The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law organization. Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread state-sponsored racial inequality. From that era to the present, LDF’s mission has been transformative — to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society.
LDF’s litigation, public policy advocacy and public education programs in the substantive areas of criminal justice, economic justice, education, and political participation seek to ensure the fundamental and basic human rights of all people to quality education, economic opportunity, the right to vote and fully participate in democracy, and the right to a fair and just judicial system. LDF continues to make an impact in the area of public service and was recognized by Fast Company as one of its 2023 Brands That Matter under its public service category.
Housed within the Thurgood Marshall Institute, the Archives and Records Department serves three major functions: building and managing an archival repository of LDF’s historic records, providing library services including research support, and coordinating the process by which records become part of the LDF Archives. LDF is undertaking a major effort to organize, preserve, digitize, and publicize on our website, Recollection, a substantial portion of our 8,000 boxes of rich historical case files and institutional records.
LDF is seeking one current law school student for a Fall 2025 legal archives internship and one for Spring 2026. The internship will be a great fit for students with strong legal research and writing skills and an interest in civil rights history and non-litigation legal careers.
Work schedule: Interns are required to work 15-20 hours per week for 8-10 weeks. The position can be fully remote. If the intern is based in the D.C. area, they can work from the D.C. office on Tuesdays and Thursdays and may have the opportunity to travel with their supervisor to the Library of Congress. Start and end dates are flexible.
Responsibilities
- Draft legal research memos on the legal ethics of preserving and publicizing historical case files. At least one memo will be closely reviewed and edited by the Archives Counsel so that the intern has a strong writing sample for future positions.
- Assist the Archives Counsel in conducting privilege review of LDF’s archival records to ensure LDF maintains its duty of confidentiality and attorney-client privilege when displaying its records to the public or sharing them with independent researchers. This may include reviewing the Oral History Project transcripts, archival items for LDF’s archives website, and/or reviewing the unprocessed physical collection at the Library of Congress.
- Conduct legal research to assist LDF’s Assistant Archivist and Research Librarian in responding to research requests from LDF staff.
- Note that this position will not grant the student any opportunities to work with clients or observe litigation.
Qualifications
- A 2L or 3L currently enrolled in an accredited law school.
- Strong research and writing skills.
- Comfortable working in a small group and independently on long-term projects.
- Understands the basic principles of legal ethics and professional responsibility.
- Interested in archival collections and civil rights history.
- Demonstrated commitment to the racial justice mission of LDF.
To apply for this position, please submit a cover letter, resume, and writing sample between 3 and 10 pages to Cassandra Mensah (she/her) at cmensah@naacpldf.org. Please indicate in the subject line that you are applying for the Spring 2026 Internship.
This is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts or requirements or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned. This description does not constitute a contract of employment and LDF may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.
The salary for this position is $20 per hour.
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The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to you without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital status, age, veteran status, medical condition or disability, genetic information, gender identity, or any other protected status under federal, state, or local law.
