The First Court accepts applications from second-and third-year law students for nonpaying judicial internship positions. Student interns are welcome at the Court in the spring, summer (two sessions), fall, and winter sessions.
The First Court’s intern program provides an opportunity to improve research and writing skills, while also providing a behind-the-scenes view of how a court of appeals works. Interns research factual and legal issues, review appellate records, perform substantive citation checks, write memoranda of law, discuss those memoranda with the judges and the Court’s attorneys, observe the judges’ discussions of issues in cases that are submitted, observe oral argument, and observe postsubmission resolution of legal issues raised in oral argument.
Students are selected to participate in the First Court’s program with or without obtaining law-school credit. Noncredit interns must commit to a minimum of 16 hours per week for at least six weeks (except during the winter session, which may last fewer than six weeks). Work time for all interns is flexible. Students accepted into the program will be required to attend a full-day orientation before the start of each session.
Any legal work, paid or unpaid, that an intern wishes to perform during the internship for anyone other that the Court is subject to a conflicts check and must be approved by the Court. Interns must be able to do their own word processing. As completed applications are received, they are considered for selection. Applications ideally should be submitted on or before the end of November for the spring session, the end of January for the summer sessions, the end of July for the fall session, and the end of October for the winter session. Students may submit applications for the fall session before the end of their spring law-school semester.
To apply, please submit (1) a resume, (2) a law-school transcript, (3) a writing sample, and (4) a cover letter with any other information that you would like considered. Mail the completed package to Ms. Lauren Simpson, Intern Coordinator, First Court of Appeals, 1307 San Jacinto Street, Floor 10, Houston, Texas, 77002-7018. If you have any questions, please call either Ms. Simpson at (713) 655-2727 or Ms. Kenitra Epkins, Ms. Simpson’s administrative assistant, at (713) 655-2792.
Updated: 31-Jul-2009
