Legal Intern Program

Volunteer Legal Intern Program

United States Attorney’s Office

Middle District of Tennessee

The Office of the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee represents the federal government in criminal and civil actions within 32 of 95 counties in the State of Tennessee. The Criminal Division handles a variety of case: Violent Crime, Organized Crime, Narcotics, White Collar Crime, Special Victims Crimes, Civil Rights Violations, and General Crimes. Attorneys within the Civil Division represent the United States and its departments and agencies in civil proceedings filed against the United States in federal court and/or handle affirmative civil enforcement cases. The office is located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Description of Legal Intern Program

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee utilizes the volunteer services of law students on a year-round basis. These legal interns are unpaid volunteers who work either for the experience and/or for academic credit. The program is intended to give currently enrolled law students the opportunity to assist in the prosecution and defense of both criminal and civil cases in the District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Legal interns are not assigned to any particular section or division and have the opportunity to do work in both the Criminal and Civil Divisions. Interns will have an opportunity to choose from a variety of projects submitted by attorneys, and a supervising attorney will be available to the interns throughout the internship.

Legal interns typically research legal issues, write memos, and/or draft responses in pending cases; prepare jury instructions or other pretrial filings; and assist with appellate briefs. Legal interns also work with attorneys in responding to discovery, interviewing or deposing witnesses, assembling exhibits for trial, and negotiating settlements. Additionally, interns are encouraged to observe hearings and trials.  Summer interns often have the opportunity to participate in several extracurricular activities, including tours of a local jail, a state prison, the medical examiner’s office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Academy, and various federal agencies. Summer interns are encouraged to participate in a ride-along program with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Additional opportunities for summer interns will include talking with local judges and assistant federal public defenders, as well as participating in roundtable discussions with AUSAs to discuss various topics including judicial clerkships, the DOJ Honors program, and other topics.

Summer interns are expected to work full time for 12 weeks. Splitting the summer is strongly discouraged but will be considered for rising third year students when compelling circumstances warrant such an exception, but preference will be given to rising third year students who commit to the full summer. The summer intern program for 2026 is tentatively set for May 18, 2026 through August 7, 2026.

Submitting an Application

To submit an application, a currently enrolled law student should submit four items in PDF format to the email usatnm.vlccoordinator@usdoj.gov:

• Cover Letter: please include a letter as an attachment to include your law school, year in law school, and personal statement reflecting your background and reason for your interest in the program.
• Resume: please limit to one page; include your email address and phone number where you can be reached during the day
• Transcript: an unofficial version is fine. Please update your transcript once you receive your fall grades
• Writing Sample: short (e.g. no more than 5 pages) samples reflecting writing, research, and analytic skills

Please submit each of the four PDF documents listed above as an individual PDF file to the email usatnm.vlccoordinator@usdoj.gov, name each file as follows:

“[Last Name, FirstName]   – [ DocumentType].pdf” (e.g. Doe,  Jane   –   Cover Letter.pdf).

Please note in your subject line “Summer Semester 2026”

Timeline for Applications and Interviews

Applications for summer employment in 2026 should be received no later than January 20, 2026. Interviews will be conducted in person or by video conference during February and will be arranged by email.

Please email any questions to usatnm.vlccoordinator@usdoj.gov

Qualifications

To be eligible for this internship All of the following requirements must be met:

• Student Status: You must be an active student in good academic standing by your law school and have competed at least one year of law school at start of internship.
• Grade Point Average: You must have at least a 3.0 GPA.
• Citizenship: Student Interns must be United States citizens or owe permanent allegiance to the United States. (Currently, natives of American Samoa, Swains Island and certain inhabitants of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are the only groups that owe permanent allegiance to the United States.)
• Background Investigation: A successful background investigation must be completed to determine your suitability for Federal Employment.
• Volunteer Agreement: All volunteer legal interns are required to sign the Volunteer Agreement which will be completed during the security process if selected.