
 
Intersectionality: Challenging Theory, Reframing Politics, Transforming Movements
 
March 11-13th, 2010, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, California.

Click here to download the PDF.
                                       
Since the publication of Kimberlé Crenshaw's formative articles - Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race & Sex (1989), and Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics & Violence Against Women of Color (1994) - the concept of intersectionality has traversed more than a dozen academic disciplines and transnational and popular political discourse, generated multiple conferences, monographs, and anthologies, and animated hundreds of articles and essays. In the twenty years since Crenshaw introduced intersectionality, critiques of identity politics and multiculturalism and, more recently, claims of a "post-racial" era have blossomed. In 2010, we will re-visit the origins of intersectionality as a theoretical frame and site of legal interventions and consider its still unfolding potential for unmasking subordination and provoking social change.
 
Confirmed participants include:
Sumi Cho, Cathy Cohen, Sarah Deer, Philip Atiba Goff, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Angela Harris, Luke Harris, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Tanya Hernandez, Nagwa Ibrahim, Lenora Lapidus, Gail Lewis, George Lipsitz, Catharine MacKinnon, Leslie McCall, Mari Matsuda, Charles Mills, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Margaret Montoya, Manjula Pradeep, Beth Richie, Dorothy Roberts, Tricia Rose, Nikhil Singh, Sandra Smith, Dean Spade, Alvin Starks, Miguel Unzueta, Francisco Valdes, Mieke Verloo, Patricia Williams
 
We are pleased to solicit proposals for individual papers or whole sessions, engaging one or more of our five embedded themes.

Key areas of inquiry include:
a) Intersectionality Across Disciplines, with particular emphasis on research methodologies, new applications and comparative analyses;
b) Intersectional Praxis, engaging the integration of theory with advocacy and activism, and concerned with the practical dilemmas entailed in navigating intersections of race, gender, class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, citizenship, ethnicity and/or related dynamics;
c) Intersectionality and Post-racialism, particularly highlighting the contradicting ways that intersectionality has been positioned as both a precursor to post-racialism and as a critique of its symbolic content;
d) Intersectionality and Transnationalism, specifically recognizing the intersecting dynamics of subordination that sustain, transgress or delineate borders and highlighting discourses that disrupt the premises of globalization, imperialism and international law;
e) Intersectionality Embodied, interrogating how intersectionality plays out in the production of legitimate and illegitimate sexualities, the construction of normative, (de)valued, or able bodies, and the challenges in deploying discourses of rights and recognition as interventionist tools.  



All proposals should include the session or paper title, a 300-500 word abstract, the names, affiliations, and C.V.s or resumes of all participants, and any audio-visual requests.  Session proposals should specify panel, roundtable, or workshop format.  Panels integrating practitioners or advocates, including both junior and senior scholars and/or including graduate or law students, are strongly encouraged. 



The deadline to submit proposals has been extended to January 15, 2010.

Please submit questions about the event and proposals to crssymposium@law.ucla.edu
 
Sponsor: The Critical Race Studies Program at the UCLA School of Law
 
Principal Co-sponsor: Women & the Law Project, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
 
Presenting Co-sponsors: African-American Policy Forum, Columbia Law School, LatCrit, Inc., The Williams Institute, The American Constitution Society
 
Contributing Co-Sponsors: V-Day, Women’s Research & Resource Center at Spelman College
 
Co-Sponsors: ACLU Women’s Rights Project, Center for Global Justice- Seattle University School of Law, The Center for New Racial Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Social & Cultural Analysis- New York University, UCLA Center for the Study of Women, UCLA Center for the Study of Women, UCLA Women’s Studies Department
 
The Faculty of the UCLA Law Critical Race Studies Program:
Khaled Abou El Fadl * Devon Carbado * Kimberlé Crenshaw * Carole Goldberg *
Cheryl Harris * Jerry Kang * Gerard López * Jyoti Nanda * Russell Robinson *
Saúl Sarabia
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2010 Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest

The Public Justice Foundation is sponsoring the 2010 Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest.  Just in case you’re not familiar with our organization, we are a non-profit membership organization of over 3,000 attorneys, law students, and others supporting the national public interest law firm Public Justice, P.C.  For more information about our organization, visit our web site www.publicjustice.net.

The 2010 topic is Can Coal Be Clean? Litigation Remedies for Coal Contamination from Mining to Combustion to Sequestration.  The winning authors essay will receive a $5,000 cash prize, free 2010 Public Justice Foundation membership, be featured on the Public Justice website and in the nationally disseminated Public Justice newsletter, and be published in the Vermont Law School on-line Journal of Environmental Law.  Any student currently enrolled in an accredited American law school may submit a legal essay for the competition.  The intent-to-enter submission deadline is January 29, 2010 and the essay contest submission deadline is March 31, 2010.  For additional information about the contest, click on the link below.

http://www.publicjustice.net/What-We-Do/Awards/Law-School-Essay-Contest.aspx

Please alert your law student members about this contest and if you have additional questions, contact me at 202-797-8600 or cgoings@publicjustice.net. Thank you!