Internship Opportunities - Summer 2027 - Racial Justice Internship Program

Committee for Public Counsel • Boston, MA

9d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) is seeking applicants for the Summer Racial Justice Internship Program. Interns will be assigned to work with various offices, including the Training Department and the Director of Equity & Inclusion. CPCS fights for equal justice and human dignity by supporting clients in achieving their legal and life goals, zealously advocating for the rights of individuals and promoting just public policy to protect the rights of all. Our values are Courage, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence. We stand with our Clients and the Community in the fight for Justice, dedicated to providing zealous advocacy, community-oriented defense, and protection of fundamental constitutional and human rights. Our staff embodies a diverse group of people from different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. Through these differences, we are able to best serve our clients. Through our internship program, we seek to hire, develop, and retain talented people from all backgrounds, strongly encouraging individuals from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized, or underrepresented groups to apply. The clients we represent are diverse, creating a critical need for CPCS attorneys to be culturally competent and able to work well with people of different races, ethnicities, genders and/or sexual orientation identities, abilities, and limited English proficiency. CPCS is committed to protecting the fundamental constitutional and human rights of our assigned clients through zealous advocacy, community-oriented defense, and excellent legal representation. We embrace and endorse diversity, equity, and inclusion as our core values, ensuring that CPCS management and staff represent a broad range of human differences and experience, providing a work climate that is respectful and supports success, and promoting the dignity and well-being of all staff members. The Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) is the state agency in Massachusetts responsible for providing an attorney when the state or federal constitution or a state statute requires the appointment of an attorney for a person who cannot afford to retain one. The agency provides representation in criminal, delinquency, youthful offender, child welfare, guardianship, mental health, sexually dangerous person, and sex offender registry cases, as well as in appeals and post-conviction and post-judgment proceedings related to those matters.

Requirements

• Candidates must be current undergraduate, graduate, or law school students who are committed to racial and social justice and have demonstrated an interest in addressing systemic racism in the justice system.
• Interns selected for the position must be able to commit to at least 8 weeks of full-time employment for the Summer.
• Interns should have (1) experience with Microsoft Office suite, (2) ability to maintain confidentiality, (3) excellent written and verbal communication skills, (4) strong teamwork and collaboration abilities, and (5) legal research and writing experience.
• Candidates must also: Have access to reliable transportation in order to travel to courts, clients, and investigation locations that are not easily accessible by public transportation; and, Have access to a personal computer with home internet access sufficient to work remotely.
• Interested candidates should have a demonstrated commitment to the principle of zealous advocacy, community-oriented defense, and the protection of fundamental constitutional and human rights.

Nice To Haves

• Preferred candidates will be students who have taken classes in evidence, criminal law, criminal procedure, constitutional law, critical legal theory, and/or trial advocacy, have experience with data collection and analysis, experience working with low-income clients, people of color, immigrants, LGBT people, and other underrepresented groups, as well as familiarity working with individual with mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders.

Responsibilities

• Interns will be assigned to work with various offices within CPCS that touch on our substantive work, including the Training Department and the Equity & Inclusion Department.
• The Training Division is tasked with supporting attorneys and staff by training and educating them on implicit bias and systemic racism within the justice systems and formulating methods to recognize and overcome racism within these systems on behalf of the clients we serve.
• The Equity & Inclusion Department works on initiatives and strategies that impact fairness and inclusion among internal and external stakeholders to our work.
• Interns will be an integral part of our office and work closely with our team of dedicated managers, racial equity trainers, attorneys, social service advocates and investigators.
• Additionally, interns may work with other racial equity initiatives of concern within the Agency to assist in building racial justice capacity through litigation, policy advocacy, education and training of attorney, staff and other justice stakeholders.
• Interns will work directly with CPCS supervisors, staff attorneys, investigators, and social service advocates on (1) legal research and writing, (2) conducting legal and policy research on racial and justice issues, (3) data collection, analysis and presentation, (4) assisting in preparing and conducting race-based trainings, and (5) providing additional assistance to attorneys and staff on issues of racial equity.

Benefits

• CPCS has a limited number of paid internship opportunities for Summer 2027.
• CPCS can work with students to support the receipt of externship credit or outside funding.
• Students should also check with their schools for the possibility of financial assistance through their institution.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: No Education Listed