Job Description

Legal Internship Opportunities: Summer 2026 Law Student Clerk

Program: Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program

Compensation: No monetary compensation. Mission Action will help sponsor students for third-party scholarship opportunities and/or academic credit.

Schedule: Flexible; full-time strongly preferred

To apply: Please visit and submit cover letter, resume, three references, and a writing sample.

Starting date: Flexible; 10-week commitment strongly preferred

Posting date: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until position is filled.

About the Organization:

Mission Action, formerly known as Dolores Community Services, nurtures individual wellness and cultivates collective power among low-income and immigrant communities to create a more just society. As a multi-issue, multi-strategy organization, we work to improve lives on an individual level as well as affect broader social change by engaging in advocacy and community organizing. We work together across programs to address homelessness, lack of affordable housing, and to support immigrant rights in order to meet the complex needs of our communities and collectively address the root causes of suffering and injustice.

Since 2008, Mission Action's Deportation Defense & Legal Advocacy Program has been a local leader in providing pro bono legal defense for individuals and families facing deportation. We use creative legal and advocacy strategies to challenge prolonged detention, constitutional violations, and other injustices in the immigration legal system. We represent individuals threatened with deportation through challenges to the charges of removability, as well as through applications for relief, including asylum, withholding of removal, relief under the Convention Against Torture, waivers of inadmissibility and deportability, and applications for U-visa, T-Visa, and VAWA relief. We strive to connect our individual casework to broader movements for immigrants' rights, racial justice, and abolition and to be guided by the communities we work alongside. We are a caring and supportive team that values sustainability and wellness in this challenging work.

Position Summary:

Mission Action seeks a law clerk for Summer 2026. Under attorney supervision, the law clerk will work on a variety of cases representing both detained and non-detained clients in their removal proceedings.

Responsibilities may include :

• Assist attorneys who are providing full-scope representation to individuals facing removal before the Immigration Court, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals;
• Conduct intake with potential clients, screening for potential claims for relief;
• Appear in immigration court proceedings;
• Participate in agency meetings, community activities, and trainings;
• Work on public campaigns on behalf of individual clients or urgent issues impacting immigrant communities;
• Engage in outreach and education in the area of immigrants' rights.

Qualifications :

• Current law student; 2L applicants are preferred but we will consider exceptionally qualified 1Ls;
• Passionate about immigrants' rights and abolishing immigration detention;
• Relevant experience in immigration law and/or direct services;
• Demonstrated commitment to immigrants' rights and community empowerment;
• Advanced Spanish language skills required;
• Ability to work effectively with clients who are survivors of trauma, suffer from mental illness, and/or have had contact with the criminal justice system;
• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and analytical skills;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Ability to work as part of a team and independently to manage multiple tasks and prioritize workflow;
• Commitment to providing culturally humble services.

Mission Action is an equal-opportunity employer that values lived experience and seeks applicants of the greatest diversity possible. We encourage people of color, women, older people, members of the LGBTQ community, and individuals with disabilities, including HIV and community members who grew up in the Mission District, to apply. Pursuant to the SF Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.

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