Job Description

Organizational Overview:


Colorado Legal Services (CLS) is Colorado's statewide nonprofit legal aid program, with thirteen offices providing civil legal assistance to low-income Coloradans throughout the state. CLS provides free legal assistance in a broad variety of legal areas, including family law, public benefits, eviction defense, consumer protection, services to survivors of serious crime and human trafficking, and many others.


CLS has strengthened lives, assisted families, and supported communities-one person at a time for over 100 years. We are committed to providing high-quality, free legal advice and representation to eligible individuals throughout Colorado. We have a long history of successful impact and advocacy. CLS strives to bring about substantive, transformational change in the lives of those we serve.

We value representation.

At CLS, we value and respect our staff's wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. We ensure representation of our client communities in our staff, Board of Directors and leadership teams. We also envision a fair, just, trusted, and harm reductionist legal system which emphasizes access to and implementation of true justice for every Coloradan.

Position Summary:

The Farm Worker Rights Division (FWRD) of Colorado Legal Services represents farm workers in federal and state courts, and administrative agencies on a variety of civil legal claims. The work of the FWRD focuses primarily on wage theft, human trafficking, immigration, sexual harassment, working conditions and civil rights. The FWRD also runs a comprehensive community education program that involves outreach to workers at labor camps and to community-based groups. The FWRD's client community is comprised primarily of Latino migrant and seasonal farm workers.

The Farm Worker Rights Division is seeking a spring intern/extern (undergraduate, graduate or law student) who shares a passion for advocating for the rights of low-wage farm workers. The intern will work with clients and potential clients on a variety of legal issues and will also assist the team in its outreach efforts to ensure workers have information about their rights and the services that CLS FWRD provides. Law student and paralegal interns will have the opportunity to utilize their legal research and writing skills to support the attorneys with ongoing federal litigation involving claims arising under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Federal Labor Standards Act, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Colorado wage laws and more.


Essential Duties:

• Legal research, document review, drafting documents, and interviewing clients and prospective clients.
• Investigative tasks related to cases in litigation such as examining public records and collecting information from various sources.
• Updating outreach materials and maintaining FWRD data systems utilized for outreach to farm workers and trusted partners.

Qualifications:

• Law students and paralegal students preferred but not required.
• Spanish speaking preferred but not required.
• Dedication and sensitivity to serving the legal needs of low-wage individuals.
• Strong interpersonal skills, written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail
• Comfort with technology including Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).

Location:

This position is housed in the CLS Denver office.

Time commitment:

Part-time.

Compensation:

The position is unpaid but is open to receiving other work study funds that are student generated. Students may apply for course credit through their Externship Program.

How to Apply:


Please submit your resume and cover letter via the "Apply for This Job" link for this job opening on our careers page. We will not be reviewing applications sent via e-mail or physical mail. If you have questions about this internship or any others at Colorado Legal Services, please contact Kirsten Hoaby, Denver Volunteer and Pro Bono Manager, at khoaby@colegalserv.org

Job Tags

Part time, Internship, Seasonal work, Work at office,

Similar Jobs