Who We Are
Public Justice is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that takes on the biggest systemic threats to justice of our time—abusive corporate power and predatory practices, the assault on civil rights, and the destruction of the Earth’s sustainability. It connects high impact litigation with strategic communications and the strength of our partnerships to fight these abusive and discriminatory systems and win social and economic justice.
What We Are Looking For
Public Justice seeks to hire four legal externs for the Fall 2026 semester, one in each of our four project areas. Students must be able to secure academic credit for their externship with Public Justice. While each extern will focus on a single project area, they may work in other project areas as need and opportunity arise. Our four project areas are:
The Access to Justice Project seeks to make the civil court system a fair, equitable, and effective tool for those with less power to win just outcomes. Primarily through high-impact litigation, we dismantle the procedural and structural barriers between ordinary people and the civil justice system, such as forced arbitration, limits on collective actions, overly strict standing requirements, and unwarranted court secrecy.
The Debtors’ Prison Project fights to end the criminalization of poverty and shrink the carceral system. Working with allies and impacted communities, we use litigation, advocacy, and education to ensure no one is jailed simply because they can’t pay and to stop governments and for-profit corporations from treating people impacted by the system as a revenue source.
The Students’ Civil Rights Project works to ensure that schools create safe and equitable learning environments, free from discrimination, so all students can learn and thrive. We use high-impact litigation and other advocacy tools to combat discrimination in schools, focusing primarily on racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. When schools fail their students, we take them to court to secure long-lasting, systemic change and justice for the students. We also work to empower students–including students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and student survivors of sexual harassment–to press for change in their schools.
The Environmental Enforcement Project goes to court every day to fight climate change, secure environmental justice, and make polluters pay. We utilize the most powerful tools available to citizens by enforcing our Nation’s environmental laws in state and federal court. Our experienced litigators win precedent-setting cases that result in meaningful, transformative change. We hold polluters accountable by requiring corporations to clean up their act and comply with our Nation’s environmental laws.
The externs are welcome to work in-person in Public Justice’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., or the externs may work remotely. Externs can expect to work with attorneys at Public Justice who are located throughout the country, including Washington, D.C.
Public Justice’s law externs research and develop new cases in conjunction with our attorneys, law fellows, and cooperating counsel. They also assist attorneys in ongoing litigation. Our law externs are involved in legal research and writing, case review, and brainstorming on theories and approaches designed to ensure that justice is achieved.
Applicants must be second- or third-year law students at the time of the externship, and 3Ls are preferred. We do not accept applications from first-year or undergraduate students.
These positions are open to those who can secure academic credit for their work with Public Justice. We will help students secure academic credit from their schools. Applicants must be second- or third-year law students at the time of the externship, and 3Ls are preferred. We do not accept applications from first-year or undergraduate students.
Reference the project for which you are applying in your subject line and specify in your cover letter whether you are applying to work in the Washington, D.C., office or remotely. You must submit multiple applications to apply to more than one project. Applications should consist of two electronic files:
(1) your cover letter, resume, transcript, and contact information for two references in a single .pdf file; and
(2) a writing sample in another .pdf file.
Please submit your application to [email protected] no later than May 31, 2026.
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