Investigative Internship Program

The Office of the Federal Public Defender is accepting internship applications for full-time Fall or Spring students who are able to commit to 15 - 20 hours per week during the school year.

Undergraduate Internship Program

We supervise undergraduate, unpaid interns in our office in order to assist students in gaining relevant experience in the legal profession and to enable interns to help develop our clients’ cases. Interns are engaged in many aspects of these cases, from the initial appearance through the sentencing phase.

Program responsibilities of the intern: Interns need to be in the office as scheduled, and complete assignments in a timely fashion.

Supervision: Interns are supervised by the Investigator from the Federal Defender's Office.

Education: Through their work in the Office of the Federal Public Defender, interns will be exposed to the substantive defense of federal crimes through interaction with federal public defender attorneys and staff, their clients, and the federal criminal defense community (including prosecutors, United States Probation Officers, and U. S. Marshals). Interns will also be exposed to office procedure supporting the Office of the Federal Public Defender. Interns are encouraged to observe initial meetings with clients and regularly attend court proceedings and related meetings with those in the criminal defense community.

Research: Interns are given research memoranda assignments regarding topics relevant to the defense of our cases. Such assignments will be equivalent to an undergraduate level research paper, utilizing professional journals and online research services.

Investigation/information gathering: Interns will assist in all aspects of case investigation including records collection (organizing and summarizing voluminous records, discovery and social history information), crime scene surveys, witness interviews, client interviews held in office and at local correctional facilities, and networking with human service agencies. Interns are expected to coherently and professionally summarize their findings.

Interns will be exposed to highly sensitive information. All interns are expected to protect our clients’ rights to confidentiality throughout their time with this office, and will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement. All interns are subject to FBI background checks. Interested individuals should email a resume and cover letter to Kevin Ridgley, Investigator, at Kevin_Ridgley@fd.org.