Law Student Internships
Summer Intern Program
I. THE OFFICE
The office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois is responsible for federal law enforcement in the southern third of the State of Illinois. The main office is located in Fairview Heights, Illinois, with thirty attorneys in both the Civil and Criminal Divisions. There is a staffed branch office in Benton, with five attorneys, and a staffed office space in the Federal Courthouse in East St. Louis. The Fairview Heights office is located 12 miles east of downtown St. Louis with easy access to interstate 64.
Within the main office, the Civil Division handles both affirmative and defensive litigation for the United States. The Criminal Division has a number of subdivisions, including the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a General Crimes Section, and a White Collar Crime Section. The General Crimes Section handles non-task force drug cases, weapon cases, bank robberies, kidnapings, and threats against federal officials. The White Collar Crime Section handles environmental crimes, healthcare fraud, insurance fraud, fraud within financial institutions, labor racketeering/organized crime, public corruption, election fraud, criminal civil rights violations, and other white collar offenses.
II. THE SUMMER PROGRAM
The Fairview Heights Office accepts 10 - 15 volunteer interns each summer. Our Benton office accepts two volunteer summer interns. Our summer program begins in late May, and ends when students return to law school. The volunteers are asked to work at least twenty (20) hours per week, and many work full-time. Most interns will be assigned to work with several Assistant United States Attorneys in a specific unit. Many interns have qualified for public interest stipends during their internship with the USAO.
During the summer program, Assistant U.S. Attorneys periodically make informal presentations to the students on a variety of topics. In the past, presentations have included the grand jury process, charging decisions, undercover investigations, Title III wire intercepts, civil rights prosecutions, and the police use of force.
While the summer program will entail spending time in the library doing case research, we strive to provide our interns with a more complete introduction to the federal criminal justice system and our Office by involving them at every level of our work. We try to get the maximum number of interns into the courtroom to observe felony trials; Interns are some times allowed to be present during witness preparation, and with the Court’s permission they may sit at counsel table during the trial and are allowed into chambers during conferences and at side bar during side bar conferences.
In Illinois, students who have completed 60 percent of their law school course work towards graduation may qualify for a law student license. We also have arranged with Magistrate Judges for those students to conduct direct examination of government witnesses in evidentiary hearings or probation revocation hearings during the summer. The interns pre-try the witnesses, conduct the pre-trial and hearing examination of the witnesses, and handle all objections which relate to those witnesses. During this whole process, they are supervised by Assistant United States Attorneys from the Office.
Interns may also be involved in the writing of appellate briefs. If they have provided substantial assistance on the brief, their names are included on the brief which goes to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
III. HOW TO APPLY
If you wish to apply for a summer position, please send a resume, a law school transcript, and a cover letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Crowe, III at: United States Attorney’s Office, Nine Executive Drive, Fairview Heights, IL 62208. To be considered for a volunteer position, you must also be interviewed. An interview will be set up through your career services office or directly with you at a time convenient to your school schedule.
The Department of Justice requires that you have a background clearance and a security check before you can work in this Office. Students with a prior arrest history, or with recent financial problems (i.e. bankruptcy or active collection of debts) will face a more difficult time in obtaining the clearance. Please note that pursuant to Department of Justice policy, each student must be a United States citizen at the time of application.
Upon acceptance into the Summer Intern Program, you will be sent a questionnaire asking whether you prefer to work in the Civil or Criminal Division, and asked to list your most preferred assignments by units within that division. We make every effort to assign students to work with attorneys based upon these preferences, but also must make assignments to cover the needs of the office.
Once you have accepted, we will send you lengthy background investigation forms to complete and return to our office. Once we have received the completed forms, the Department of Justice will begin your background and security check. As our office incurs a significant cost for each investigation, we ask that you accept only if you are certain that you will be committed for the summer.
A starting date will be determined for the summer program based upon the collective availability of all participating students. The Department of Justice requires that you receive a security orientation on that first day, and we also conduct a general office orientation at that time. You will also be given your work assignment on that date.
If you have any questions about the summer intern program, please contact ranley.killian@usdoj.gov or liam.coonan@usdoj.gov.