About

AALDEF 2025 SUMMER LEGAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, is a New York-based national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, legal advocacy, and community education. For more information about AALDEF and the community lawyering model we use for social change, please visit our website at www.aaldef.org.

AALDEF program areas include:

• Anti-Asian Violence – Addresses current rise in violence against Asian Americans by connecting lessons learned from post-9/11 increased surveillance and law enforcement policies. Counters racial profiling and criminal legal policies creating prison to deportation pipeline.
• Economic Justice – Advances the rights of workers in low-wage industries, including home health care, massage work, sex work, nail salons, and restaurants.
• Educational Equity – Supports race-conscious admission policies in higher education and fair and equitable education policies for communities of color and English Language Learners in K-12.
• Housing & Environmental Justice – Fights displacement in low-income Asian immigrant communities through zoning and land use policy and litigation.
• Immigrant Justice – Counters impact of post-9/11 immigration and law enforcement policies, deportations in the Southeast Asian community, and unconstitutional ICE apprehensions/detentions. Supports deferred action policies for undocumented youth and addresses humanitarian visa issues.
• Voting Rights/Democracy – Challenges voter suppression measures, discriminatory redistricting, denials of language access, and other voting rights and equal protection issues through litigation under the Voting Rights Act and state law. Conducts election protection through exit polling and poll monitoring during primary and general elections.

Summer Internship Program Description: The summer program is ten weeks, from May 27 through August 1 2025. Interns will work on a full-time schedule with a hybrid in-office/remote work policy.Interns, supervised by attorneys in various program areas, will receive training and education on legal skills in civil rights issues. Interns may work on litigation, legal and policy advocacy, legal services, legal research and writing, community outreach and education, and/or client intakes. Each program area differs in emphasis. Interns attend weekly brown bag series on a range of public interest legal topics along with interns from other legal defense funds and civil rights groups.

Applicants are expected to diligently seek any available funding from their law schools. For applicants who cannot secure funding or secure funding at a lower rate than AALDEF offers, AALDEF will supplement funding up to $6000 for the ten weeks. More information regarding this process will be provided after offers are accepted.

To Apply:

• Interested applicants should email a cover letter, resume, and writing sample as a single PDF document. Please indicate in your cover letter the preferred program area(s). Only law students qualify for AALDEF’s legal internships. Applications may be emailed to info@aaldef.org with Subject Line: Summer Legal Internship Search.
• Any bilingual ability should be stated in the application. Bangla, Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese), Gujarati, Hindi, Khmer, Korean, Urdu, and Vietnamese-speaking skills are a plus, but not required.
• We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis. Priority is given to 2L students. Only applicants with interviews will be notified of their advancement in the application process.

For more information, contact: info@aaldef.org.

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AALDEF is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.