2026 Summer Intern - Homelessness Prevention Law Project

Public Counsel•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION LAW PROJECT The Homelessness Prevention Law Project at Public Counsel combats the displacement of vulnerable communities in Los Angeles County by keeping individuals and families in stable housing and supporting recently evicted community members to reenter housing. We achieve this through a community lawyering model that combines direct legal services, education, and outreach spanning the critical intervention points that occur before, during, and after an eviction. We collaborate with other legal services agencies and community-based organizations to advance eviction prevention and protection programs throughout LA County. Our work also includes serving veterans and their families by providing legal representation to veterans and their families to remove barriers to employment and ensure access to benefits, housing, and healthcare. Our summer interns gain hands-on experience in both direct service and outreach. PREVENTING AND ENDING HOMELSSNESS PROGRAM (PEHP) This program delivers comprehensive, trauma-informed, wrap-around legal services designed to remove barriers to housing. Public Counsel serves youth, families and single adults in the communities within L.A. County’s Service Planning Area (SPA) 6 , in partnership with local homeless services programs. We also manage CARES (Connecting Angelenos to Resources and Essential Services), a public benefits advocacy program where we go unannounced into L.A. County’s Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) offices to provide on-the-spot advocacy to benefits recipients and individuals/families eligible for benefits, including General Relief, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, and CalWORKs. We remove barriers to housing that require legal intervention, including but not limited to eviction prevention, landlord/tenant dispute resolution, government benefits, and clearing quality-of-life tickets. THE SHRIVER HOUSING PROJECT - LOS ANGELES (Shriver) The Shriver Housing Project – Los Angeles is a joint project of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, Inner City Law Center, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and Public Counsel, working in partnership with the Los Angeles Superior Court and funded by the California Administrative Office of the Courts. The Shriver program provides critical legal services to low-income individuals and families who might otherwise not have access to legal assistance or representation. Through this program, Public Counsel takes eviction defense cases for full representation through a centralized intake system at the downtown Stanley Mosk Courthouse. STAY HOUSED LA (SHLA) SHLA is a partnership between Los Angeles County, the City of Los Angeles and local community and legal service providers to provide residents of Los Angeles County, from Lancaster to Long Beach, with information and resources to keep people in their homes. Through this program, Public Counsel provides eviction defense to City of Los Angeles residents, conducts legal clinics in collaboration with community-based organizations, and engages in advocacy to strengthen tenant protections. AFFIRMATIVE LITIGATION TEAM (ALT) The Affirmative Litigation team fights to vindicate the rights of tenants to live in safe, well-cared-for, secure housing, free of harassment and discrimination. The unit focuses on litigation addressing a range of housing-related injustices, including habitability concerns, illegal lockouts, constructive evictions, discriminatory housing practices, and tenant harassment. CENTER FOR VETERANS’ ADVANCEMENT (CVA) CVA is a national leader in veterans’ advocacy, providing legal representation to veterans and their families. We work to ensure that every veteran, returning service member, and their family members have access to the basic necessities and entitlements that foster stability and self-sufficiency including government benefits, employment, housing, and health and mental healthcare. Public Counsel is a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to advancing civil rights and racial and economic justice, as well as to amplifying the power of our clients through comprehensive legal advocacy. Founded on and strengthened by a pro bono legal service model, our staff and volunteers seek justice through direct legal services, promote healthy and resilient communities through education and outreach, and support community-led efforts to transform unjust systems through litigation and policy advocacy in and beyond Los Angeles.

Requirements

To apply for a summer internship with HPLP, you must be in your first or second year of law school
Please submit a cover letter, resume, and a writing sample, all in PDF form.
Your resume must reflect the law school you are currently enrolled in, to be considered for any summer program internship at Public Counsel.
In your cover letter, discuss why you are interested in interning with Public Counsel generally and with any subproject in HPLP specifically.
If you would like to be considered for a summer internship with another project at Public Counsel, please submit a separate application to that project.
Note, however, you can only be hired to work with one project during the summer program.
We strongly encourage you to submit your application no later than February 1.

Responsibilities

PEHP: We train students that intern with PEHP to conduct client interviews, identify legal needs and social support services, and analyze legal issues pertaining to the barriers to housing stability stated above. Students may also assist attorneys on cases, conduct legal research, draft memos and legal briefs, and provide day-of advocacy in the DPSS offices.
Shriver: Students who intern with Shriver work directly with clients and develop litigation skills by collaborating with our paralegals and attorneys throughout all stages of an eviction defense case. This might include participating in client phone calls to gather information and documentation, drafting pleadings and discovery, researching and drafting motions, and observing court hearings.
SHLA: We train SHLA student interns to work directly with clients and develop litigation skills by collaborating with our paralegals and attorneys throughout all stages of an eviction defense case. The work may include follow-up phone calls to gather information and documents, preparing court forms and conducting discovery, researching and writing legal briefs and motions, observing court hearings, and assisting with legal clinics.
ALT: We train students who intern with ALT to conduct or assist with client interviews, and to evaluate and analyze potential legal claims under the array of tenant protections available. To support our litigation, students may have the opportunity to conduct legal research, draft litigation memos or legal briefs, assist with preparing lawsuits for filing and attend a legal clinic.
CVA: CVA student interns gain hands-on experience in both direct services and systemic advocacy. Working alongside attorneys and paraprofessionals, interns develop direct service and advocacy skills. Their work may include conducting client intakes, follow-up phone calls to gather information and documents, conducting medical records reviews, researching and drafting legal memos, and assisting with HPLP’s legal clinics.