Summer Internships

The United States Attorney's Office offers unpaid summer internships for students in law school. The 2025 summer internship program will start on May 28, 2025 and end on July 30, 2025. This program is full-time (9am-5pm) in-person in our Philadelphia office.

The program allows interns to work on and observe cases litigated in the United States District Court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Interns participate with Assistant United States Attorneys in all phases of litigation, from investigations through trial and appeal.

Interns are assigned to work on both criminal and civil matters.  Interns work with AUSAs on real cases in a wide variety of subject matters, including all types of cases handled by the USAO.  The summer intern assignment coordinators try to align case assignments with interns’ interests.  The assignments typically include:

• conducting legal research;
• drafting motions, briefs and internal memoranda;
• reviewing and organizing discovery;
• transcribing recordings; and
• preparing for and attending depositions, hearings, meetings, witness interviews, proffers and trials.

Interns also attend training sessions in which they learn relevant skills and hear from various participants in the federal criminal justice system. Speakers include judges, agents and staff members of this office. When possible, the office also sponsors field trips to relevant locations (such as prisons and federal agencies).

The office participates in work study programs but does not provide any matching funds.

Requirements

To be hired, an applicant must be:

• currently enrolled in a law school
• a United States citizen
• selected by the internship committee
• successfully cleared following a background check undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (which includes inquiry into illegal drug use and bad debts)

Application Process

The summer internship program is open to all currently enrolled law students (1st year, 2nd year, attending at night or part time). It is not open to those who have graduated law school.

The U.S. Attorney's Office will begin accepting applications for the 2025 summer internship program on December 1, 2024, and the submission period will close on January 6, 2025. Applications are considered on a rolling basis and consist of a cover letter and a resume which must be e-mailed to: USAPAE.Summer.Intern.Recruit@usdoj.gov.

The internship committee selects candidates to interview (via video conference) from the resumes submitted. Please do not call the office to attempt to arrange an interview.

Candidates who are interviewed are asked to provide a law school transcript and writing sample (5 pages).

Candidates selected by the committee must provide information for a Federal Bureau of Investigation background check.

Final approval for all applicants is obtained from the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

The United States is an Equal Opportunity Employer.