Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund Spring 2013 Internships

Passing along an announcement about internship opportunities from our friends at AALDEF

For Undergraduate, Graduate, and Law Students

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, is the first organization on the East Coast to protect and promote the legal rights of Asian Americans through litigation, legal advocacy, and community education.  For more information about AALDEF, please visit our website at www.aaldef.org.

Spring internships are available for the following program areas (open to all unless otherwise noted):

AALDEF Fundraising Events, provide administrative support in preparation for AALDEF’s annual gala.  Computer experience with databases, graphics and web programs are helpful. **Undergraduate students ONLY.  Workstudy grants accepted.**

Anti-Trafficking Initiative: Legal research and writing, organizing/outreach, and legal advocacy for trafficked clients pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and other related legislation.  Fluency in Indonesian, Hindi, or Bangla highly preferred.  **Law students ONLY. 

Economic Justice for Workers: Provide legal advocacy, direct representation, and community education on behalf of Asian immigrant workers experiencing wage-and-hour, retaliation, and workplace safety violations in the restaurant, beauty/nail salon, and domestic worker industries, among others.  Undergraduate interns will perform research and community outreach.  Fluency in a second language is highly preferred.

Educational Equity and Youth Rights: legal services, policy work, community education, research and litigation concerning educational equity, juvenile justice, language access, student free-speech and police surveillance, and anti-Asian harassment.

Housing & Environmental Justice Project: community outreach/education, research, and litigation on gentrification and other land use issues affecting low-income and Asian immigrant communities.

Immigrant Access to Justice: litigation, legal services, and organizing/outreach with communities impacted by 9-11 immigration and law enforcement policies.  An additional emphasis on Asian communities’ access to representation and education about immigration policies and practices that may impact them including unconstitutional DHS stops, new deferred action policies for youth, and secured communities.

Voting Rights: legal research and fact development under the Voting Rights Act and Equal Protection Clause challenging anti-Asian voter discrimination, advocacy on bilingual ballots, and the redrawing of local, state and federal district lines; produce reports and organize public forums; assist in organizing legal trainings.

Description of Internships.
Interns are supervised by attorneys and/or AALDEF staff in specific program areas.  These internships are not paid positions, but academic credit can be arranged.  Interns work anywhere between 8 to 25 hours per week.   Internships usually commence with the start of classes (end of January) through late April/early May.

To Apply:
Any bilingual ability should be stated in the resume.  Bilingual ability is helpful but not required.  Applications should also state the number of hours the intern is able to work per week and which program area(s) you are interested in.  Email applications are accepted.  Deadline December 3, 2012, applications received after deadline will be considered on a rolling basis.  Send a resume and cover letter (law students should include a writing sample) to:

AALDEF Spring Intern Search
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
99 Hudson Street, 12th floor, New York, New York 10013-2815
Fax: 212-966-4303 or Email: [email protected]

For more information, contact Jennifer Weng at 212-966-5932, ext. 212 or [email protected].

SDNY offers Trial Advocacy Training for Pro Bono Lawyers

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is pleased to offer a full-day trial advocacy training for pro bono lawyers. Led by District Court judges and leading practitioners, this training is offered to lawyers who are admitted to practice in the Southern District and are interested in providing pro bono representation to pro se litigants.

The program takes place on Friday, January 11, 2013 and runs from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse (500 Pearl Street, Room 850).

The training is free and will offer participants an opportunity to receive CLE credit for their participation. For more information, please download the PDF here.