How To Become A Law Internship: What It Is and Career Path

What is a law internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Andrea Schneider,

Jennifer Brobst

As a graduate of legal studies, you might want to arrange yourself a nice law internship to get practical experience in legal processes in a specific legal area of your preference. Legal interns assist in doing research, filing documents and dealing with paperwork, listening in on interviews with clients, and getting the hang of day-to-day duties.

You can easily find a placement at an attorney's office. There are a number of opportunities in law corporations as well as private firms, government or non-profit legal agencies, or you might find a spot working with a judge.

Internships are usually unpaid. You might gain academic credits for your work, if completing an internship is part of your curriculum, but the biggest compensation will be the valuable professional connections you make on the job. Even if you do not get hired as a direct result of your internship, it will boost your chances of landing a job right out of college. Not that legal graduates are famous for faffing around unemployed for long, anyway.

What general advice would you give to a law internship?

Andrea Schneider

Professor of Law, Marquette University

Take every opportunity to network and volunteer. Make connections with leaders in your local and state bar organizations and those who lead legal service organizations in your area. Think about how your skills can be used in a variety of ways, and make connections throughout the community.

ScoreLaw InternshipUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,394

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.3

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.33%

Asian 10.28%

Black or African American 9.39%

Hispanic or Latino 17.80%

Unknown 8.27%

White 53.94%

Gender

female 53.08%

male 46.92%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

5.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.8

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a law internship

Explore law internship education requirements

Most common law internship degrees

Bachelor's

67.7 %

Doctorate

16.8 %

Master's

7.3 %

Start to develop specific law internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Litigation	13.22%
Legal Issues	8.95%
Trial Preparation	6.47%
Legal Memos	5.40%
Real Estate	3.48%

Complete relevant law internship training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New law interns learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a law internship based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real law internship resumes.

Research law internship duties and responsibilities

Prepare probate documents, including petition for probate, inventory, and statement of account.
Observe investigations and write different court documents including subpoenas, court orders and affidavits
File commercial cases, develop affidavits and correspondence, and coordinate subpoenas delivery.
Draft summary judgment motions and answer interrogatories and production requests in medical malpractice cases.

Prepare your law internship resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your law internship resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a law internship resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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