Law Clerks
Fall & Spring Semesters: During the academic year, the CLDC offers a variety of pro bono clerkship opportunities. The number of hours required varies depending upon the clerk and our schedules. Clerks provide research and litigation assistance to the CLDC on an assortment of government and police misconduct cases, protestor defense cases, and timely topical and legislative research topics.
Due to our staff size we are able to supervise only two or three clerks per semester. With consideration for COVID-19 precautions, we are taking long distance/electronic clerkships for students attending accredited law schools other than the University of Oregon.
Summer Program: Legal interns perform 400 hours of legal research and/or program work regarding a plethora of civil liberties issues. Law Clerks often “shadow” Lauren Regan (founder, staff attorney and director of CLDC) wherever she goes, including court appearances, action camps, trainings, and protests, as well as depositions and other litigation-based events. You will receive a very hands-on experience at activist legal support. Past interns worked on police misconduct litigation, mass-protest defense in multiple states, including work related to climate justice, animal rights, immigration, labor, anti-SLAPP defense, anti-spying and security culture, and much much more. We will also continue to develop and update our brief bank databases for attorneys, websites, activist toolkits, and presentations. Attorney Lauren Regan will supervise this intern position. We offer up to a $6,000 stipend to 2-3 clerks for the summer internship.
We strongly encourage applicants to secure funding through their schools, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), or other public interest funding sources as we cannot guarantee any funding at this time. We willingly cooperate in any way possible to assist students to secure fellowships, stipends, or private grants that can fund their summer work with the CLDC. We are also more than happy to assist clerks attempting to secure academic or other credit through their schools.
BIPOC applicants with activist backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.
Deadlines
Fall clerks should submit their materials by September 15th
Fall term begins on approximately October 1st
Spring clerks should submit their materials by December 1st
Spring term begins on approximately January 15th
Summer clerks should submit their materials by March 15th.
Summer term begins on approximately June 15th
How to Apply
To apply for a clerkship, please provide us with the following materials in electronic format (preferably a single PDF):
- Cover letter illustrating your public interest background or desires, when you want to commence your internship with us, and any other special needs or considerations we should know about in evaluating your application.
- Resume
- Writing sample (preferably legal in nature; up to five pages)
- Two references, including at least one that can attest to your public interest or activist experience
- You will be required to submit our volunteer application for security screening and confidentiality purposes after you have been interviewed
- Please specify which term you are applying for in your cover letter
Email to info [at] cldc.org with any concerns or questions.
Candidates will be contacted within two weeks of the application deadline to schedule telephone or in-person interviews.
Internships
The CLDC offers internship opportunities for undergraduates and other people who are serious about contributing to the program work of our organization. We participate in providing academic credit to a variety of colleges and universities. We select two to four non-law student interns per term. Unfortunately these positions currently are pro bono (unpaid). Interns work with CLDC staff on program research, event organizing, fundraising, outreach, and litigation support. We also offer internships for students looking for nonprofit experience.
Interns can help CLDC:
- Develop more relationships in the communities we are seeking to support
- Fundraise
- Help with grant research and writing
- Table at events to get our message out (COVID-19 has paused this at the moment)
- Develop content for our website and help us develop our online presence
- Do research for various project we have in the works… and so much more!
Here is a list of skills that would be very helpful to us right now:
- Grant research & writing
- Fundraising & development
- Event planning
- Videography and video editing
- WordPress, website design (including graphic design)
- Social media skills
- Blog writing
- English-Spanish translation
- Outreach
Interns generally provide 8-10 hours of work per week. Depending on the project or assignment, some of this work can be completed outside of the Eugene office.
Deadlines
Fall interns should submit their materials by September 1st
Winter interns should submit their materials by December 1st
Spring interns should submit their materials by March 15th
Summer interns should submit their materials by May 15th
How to Apply
To apply for an internship, please provide us with the following materials in electronic format (preferably a single PDF):
- Cover letter illustrating your public interest background or desires, when you want to commence your internship with us, and any other special needs or considerations we should know about in evaluating your application.
- Resume
- Two references, including at least one that can attest to your public interest or activist experience
- You will be required to submit our volunteer application for security screening and confidentiality purposes after you have been interviewed
- Please specify which term you are applying for in your cover letter
Email to info [at] cldc.org with any concerns or questions.