The Federal Defenders of New York draws its roots from a small group of lawyers within the Legal Aid Society in the years before Federal Defender offices existed. In 1964 Congress passed the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) which required the provision of lawyers for people accused of crimes in federal court and established procedures for providing those lawyers. The CJA was amended by Congress several years later to allow individual federal districts to create federal public defender offices by establishing either a “Federal Defender Office,” in which the staff members would be federal employees with the head of the office selected by the judges, or a “Community Defender Office,” which could be an independent nonprofit organization. The Southern and Eastern Districts of New York opted for the Community Defender model, and the Legal Aid Society of New York expanded its already existing division exclusively devoted to serving clients accused of federal crimes. In 2005 the division separated from the Legal Aid Society and became an independent, non-profit corporation with its own Board of Directors. That is the model we maintain today.
Organization Website: https://www.federaldefendersny.org/investigatorintern
Organization Address: 52 Duane Street, 10th Floor, New York NY
INTERNSHIP INFORMATION
Dates of Internship: Fall 2023/Spring 2024
Industry: Social Justice
Preferred Academic Level: No preference
Description of Internship:
Federal Defenders of New York, Inc. is seeking interns for the Investigative Unit. We offer undergraduates and graduate students who are interested in criminal defense and social justice an opportunity to gain hands-on experience and substantive exposure to criminal law and direct service work.
The intern investigator will work as part of the legal team to represent clients accused of federal crimes. There is no requirement that the intern has prior experience with investigations; training will be provided. Interns should have an interest in and a commitment to social and criminal justice issues. We are looking for students with a passion for working with the underprivileged and the marginalized.
Federal Defender investigators do a variety of things including reviewing police reports, obtaining witness statements, gathering surveillance videos, taking photographs, serving subpoenas, and reviewing and retrieving documents to list a few. Interns can work on a multitude of assignments including field investigations, preparing cases going to trial, helping case teams plan strategy and attend court proceedings. There’s a considerable amount of evidence review and analysis, including digital forensics, social media research, open-source research, and creating discovery indexes and digests.
Although interns are not considered staff members of the Federal Defenders office, interns must comply with all rules and policies applied to staff. Interns must keep confidential any information obtained during the course of the internship program. This obligation continues beyond the period of the internship.
We value diversity and believe better legal representation occurs when members of the defense team have diverse backgrounds and experience. For more information about our office generally, please visit our website at www.federaldefendersny.org.
You may be assigned to the Brooklyn, Manhattan, or Central Islip office location, if you have a preference, include that in your cover letter.
Minimum time commitment: two days a week, 12 hours a week, 16 weeks. (Please note this is an unpaid internship.)
**Interested candidates MUST submit a brief writing sample. Please choose one of the following prompts:
1. Discuss the role of public defenders in the criminal justice system
2. How have you or your community been impacted by the criminal justice system?
3. Describe a current event that has impacted or is shaping your view of the criminal justice system
Desired Skills: There is no requirement that the intern has prior experience with investigations; training will be provided.
Online Application: https://airtable.com/shrzDzcBX8Q2JbI3P
