Rockford Law Student Volunteer, Summer 2026

The USAO for the Northern District of Illinois is responsible for prosecuting all federal crimes within the district. The Office also represents the United States and its departments and agencies in civil proceedings filed in federal court and in the Seventh Circuit. The primary goals of the Law Student Intern Program are to provide law students with the greatest possible exposure to and participation in federal trial and appellate practice and to obtain excellent legal talent to assist this Office in handling its multitude of cases.

The work of the law student interns includes assisting in all aspects of trial preparation, legal research, writing memoranda of law, drafting pleadings and appellate briefs, assisting in preparation and taking of depositions, assisting in pretrial conferences and trials of civil and criminal cases. Law student interns are required to work 40 hours per week for 10 weeks.

Students must be first year, second-year, or third-year law students. Applicants must be U.S. citizens. Residency Requirement: For a total of three years (not necessarily consecutive years) of the past five years immediately prior to applying for a position, the applicant must have: 1) resided in the United States; 2) worked for the U.S. overseas in a federal or military capacity; or 3) been a dependent of a federal or military employee serving overseas. The Residency Requirement ensures an adequate background investigation can be completed. Due to the sensitive nature of the work performed by the Office, all offers to candidates are conditioned upon the successful completion of a required background investigation. Interns are not permitted to work in a legal capacity - private or public - during the internship unless prior authorization is given. Under no circumstance will an intern be permitted to work on any outside criminal matters or matters adverse to the federal government during the period of their internship with our office.

A complete application package consists of a resume, (not to exceed two pages in length), personal statement reflecting your background and your interest in participating in this program, legal writing sample, three letters of recommendation (preferably legal), and law school transcript (unofficial is acceptable) when it is available, even if it is after the closing deadline of this announcement. Application packages will be reviewed and offers extended on a rolling basis.

Recommendation letters may be included by the student with the application materials. If the recommendation letters are being sent separately, students should note that on their application. The letters of recommendation are waived for first-year law students only.

All application packages must be submitted to the following email address no later than 5:00 p.m. (CST) Friday, January 9, 2026:

USAILN.RockfordLawInterns@usdoj.gov

District Contact: Jodi Goldhagen, Administrative Services Assistant

Telephone: (815) 987-4463

Email: Jodi.Goldhagen@usdoj.gov (for questions only)

This internship is not compensated. No matching contributions available. Work-study or academic credit may be available through a student's law school. Students must make arrangements through his/her law school.