Summer Law Clerk Internship Opportunity - New Orleans

The Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center’s (MJC’s) Louisiana office is seeking Summer Law Clerk interns for 2024. Our office’s work is focused on reforming the criminal legal system through litigation in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) is a public interest law firm that litigates high-impact civil rights and systemic reform cases at the trial and appellate levels, in courts around the country.

MJC is a national organization, with offices in Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, Oxford, Mississippi, and Washington D.C. For more information about MJC, and the Louisiana office, visit: www.macarthurjustice.org/louisiana/

The criminal legal system disproportionately harms people of color, people from low-income communities, people who were formerly incarcerated, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. We strongly encourage people who identify within these and other communities underrepresented in the legal profession to apply. All applicants must have and be committed to the cultural competence required to work with clients and co-workers who come from different backgrounds and experiences.

Some of our current campaigns for criminal legal reform include:

• Archer v. City of New Orleans, a federal lawsuit seeking to hold the New Orleans Police Department accountable for the excessive force used against Black Lives Matter protesters in June 2020;
• Murray v. LeBlanc and Young v. LeBlanc, federal lawsuits brought on behalf of men who suffered significant injury from assaults in locally-operated and privately-run correctional facilities;
• Litigation against officers of the Louisiana State Police for false arrests, excessive uses of force, and racially-discriminatory practices;

• Williams v. Biggs, litigation against officers of the Orleans Levee District Police Department for the excessive force used in the shooting of our client;

• Wearry v. Perrilloux and Foster, a federal lawsuit brought on behalf of a formerly death-sentenced prisoner against the District Attorney and the lead detective for the Sheriff’s Office for falsifying evidence and presenting fabricated testimony at trial;
• Multiple lawsuits challenging the arrests of people protesting the killing of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge police officers (including Tennart v. City of Baton Rouge);

• Jones v. Gusman, a federal lawsuit challenging pervasive violations of detainees’ constitutional rights in the Orleans Parish jail;

• Federal litigation in Mississippi, including Jordan and Chase v. Cain, challenging the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection procedure; and
• Smith v. Williams, a federal lawsuit challenging the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s pervasive failures to provide defendants with material evidence favorable to their cases.

Summer Law Clerk interns are expected to be physically located in the greater New Orleans area. Many of our staff continue to work remotely, unless a specific assignment requires physical presence in the office.

Focus Areas

Each Law Clerk will be supervised directly by the office’s attorneys and will have the opportunity to assist with cases those attorneys are working on. Specific tasks that Summer Law Clerks may be responsible for include but are not limited to (a) legal research and writing, (b) gathering, processing, and summarizing records, (c) developing statistical data, and (d) preparing for and attending court proceedings.

Qualifications

Law students who will have completed their 1L or 2L year by summer 2024 may apply.

To apply, please submit all of the following:

(1) a cover letter detailing your interest in participating in the MJC Louisiana Law Clerk internship,

(2) a resume, and

(3) a writing sample

All materials should be submitted via MJC’s application portal.

Applicants are encouraged to discuss any personal experience motivating their interest in criminal legal system reform and civil rights litigation.

Applications should be submitted by December 31, 2023, but will be considered on a rolling basis. Positions may be filled before the close of the submission period. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as practicable.

Summer interns are expected to apply for any funding available from their law schools. If a summer intern is either ineligible for or does not receive funding from their school, MJC may provide a stipend for each full week of participation up to $800 per week, offset by any external funding. MJC stipends are payable in 2 installments during the summer.