Overview

FIRE offers a 15-week, course-credited, in-semester legal clerkship for law students looking for hands-on experience working for a dynamic, nonpartisan, civil liberties organization. Clerks work with FIRE attorneys part-time during the academic year conducting legal research in emerging areas of law, developing arguments for active cases, preparing various litigation documents for active cases, reviewing university policies and legislative proposals, and much more. Our legal clerks can take one of three tracks at FIRE: Litigation, Campus Rights Advocacy, and Student Press Freedom Initiative. For information on FIRE’s summer opportunities for law students, check out the Arthur D. Hellman Fellowship in First Amendment Litigation. Legal clerks will work at FIRE's Philadelphia or D.C. office, but also have the opportunity to work remotely.
The 2025 spring-semester clerkship application will be open from October 1, 2024, to January 17, 2025. Applications will be received and applicants will be awarded clerkships on a rolling basis.

Qualifications and Responsibilities

To qualify for FIRE’s legal clerkship, candidates must:

• Be rising 2Ls and 3Ls with excellent academic credentials
• Have a passion for civil liberties and public interest law.

FIRE legal clerks are responsible for working with FIRE attorneys on several fronts: conducting legal research in emerging areas of law, developing arguments for active cases, preparing various litigation and advocacy documents for active cases, reviewing college and university policies and legislative proposals, and much more. FIRE accepts applications from candidates across the United States.