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.

Legal interns who work during the Spring semester, early January through April, are expected to work at least 10 hours a week for a minimum of 12 weeks (120 hours) during the school semester.

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.
• 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 “Spring Semester 2026”

Timeline for Applications and Interviews

Applications for students interested in working part time during the school year must be received by August 31,2025 for the Spring semester.

Please direct any questions to Mitchell Galloway via email at Mitchell.Galloway@usdoj.gov or by telephone (615-736-5151).

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.