How to Apply for a Judicial Internship

It is important to research judges and judicial internships before applying, and you should consider the differences between trial and appellate courts and how those differences might affect your internship experience. Talk to students who have interned about their experiences, attend events about judicial internships, and consult these resources:

  • Judicial Internship Evaluations Notebook: These are required evaluations from Texas Law judicial interns who received academic credit. Some students provide contact information in case you would like to ask further questions. The notebook is housed in the CSO Library in TNH 3.130.
  • Learn about summer, fall and spring internship opportunities and what judges expect from a judicial intern at Judicial Internship Panels presented by the CSO.

As there is no central judicial internship job bank, you may check the following resources for internship opportunities:

  • Job Bank on TEX: All judges and courts in Austin that take judicial interns will have a posting. There will also be postings for judges who sit outside of Austin, although no other city is guaranteed to have postings for every judge who will take interns.
  • Court Websites: Many courts have judicial internship postings on their websites, often under the “Employment” tab.
  • Interns Across Texas: Database of judicial internships in Texas maintained by the Texas Young Lawyers Association.
  • List of Recent Judicial Internship Placements: List maintained by the Texas Law Judicial Internship Program of judges who have hosted Texas Law students interning for academic credit.
  • Create your own list of judges. Use a search engine, or judgepedia.org, to search for “judges in NAME A LOCATION.” You are then looking for a specific type of judge (i.e., federal district judges) and specific judge names and addresses.

If you find a posting for a specific judicial internship, you should follow the directions for submitting applications. The default application process is to mail a hard copy of your cover letter, resume, legal writing sample (5-7 pages) and unofficial law school transcript to a judge’s chambers.

  • You should only submit applications to judges from whom you would accept an internship. You should never turn a judge’s internship offer down. (There are some RARE exceptions to this rule, and please discuss this with a CSO counselor before doing so.) It’s acceptable to apply to multiple judges at once, and you should apply to as many judges as you are interested in.
  • Once you have accepted a position, or if your plans change, you should call the chambers where you have pending applications and politely inform them that you need to withdraw your application.
  • Remember, you may be able to obtain academic credit through the Judicial Internship Program for state appellate courts and federal courts at all levels.