Summer Program

Law clerks perform 400 hours of legal research and/or program work regarding a plethora of civil liberties issues. Law clerks often “shadow” our attorneys, including at court appearances, depositions, action camps, trainings, and protests. You will receive a very hands-on experience in activist legal support. Past law clerks worked on police misconduct litigation and activist/mass-protest defense in multiple states, including work related to climate justice, animal rights, immigration, labor, anti-SLAPP defense, anti-spying and security culture, and much more. Clerks also help develop and update our brief bank databases for attorneys, websites, activist toolkits, and presentations.

We have a clerkship stipend fund of $10,000 each for 1-2 summer clerkships. Because we often accept more than two summer law clerks, we strongly encourage applicants to secure funding through their schools, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), or other public interest funding sources as we cannot guarantee any funding at this time. We willingly cooperate in any way possible to assist students to secure fellowships, stipends, or private grants that can fund their summer work with the CLDC. We are also more than happy to assist clerks attempting to secure academic or other credit through their schools.

We generally require all summer clerks to work from our Eugene office. However, due to Trump’s financial funding freeze and subsequent firing of many federal workers, we are open to accepting remote summer clerks for the 2026 year. Diverse applicants with activist backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.

Fall & Spring Semesters

During the academic year, CLDC sometimes offers a variety of pro bono clerkship opportunities. The number of hours required varies depending upon the clerk and our schedules.

We are willing to consider long distance/electronic clerkships for students attending law schools other than the University of Oregon, but we prefer working with students locally in Eugene, Oregon. CLDC does not have funding for stipends during the academic year.

Deadlines

Academic Year :

• Fall clerks should submit their materials by August 15th
• Spring clerks should submit their materials by January 31st
• Academic term start dates are flexible

Summer:

We have a two-tiered decision process for our summer law clerks: Applicants should submit their materials by January 15th. We generally make a decision regarding half of our clerks by February 1, with additional clerkships (if any) decided by mid-March.

Summer clerks must commit to 400 hours, to be completed between the end of the clerk’s spring term and the beginning of the fall term.

Legal Clerkship Application Form

To apply for a Legal Clerkship please fill out this form:

CLDC occasionally offers unpaid internship opportunities for undergraduates and others who are serious about contributing to the program work of our organization. We are often able to work with colleges and universities to provide academic credit. Interns work with CLDC staff on a variety of projects, such as program research, event organizing, fundraising, outreach, and litigation support.

Depending on the project or assignment, some of this work can be completed outside of the Eugene office.

Deadlines

• Fall interns should submit their materials by August 15th
• Winter interns should submit their materials by December 1st
• Spring interns should submit their materials by March 15th
• Summer interns should submit their materials by May 15th

Internship Application Form

To apply for an Internship please fill out this form: