October 28, 2019

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project is currently accepting legal internship applications. Please see below for more information about the position and application process:

SUMMER INTERNSHIP AND SEMESTER EXTERNSHIP OPENINGS

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, state hospitals and state centers. There are three offices, located in Philadelphia, Lewisburg and Pittsburgh, PA. We engage in direct representation, legislative and administrative advocacy, as well as providing institutionalized 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, women’s issues, freedom of religion, mental health and medical care, and other conditions of confinement. PILP is currently involved in class actions relating to a deteriorating nineteenth century county jail and the placement of individuals with serious mental illness in solitary confinement at one of the most secure federal prisons in the country. Other currently active cases involve women in a county jail who receive less out-of-cell time and access to programming than similarly situated men, a man who was retaliated against for receiving mail from an LGBTQ advocacy organization, denial of transgender healthcare, and denial of disability accommodations to individuals with mobility and visual impairments.

Position Description:

The Philadelphia and Pittsburgh offices of PILP welcome law student interns/externs for full-time summer positions and part-time semester-long positions.

Law student interns will be responsible for legal research and writing, reviewing and answering intake, case development and investigation, assisting with discovery, and other related duties. The intern will be supervised by one of the staff attorneys and taken to client meetings, depositions, and court whenever appropriate. The Pittsburgh office accepts applications for both part-time and full time summer interns.

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. PILP has previously been an approved site for credit-based externships at some law schools.

Application Process:

To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume, and writing sample (preferably not from a legal writing course, if possible). Applicants should submit their materials to Matthew A. Feldman, mfeldman@pailp.org (Philadelphia) or Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, amorgan- kurtz@pailp.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. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with a preferred application deadline of Feb 14, 2020.