OFFICE OF HEARINGS (M-20)

Volunteer Judicial Internships

The Office of Hearings welcomes applications from law students (J.D. or LL.M. candidates) for judicial internships during the school year and/or during the summer under a volunteer service agreement, with or without academic credit.

Duties

Law students have worked with judges at the Department since 1990.  Upon selection by the Chief Administrative Law Judge, law students work flexible schedules consistent with their availability and interest—usually 40 hours per week during the summer and 15 to 20 hours during the academic year.  Working for individual judges, they generally handle work similar to that of full-time attorney-advisors, with levels of responsibility dependent upon their abilities, experience, and interests.  Students might expect substantial exposure to administrative law, administrative hearings, legal ethics (judicial and professional), transportation law, hazardous materials law, civil penalty cases involving the FAA, FMCSA, and PHMSA, and possibly airport fee commission and aviation enforcement cases.

Requirements

Volunteer Legal Assistants should have completed at least one year of law school by the time they start work.  The Office of Hearings requests that any interested student provide a resume showing GPA and class ranking, a grade transcript, an unabridged writing sample, and the semester(s) and hours that the student is available to work.  Applications should be submitted by e-mail, fax, or delivery.  Successful candidates generally have high law-school GPAs and/or law review, law journal, or judicial clerkship experience and writing samples that display sound legal reasoning, expressed clearly and concisely, and a firm command of English grammar and usage.  Candidates volunteering for two or more semesters will receive priority consideration.

Contact

Updated: 12/30/2010

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