Summer 2025 Paid Graduate Legal Intern, LGBTQ & HIV Project

The ACLU seeks a Graduate Legal Intern for the LGBTQ & HIV project at the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY. 

The Team: 

At the ACLU, we seek to develop an organization that reflects the world in which we aspire to live, valuing and reflecting the people whose lives and pursuit of fairness drive our work.  We know that our success in doing so is tied to our success in advancing our mission. The Legal team plays a key role in this work, continuing to move the ACLU to a culture of belonging. 

What You’ll Do: 

Legal interns serve a vital role in the LGBTQ & HIV project by completing research and writing projects in furtherance of the project’s core work. They are regularly given assignments by attorneys across the project working on a wide range of substantive issues that aim to advance strategic goals through litigation, policy advocacy, and social education. Their work is closely supervised by the primary intern supervisor as well as the assigning attorneys, to ensure that the interns are exposed to a range of attorneys with varying experiences, management styles, and skills. The goal of the internship program is both to gain creative insights and substantive contributions from the interns, while also investing in the development of future civil rights advocates fighting for LGBTQ people and people living with HIV. 

Your Day to Day

• Drafting memoranda, affidavits, and briefs
• Conducting legal and policy research.
• Researching prospects for new litigation, including both factual and legal claims. 
• Researching and drafting materials for public education. 
• Legislative bill tracking and analysis.

What You’ll Bring: 

• Current law student who will have completed at least one year of law school by the start of the internship. 
• Demonstrated commitment to the advancement and protection of the civil liberties of LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV. 
• Excellent research skills, including conducting internet and legal database research. 
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and writing. 
• Attention to detail, excellent organizing and time-management skills. 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite. 
• The initiative to see projects through to completion. 

Future ACLU-ers Will: 

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU 

• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives 

• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflict 

Internship Logistics: 

• Location: Our internship program offers a limited number of remote or hybrid intern positions. This internship is remote or hybrid from our NY National office 

• Time Commitment: Term-time internships may be completed on a part-time basis (10, 15, or 20 hours/week) Summer internships require a full-time commitment.  

• Internship Duration: Full-time internships span 10 consecutive weeks. This internship has a start date of: May 27 or June 9, 2025. 

• Stipend: A stipend is available for students who are lawfully authorized to work. Arrangements can be made with educational institutions for work/study or course credit. Below are the stipend rates: 

• $20/hour for undergraduate students or equivalent experience  

• $24/hour for graduate and law students or equivalent experience

When applying:

• Please include a writing sample

ABOUT THE ACLU

The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union – beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees. For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach. 

Equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency, and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

Why the ACLU:

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy

protections for our digital age or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

Our Commitment to Accessibility, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion:

Accessibility, equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. 

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.