2025 Summer Legal Associate, Legal Strategies, Innovation, and Research

Center for Reproductive Rights • Internship • Washington, DC, US • 3w ago

Title: Summer Legal Associate - Legal Strategies, Innovation, & Research

Department: Legal Strategies, Innovation, & Research

Center Background: The Center for Reproductive Rights is a global human rights organization working to ensure that reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights worldwide. With offices in New York City, and Washington, D.C.; Nairobi, Kenya; Bogota, Colombia; and Geneva, Switzerland, the Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization changing law and policy throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the United States. Our 230+ diverse professionals are committed to advancing the Center’s human rights mission through game-changing litigation, legal policy, and advocacy work. This has fueled the Center’s exceptional growth to an operating budget of more than $50 million and won the respect of law firms worldwide. Our global pro bono network includes over 2,100 lawyers across 6 continents, 88 countries, and 125 law firms, contributing over $30 million USD in pro bono legal services annually. The Center’s Strategic Plan sets a high mark for impact: By 2030, half of the world’s population will be living under stronger protections for reproductive rights than they were in 2020. The Center has a record of success to back up this ambitious goal. Since our founding in 1992, the Center has transformed how reproductive rights are understood and applied by courts, governments, and human rights bodies worldwide on issues including maternal health, abortion, assisted reproduction, and adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights. We have won groundbreaking cases before national courts, U.N. Committees, and regional human rights bodies. The Center has also led development of historic, proactive legislation advancing robust protections for reproductive rights. It has built the legal capacity of women’s rights advocates in more than 65 countries and counting. To learn more about the Center, please go to www.reproductiverights.org

The Job: The LSIR team is looking for an enthusiastic, resourceful, and highly organized legal intern with a commitment to reproductive rights issues to engage in a variety of legal research and writing projects. Interns must be current law students and are encouraged to seek external funding, though the Center is able to offer compensation as detailed below.

This internship will provide the successful candidate with an in-depth understanding of the key reproductive rights issues at the global and regional levels, strong legal research and writing skills, and experience using international human rights law to advance reproductive rights around the world.

The position will be based in the Center’s Washington D.C. office. Covid-19 vaccination is required for all US-based employees of the Center.

Primary Responsibilities: LSIR interns will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience in legal and policy analysis of a variety of global reproductive rights issues. The scope of the internship may include, but is not limited to:

Conducting legal and policy research and analysis on international and regional human rights law, as well as comparative national-level law and policy;
Assisting in the development of the Global Judicial Digest & Database, an internal resource tracking emerging reproductive rights and human rights jurisprudence from across the globe;
Supporting the LSIR team in collaborative thought leadership initiatives to advance key reproductive rights issues globally;
Using editing skills to assist with blue booking and fact-checking of reports, petitions, shadow letters, and other documents, as needed.

Qualifications: Candidates must have completed at least one year of law school by June 2025 and should be knowledgeable about international human rights law and/or comparative law and policy. Demonstrated interest in women’s rights/gender equality, social justice, health law, and/or reproductive rights is preferred. The candidate should be capable of conducting complex legal analytical work and possess strong writing, editing, and research skills.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At the Center, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you are excited about this role but your past experience does not align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Compensation: The summer legal associate is strongly encouraged to seek external funding. A stipend of up to $7,000 will be supplied through a $20 hourly pay rate. If the external funding received is less than $7,000, the Center will make up the difference.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Center is committed to inclusive hiring and dedicated to diversity in our work and staff. We strongly encourage people from all communities to apply. If you are excited about this role but unsure about whether your experience aligns with the job description, we encourage you to apply. You may be the right candidate for this or other roles. To learn more about the Center’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, please visit Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Center for Reproductive Rights.

Center policy on visa sponsorship for U.S.-based positions: Applicants for employment in the U.S. must have valid work authorization that does not now and will not in the future require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the U.S. by The Center for Reproductive Rights.