Legal Internship programs

Legal Internship programs

Legal Internship

What is Legal Internship?

Internships, externships, placements or work integrated learning. By whatever name, these opportunities are all about practical experience. All of our placements have a public interest focus – contributing much needed resources to community and increasing access to justice. Students have a choice of applying for one of the internship placements coordinated by Melbourne Law School Clinics or independently sourcing their own internship. (Independent Legal Internship). Legal Internships are for a minimum of 15 days.

View Handbook entry

What will I learn?

Undertaking a public interest legal internship provides students with the opportunity to:

  • Develop practical legal skills that cannot be obtained in a classroom
  • Apply their legal knowledge to real-world problems and enhance their ability to undertake legal work in a professional environment
  • Deepen their awareness of the wider social and policy issues relevant to particular areas of legal practice
  • Establish a valuable professional network with lawyers and staff at their host organisation
  • Include practical legal work on their CV
  • Clarify their interests and guide their future career choices.

Where can I go?

Internship opportunities are available across a wide range of practice areas in the public and community sectors. Melbourne Law School Clinics has partnerships with a range of host organisations and placements are advertised to students at various times throughout the year.

Stateless Children Legal Clinic (new for 2021)

The Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, in partnership with the Refugee Advice Casework Service (through their Stateless Children Program) is excited to offer two students the opportunity to participate in this exciting new legal clinic, offering the chance to develop practical legal skills through direct engagement with clients and assist in the delivery of essential legal services to stateless refugee children in their application for Australian citizenship, with potentially life changing outcomes.

Recent partner organisations include:

While not all organisations offer placements in every round, students who wish to engage with a different public interest organisation for their internship may choose to source their own placement (an Independent legal internship) and apply to have this approved for subject credit.

Photo of Valerie
Valerie is pictured at the Young Workers Centre in Carlton.

Postcards from Placement

Valerie spent part of her summer interning at the Young Workers Centre in Carlton, where she helped equip future workers with information and facilitate representation and assistance in a variety of employment matters. “It has been an incredibly insightful and rewarding experience to have worked alongside a passionate team who fights for an important cause, for everyone and a better future,” she says. #PostcardsfromPlacement

Where will this take me?

A Legal Internship is an opportunity to deepen your knowledge and integrate your law studies with the reality of legal practice. There are a number of ways to approach the choice of placement – students can use the internship experience to learn more about an area of law or legal practice, explore a workplace that may be of interest or to build their legal skills and employability in supervised and supported environment. The flexibility of the Melbourne Law School Clinics program gives you the opportunity to direct your own learning.

About your coordinator

Kate Fischer Doherty

Kate Fischer Doherty is the Director of Melbourne Law School Clinics at Melbourne Law School. Prior to joining MLS, Kate worked as a lawyer in the community legal sector, focusing on legal education and assistance for disadvantaged and marginalised communities. Her current research interests include student professional and ethical development through clinical legal education.

Information sessions

Melbourne Law School Clinics holds regular information sessions aimed at providing key information and answering any questions students may have. Students interested in either a Melbourne Law School Clinics internship or in sourcing their own independent internship are encouraged to attend.

How do I apply?

As a general guide there are two main periods to apply for and undertake a Legal Internship:

  • November–June (Summer period, Semester 1): Applications open the previous September
  • July–November (Winter and Semester 2): Applications open the previous April

Application dates and Information sessions will be announced:

  • In the JD Newsletter
  • On the Canvas LMS in the JD Community
  • On digital signage located throughout Melbourne Law School

For industry: Interested in hosting MLS legal interns?

If you are a public interest law organisation that would like to partner with Melbourne Law School and host student interns throughout the first or the second half of the academic year, we would love to hear from you.

Please contact Melbourne Law School Clinics Director Kate Fischer-Doherty to discuss the possibility of hosting a student intern(s), the requirements for our host organisations and our students, and your expectations of the program.

Independent Legal Internship

What is an Independent Legal Internship?

This page contains general information about the Legal Internship program at Melbourne Law School. As well as offering placements at a range of public interest organisations, the program allows students to arrange an Independent Legal Internship with an organisation of their choosing, which will be credited towards their degree.

Independent Legal Internships may be hosted by any public interest organisation - whether domestic or overseas - that will facilitate a student undertaking unpaid, legally-oriented work. All applications must be approved by the Subject Coordinator to ensure that they meet the subject requirements.

Note: Legal Internship and Independent Legal Internship come under the same subject code (LAWS50059). Students may therefore only undertake one internship placement for subject credit as part of their JD.

View Handbook entry

What will I learn?

Undertaking a public interest legal internship provides students with the opportunity to:

  • Develop practical legal skills that cannot be obtained in a classroom.
  • Apply their legal knowledge to real-world problems and enhance their ability to undertake legal work in a professional environment.
  • Deepen their awareness of the wider social and policy issues relevant to particular areas of legal practice.
  • Establish a valuable professional network with lawyers and staff at their host organisation.
  • Include practical legal work on their CV.
  • Clarify their interests and guide their future career choices.

Where can I go?

There are many exciting independent internship opportunities, both within Australia and internationally. Students can source internships at organisations to build on their interests in an area and explore their passions - below you can find just some examples of where previous students have undertaken Independent Legal Internships.

Aurora Internship Program

The Aurora Internship program is administered by the Aurora Project, and aims to facilitate individual professional development and strengthen the capacity of Indigenous sector organisations. Students who selected for an Aurora internship may apply to have this credited as an Independent Legal Internship.

The Aurora internship program places law and social sciences students and graduates at Native Title Representative Bodies (NTRBs) and Indigenous corporations, government bodies, community groups and other policy organisations across Australia.Interns assist in legal work, policy development, and Indigenous affairs more broadly. Aurora internships allow participants an opportunity to explore careers in these areas, while also contributing to organisations in need of additional resources.

Placements are usually of four to six weeks duration.

Alternative options

Melbourne Law School Clinics coordinate a range of legal internship opportunities.

Legal Internship information

#PostcardsfromPlacement

Photo of Angus and Tom
Angus and Tom are pictured at Capitol Hill, Washington DC.

MLS JD students Angus and Tom are spending their summer interning at the United States Congress, as part of MLS’ Legal Internship program. “From impeachment proceedings, committee hearings and policy briefings to constituent mail, phone calls and research, my time on Capitol Hill is one I will never forget!” Angus says. As someone aspiring to work in public policy, Tom says that “seeing the world's most consequential lawmaking from the inside has been an invaluable learning experience".

Photo of Samantha and Emily
Samantha and Emily are pictured at Naaja Legal Agency in the Northern Territory.

Samantha and Emily have spent part of their summer interning at the Naaja Legal Agency in the Northern Territory. Samantha says it's been a privilege to work for an organisation that's built on a commitment to community. "We've been working on civil matters, which include police misconduct, government complaints and child protection, that all comprise some part of the systemic disadvantage Indigenous Australians face in the Territory. We'll be returning to Melbourne feeling very inspired by all the legends we've met and worked with along the way." Melbourne Law School is proud to participate in the Aurora Project Internship Program, which places law and social science students in native title and other indigenous sector organisations throughout Australia.

About your coordinator

Kate Fischer-Doherty

Kate Fischer-Doherty is the Director of Melbourne Law School Clinics at Melbourne Law School. Prior to joining MLS, Kate worked as a lawyer in the community legal sector, focusing on legal education and assistance for disadvantaged and marginalised communities. Her current research interests include student professional and ethical development through clinical legal education.

Information sessions

Melbourne Law School Clinics holds regular information sessions aimed at providing key information and answering any questions students may have. Students interested in either a Melbourne Law School Clinics internship or in sourcing their own independent internship are encouraged to attend.

Details for these sessions will be announced:

  • In the JD Newsletter
  • On the Canvas LMS in the JD Community
  • On digital signage located throughout Melbourne Law School

How do I apply?

Independent Legal Internships can be applied for at any time, however at least four weeks’ notice should be given to allow for confirmation, approval and processing of applications.

Note: Independent Legal Internship students must align their internship dates as close as possible within the study period dates as listed in the Handbook entry for Legal Internship.

For more information about the Independent Legal Internship program - including application processes, see the JD Community on the LMS.

For industry: Interested in hosting MLS legal interns?

If you are a public interest law organisation that would like to partner with Melbourne Law School and host student interns throughout the first or the second half of the academic year, we would love to hear from you.

Please contact Melbourne Law School Clinics Director Kate Fischer-Doherty to discuss the possibility of hosting a student intern(s), the requirements for our host organisations and our students, and your expectations of the program.