Employment
Positions for Law Students
SEMESTER AND SUMMER POSITIONS FOR LAW STUDENTS
We are no longer accepting applications for Summer 2024, as all positions have been filled.
The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) seeks to ensure equal access to justice for indigent institutionalized persons in Pennsylvania. PILP provides civil legal services to over 100,000 persons housed in jails, prisons, detention centers, and state hospitals. There are three offices, located in Philadelphia, Lewisburg, and Pittsburgh. We engage in direct representation, legislative and administrative advocacy, and providing incarcerated persons with legal reference materials and referrals. Our litigation is primarily in the federal courts.
PILP’s litigation docket includes cases involving physical and sexual assault, disability rights, transgender rights, freedom of religion, mental health and medical care, and other conditions of confinement. PILP is currently involved in class actions relating to mental health care at Allegheny County Jail, unconstitutional conditions in the Philadelphia jails, and solitary confinement in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Other currently active cases involve denial of transgender healthcare, religious accommodations, excessive force, inadequate medical care, and denial of medication for opioid-use disorder, among other issues.
Position Description:
The Philadelphia and Pittsburgh offices of PILP welcome law students to apply for semester externships and summer internships. Semester externships are generally part-time, with the precise number of hours typically determined by law schools’ requirements. Summer internships are full-time, generally for a minimum of ten weeks.
Law student interns and externs are responsible for legal research and writing, reviewing and answering intake letters, case development and investigation, assisting with discovery, and other related duties. Interns and externs are supervised by one of the attorneys and taken to client meetings, depositions, and court whenever appropriate.
PILP has previously been an approved site for credit-based externships at multiple law schools. Please familiarize yourself with your law school’s policies and procedures regarding externships before applying for a semester position. As for summer internships, while PILP is unable to offer paid internships, PILP encourages students to seek outside funding through work study, law school,or foundation public interest fellowships, or similar programs.
Application Process:
To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and current academic transcript. Applicants should submit their materials to Matthew A. Feldman at mfeldman@pilp.org (Philadelphia) or Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz at amorgan-kurtz@pilp.org (Pittsburgh). Applicants willing to work in either office should submit their materials in a single email to both offices and note any preference in office. Remote, hybrid, and in-office arrangements will be considered.
Applications are reviewed, and positions filled, on a rolling basis.