Legal Intern
The MinKwon Center for Community Action was established in 1984 to meet the needs and concerns of the Korean American community through our five program areas: Community Organizing and Advocacy, Social Services, Civic Participation, and Youth Empowerment. Since our founding, we have made a profound presence in the Korean American community through various grassroots organizing, education, and advocacy initiatives that address important community issues, including immigration policies at the national, state and city levels, voter rights, and culture awareness. The MinKwon Center places a special emphasis on meeting the needs of our marginalized community members, including youth, elderly, recent immigrants, low-income residents, and limited-English-proficient residents. More recently, it has expanded its program areas to work with the Chinese American community as well.
The MinKwon Center’s comprehensive Immigrant Rights Legal Clinic provides free legal services to the Asian American and wider immigrant community throughout New York in the areas of immigration and housing law. We provide direct legal representation and work closely with other legal groups and pro bono lawyers to help these community members achieve social and economic justice.
INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTION
• Engage in direct client contact: Participate in initial intakes to assess client cases, engage in regular communication with clients regarding their cases, and act as a liaison for clients with government agencies. Update client and case information regularly in our case management system.
• Work on active litigation: Cases in immigration court such as Asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) at all phases of litigation. Intern responsibilities may include drafting litigation documents, fact research, attending court conferences, and trial preparation.
• Work on active United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) cases such as Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Adjustment of Status, Naturalizations.
• Perform legal research and write memoranda on related legal issues.
• Conduct community education immigration, and other important legal issues.
• Participate in advocacy efforts, such as meetings with government officials and writing op-ed pieces for local newspapers.
DETAILS
• SUPERVISION: Intern is supervised by Senior Immigration Attorney Matilde Recalde.
• COMPENSATION: While internships are not paid positions, credit and external compensation has been arranged in the past with the intern's academic institution.
Specific internship dates and hours will be finalized in-person.
REQUIREMENTS
• Spanish and/or French language proficiency is required.
DEADLINE & APPLICATION MATERIALS
• DEADLINE: Applications accepted on a rolling basis.
• APPLICATION: Please send your cover letter and resume to matilde.recalde@minkwon.org with "Legal Intern" in the subject line. Please indicate in the email if you have applied, worked, or volunteered for any other position at the MinKwon Center.
Due to a high number of applications, only applicants who are granted an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
The MinKwon Center for Community Action welcomes people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, backgrounds, and experiences to consider working with us. We encourage Black, Indigenous, and people of color, immigrants, women and gender nonbinary people, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities to apply.
The MinKwon Center for Community Action does not discriminate against current or prospective employees based on race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity, age, martial status, family or dependent status, criminal record, disability, mental illness, sexual orientation, genetics, active military, credit score and history, or any other protected class in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
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