About Us
PEER is a national nonprofit that fills the unique niche of serving the public employees who protect our environment. We work with government agency employees to address environmental wrongs while protecting their identities, and we also provide free legal help for those who suffer retaliation from their supervisors after blowing the whistle themselves. We advocate for strong scientific integrity policies and procedures, and have an array of ongoing policy and public education campaigns. PEER is headquartered in the Washington DC metro area (Silver Spring, MD is on the Metro’s Red Line, a few stops from downtown), with several field offices across the country.
The Internship
PEER internships are for current law school students seeking practical experience in a supportive and engaging environment. As an intern at PEER’s headquarters, you will assist our legal team and field staff in research, investigations, and litigation, working on tasks that could range from complaint drafting to discovery to submitting FOIA requests or even trial prep. Our cases often involve federal legislation such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and the Freedom of Information Act. Interns will conduct initial intake interviews with public employees who contact PEER, and they will conduct legal research to explore any potential environmental law and ethics violations that these callers raise. We involve our interns in every aspect of our practice, including a seat at the table for legal and media strategy planning, contributions to our blog and public facing materials, and preparing materials used in meeting with government and elected officials.
PEER believes interns should gain valuable experience, enhancing their résumé while preparing them for their future careers as attorneys. We strive to provide each intern with appropriate supervision and input, a variety of skill-building tasks, and significant research and writing projects.
You may intern with PEER in the summer after your 1L or 2L year or during the spring or fall semesters of your 2L or 3L years. Interns may work in-person at our Silver Spring, MD office or remotely.
- Summer internships are full time (40 hours/week) from 8-12 weeks, with flexible start and end dates.
- For spring and fall semester internships, we aim for 24 hours per week, but more or less hours are possible as circumstances permit.
Interns sometimes stay for consecutive semesters (ex. a part-time internship for credit in spring and a fulltime summer internship with public interest funding through the law school or other source), and have found the deeper immersion opportunity to be a valuable experience!
How to Apply
We are always seeking candidates with proven interest in environmental and/or civil service law and top-notch research, writing, and communication skills! Here’s how things currently stand:
| 2027 | |
| Spring | Open |
| Summer | Open |
| Fall | Open |
To apply for an open position, please email the following (single PDF, or separate as you prefer) to [email protected], with the subject line “Internship Application for _____,” indicating the year and term for which you’re applying (summer, spring, fall, or a combination thereof):
- Resume;
- Cover letter;
- Unofficial transcript (if you are a 1L and don’t have a law school transcript yet, please send one from undergrad); and
- Writing sample (if excerpted excerpt from a longer work, please include a cover sheet with a brief note orienting the reader to your analysis)
We accept applications on a rolling basis, but please note that for spring and summer positions, August and September are particularly good months to send your materials. We often conduct interviews and hiring for the near year’s positions then, typically wrapping up the process by November.
