ILAO offers remote opportunities for law students to research and draft legal content. All law student projects are supervised by Illinois-licensed attorneys who are professional legal editors with legal aid practice experience.
Interns and externs
We host interns and externs in Juris Doctor (JD) programs who:
- Attend an Illinois or Wisconsin law school,
- Live in Illinois or Wisconsin, and
- Have completed the first year of law school before their start date.
The four types of positions we offer for current JD students are:
- Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) Law Student Internships (apply through PILI),
- Internships for students with outside funding (posted on law school job boards when available),
- One internship paid by ILAO (posted on law school job boards when available), and
- Externships for students who want academic credit (arranged through participating law schools).
Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) Fellows
ILAO is proud to participate in PILI’s Graduate Fellowship for students starting their legal careers at sponsor firms. Apply for these roles in PILI’s online application system.
Project-based volunteers (unpaid)
ILAO offers occasional unpaid volunteer opportunities for law students to help with specific research and drafting assignments. When we have short-term projects available, we post requests for volunteers on Paladin. We also work with law schools directly to jointly host opportunities for students seeking volunteer hours.
Except for PILI Fellows, who serve during their bar exam summer, ILAO can only host students currently in school. Recent graduates are encouraged to explore our attorney volunteer programs after becoming licensed to practice law.
LLM students
We do not offer internships for LLM students. However, LLM students can participate in student content review volunteer events hosted by Illinois and Wisconsin law schools. Ask the school to contact us about setting up a virtual law student volunteer project.