The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York offers a limited number of unpaid undergraduate internships during the spring, summer, and fall semesters for current college students. Our college intern program exposes students to the daily operations of a premiere federal agency, located in one of the nation’s most influential cities.
Our Office offers positions in our Legal Divisions, including our Criminal Division and Civil Divisions, as well as our Support Units, including Case Team, Electronic Evidence Unit, Human Resources, Information Technology, Records Management, Recruitment and Administration, and Victim Witness Unit. More information about the work of these teams is included below. In addition to their work in their assigned team, interns also participate in “brown-bag lunches” where they will learn about various aspects of the Office’s work.
How To Apply
A full application includes an application form and resume. Please submit your application materials by email to USANYS.JOBS@usdoj.gov. A cover letter is encouraged. Your GPA and graduation date must be clearly indicated on your resume. Please include in your email subject line what division you are interested in. Applications may be submitted for summer positions from Feb 1-15 only; for fall positions from May 1-31 only; and for spring positions from September 1-30 only.
Internship Commitment
All internships are in-person. Opportunities are generally located in our Manhattan office with a limited number of opportunities available in our Criminal Division’s White Plains Office. Summer interns are required to work, at a minimum, 40 hours per week for a total of 8 weeks beginning June through August. Students wishing to participate in the spring undergraduate internship program will work a minimum of 14 to 16 hours per week from January through April. Students wishing to participate in the fall undergraduate internship program will work from September through December, a minimum of 14 to 16 hours per week.
What We Look For
Our Office seeks high-achieving undergraduate students with an interest in public service and a desire to support our agency’s important work. Applicants should be eager to learn, exercise good judgment, and possess good time management skills. Interns do not need to have prior experience in the work of the Division or Unit they are interested in as they will receive on the job training. However, to the extent a candidate does have prior relevant experience, they should highlight that in their application materials.
In addition, there are certain requirements for all interns. Interns must be matriculating college students. Interns must be U.S. Citizens; students with dual citizenship are eligible to apply. Interns must complete a background questionnaire and obtain a DOJ security approval. Please note that, among other items included in the background check, illegal drug use during the prior twelve months makes it unlikely that a student could join as an intern.
More Information About Available Opportunities
Our Criminal Division prosecutes cases involving an action that is harmful to society as a whole, such as illegal narcotics trafficking, firearms distribution, gang violence, cybercrime, securities & commodities fraud, and terrorism. The government, on behalf of the people of the United States, prosecutes the case through the United States Attorney's Office if the person is charged with a federal crime. Attorneys in the Criminal Division work diligently to protect victims and cooperators. Common intern tasks include, but are not limited to, drafting subpoenas and legal documents, redacting documents, transcribing calls and bodycam footage, sitting in on witness interviews, observing court proceedings, performing legal/factual research, organizing evidence/exhibits/discovery, and cite-checking.
Our Civil Division both affirmatively enforces the law and represents the United States when it is a defendant in legal proceedings. Civil litigation topics include bankruptcy, civil rights, commercial, constitutional, environmental, fraud, immigration, tax, and tort. The cases that the Civil Division brings, and those it defends, reflect the significant issues of our time. Common intern tasks include but are not limited to organizing evidence/exhibits/discovery, drafting or redacting legal documents, cite-checking, sitting in on witness interviews and depositions, observing court proceedings, performing legal/factual research.
Our Investigative CASE Team uses analytical tools to develop and visualize evidence that will be used in court. Co-ops will learn how to identify relevant digital evidence obtained from seized phone data, social media platforms, and Cloud-based systems. Skills may include creating pivot tables, learning how to read bank records, and using software such as Cellebrite and Penlink PLX.
Our Human Resources Team is a backbone team in the Office. They handle postings for all positions, new hire paperwork, orientation, employee benefits, and departing employee benefits. Interns in the Human Resources team may curate informative newsletters on employee benefits for office-wide distribution; update the internal HR SharePoint webpage; assist the HR team with new employee orientation and onboarding; researching recruitment policies, training requirements and standardized job descriptions. This experience will expose students to the federal HR universe: HR Information Systems, Military, Recruitment and Placement, Position Classification, Employee Benefits, Performance Management, Employee Compensation and HR Development.
Our Information Technology (IT) Team provides invaluable technological support to the important work of the Office. An intern in IT would handle work such as: assist with basic computer hardware and software troubleshooting; assist with set ups of computers, conference rooms, trial rooms, and for press conferences; contribute to IT related design, development, and implementation of software applications and databases; research and analyze technical issues to assist with problem-solving; collaborate with members of the IT team to complete projects and resolve technical issues; participate in training and learning new technical skills to support ongoing projects and initiatives.
Our Electronic Evidence Unit (EEU) has three sections Digital Evidence, Project Mangers, and Audio/Visual. Intern duties for each section are listed below:
- The Audio/Visual section is a terrific team for art or graphic design students. Interns will create graphics, demonstratives, that translate complex information into clear and concise visuals. They also will collaborate with EEU Graphics Senior Experts to work closely with legal teams to develop effective trial strategies utilizing graphics. They will anticipate potential challenges or objections from the opposing side. Interns should have or be eager to develop knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Audition software. Finally, interns will provide superior service to attorneys, litigation support staff.
- The Digital Evidence section manages digital evidence by organizing and testing drives in the evidence vault; running Cellebrite and Axiom reports and storing the hard drives in the evident vault; and managing hard drive inventory and storage. They also will copy data from shared drives to local and hard drives for internal working copies and work with paralegals on drive data organization. Interns also will research and find ways to troubleshoot problems DETs run into daily; write batch scripts for unzipping data; and troubleshoot hard drive and software issues that arise. Finally, they will shadow DETs to learn how to process returns in Cellebrite and Axiom, and learn how to package up evidence for processing.
- The Project Managers section complete tasks like: copy data from shared directories, USAfx (USAO’s version of Box.com) and FTP sites; create an updated spreadsheet tracking current Relativity and Everlaw databases; complete small Print to PDF requests from Relativity; make copies of hard drives for shipment to the Relativity vendor; create Zips/Spanned Zips of large datasets for upload to USAfx; assist with creating new Relativity accounts and provide support to users experiencing Relativity login issues; assist with Evidence.com tasks such as blurring/redacting videos, making clips, transcriptions, uploading and organizing evidence; review small Relativity upload requests and draft email request to the Relativity vendor, with supervision from Project Manager.
Our Records Management Team ensures that the Office’s records are saved and maintained in the correct manner following DOJ guidelines. They also recover needed archived documents. Interns in Records Management complete tasks such as: compose, create, save, and recover various legal documents in the Microsoft software suite; calculate the appropriate shelf life of the records of each individual case; complete training and appropriately use two databases, CaseView and ARCIS, to retrieve and send files to the Federal Records Center, and also document the history and whereabouts of all records consistently and accurately; research and locate files based on factors outside of the case number or case name using means such as the process of elimination, the CaseView database, indexes, and logs; create a brief Index for each case file being sent to our Federal Records Center by identifying Trial Transcripts, Grand Jury Exhibits, Complaints, Indictments, and other case related documents.
Our Recruitment and Administration Teams play a crucial role in supporting the mission of the Office by ensuring that AUSAs and staff have the resources, tools, and infrastructure needed to thrive. Interns working with these teams will have the opportunity to contribute to a wide array of projects that are vital to the Office’s operations.
Interns may assist in organizing and executing internal events and trainings, as well as planning and coordinating recruitment events for attorneys and law students. They will be involved in key administrative functions, including data entry, maintenance, and analysis related to attorney and law student hiring, professional development, budget management, facilities, and victim/witness support services.
In addition, interns may work on enhancing the functionality and accessibility of the Office’s SharePoint pages, ensuring that important information is organized, up-to-date, and easily accessible for all staff. This role offers the opportunity to gain hands-on experience across several departments while supporting the Office’s overall mission to ensure smooth operations and effective resource management.
Our Victim Witness Unit provides essential support to victims and witnesses of crime. An intern will work closely with the team to provide case updates and procedural guidance to victims and witnesses. Intern tasks include, but are not limited to, preparing and mailing victim notification letters regarding court dates, pleas, sentencings and case outcomes; helping to coordinate logistics for victims and witnesses such as transportation; and performing administrative tasks such as case file organization, data entry, and updating case management systems.
The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, status as a parent, genetic information, disability, age, membership or nonmembership in an employee organization, or on the basis of personal favoritism.