The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is responsible for administering the United States Government's economic and humanitarian foreign assistance program. The USAID Office of the General Counsel (GC), which provides legal advice and guidance for all of the agency's operations worldwide, has law internship positions in Washington D.C. for J.D. candidates who have completed at least one year of law school and for students seeking advanced degrees subsequent to receiving their J.D.
Law interns work with attorneys in one or more of the following ten divisions of GC:
- Acquisition and Assistance;
- Africa;
- Asia/Afghanistan and Pakistan;
- Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance/Food Security;
- Ethics and Administration;
- Europe and Eurasia/Latin America and the Caribbean/Middle East;
- Global Development Lab/Economic Growth, Education and Environment;
- Global Health;
- Legislation and Policy; and
- Litigation and Enforcement.
The work normally assigned to a law intern in most of the office divisions consists primarily of conducting legal research, writing memoranda, and drafting and reviewing legal documents. Law interns are regularly included in the bi-weekly meetings of the entire legal staff, during which current issues relating to USAID in general, and to specific foreign assistance programs in particular, are presented and discussed.
The normal internship period is three to four months and corresponds roughly to the fall, spring or summer semester of the standard academic year. During the summer, a law intern should be able to work full-time (40 hours per week) for a minimum of 10 weeks. During the fall or spring, a law intern should be able to work at least 15 hours per week for a minimum of 10 weeks. Specific work hours can be determined between law interns and the particular division(s) to which they are assigned.
In order to be considered for a law internship, applicants must be United States citizens and be able to obtain a security clearance. Please note that the security clearance process can take as long as three months to complete.
Interested applicants should follow the instructions to apply via the position listing on USAJobs. Applicants are encouraged to indicate which of the GC division(s) listed above they are interested in and the dates when they would be available in their cover letter.
For any questions or additional information, please contact gcinternprogram@usaid.gov.