Internships & Pro Bono

Join a team of highly skilled professionals and contribute to the high-quality representation provided to our clients. Through internship and pro bono programs, aspiring assistant public defenders and private attorneys alike can sharpen their skills and advance their professional development while working in one of the nation's most challenging criminal justice systems.

The application deadline for Summer internships (CLIs and non-CLIs) is March 1; for Fall, it is July 1; for Spring, it is November 1. No applications will be accepted late.

Want to gain real-life litigation experience that is not a mock trial or other simulation? Want to advocate in court on behalf of an individual who cannot afford to hire an attorney but needs legal assistance? Want to learn in a supportive environment under the supervision of an experienced attorney?

You will first need to fulfill your law school’s and the Florida Supreme Court’s requirements to become a Certified Legal Intern: Certified Legal Intern Program - Supreme Court (flcourts.gov) . After you fulfill those requirements, you can apply to join our team of highly skilled professionals to contribute to providing high-quality representation for our clients. The CLI Internship Program is highly competitive, with 20 slots total per semester: 10 paid CLI slots and 10 unpaid slots. Paid internships are only available to law students who can work 20 or more hours a week.

You will be learning and working in a supportive environment that focuses on competence, diligence, and client communication. The Public Defender unequivocally rejects “meet them and plead them” practices. Through our Certified Legal Internship (CLI) program, aspiring Assistant Public Defenders (APDs) can sharpen their skills and advance their professional development while working on cases at a nationally renowned Public Defender’s office. During our internship, the CLI receives litigation training and professional development opportunities that are nationally recognized as exceptional.

The CLI program is designed to be litigation intensive. Our CLIs are not assigned to endless memorandum writing or document review. They have their own clients and cases for which they are responsible under the supervision of an Assistant Public Defender, a Florida attorney. After actively participating in the week-long Public Defender Onboarding Program, CLIs are assigned their own cases. CLIs manage their own caseload and are expected to staff their cases with their assigned supervisor.
Certified Legal Interns are accountable for providing high-quality representation to our clients, and continuously learning, under the supervision of an APD. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Preparing and investigating each case efficiently and diligently
Advising and counseling each client
Establishing and maintaining a professional relationship with each client
Thorough and timely documentation
Effective and efficient use of AI (CoCounsel), Westlaw, investigators, mitigation and placement specialists and other support staff
Seeking assistance from experts appropriate to the case
Demonstrating a professional demeanor
Exercising sound judgment to achieve desired results after thorough preparation.

The 10 paid CLIs per semester are compensated at a rate of $26 an hour.

Pay and benefits for CLIs working a minimum of 20 hours a week or 80 hours per month:

$26 an hour in a state position
Extensive onboarding, ongoing training and supervision
Handle your own (limited) caseload
Litigate and speak on the record in court proceedings
Paid holidays
Sick leave
Earn incentive paid leave credit for bar study if hired for a post-graduate APD position

Law students interested in having a superior CLI experience or pursuing a career in public defense after graduation should get certified as early as possible. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR A CLI POSITION, YOU MUST FIRST BE APPROVED BY THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA AS A CLI. Ideally, to give our office a solid opportunity to see the CLI in action before making a job offer, the CLI completes the certified internship in the summer after the 2L year of law school or the fall semester of the 3L year. If you are interested in being hired after being a CLI, waiting to do the CLI program in the spring semester of 3L is not recommended as there may be no attorney positions left to fill. The application deadline for Summer internships (CLIs and non-CLIs) is March 1; for Fall, it is July 1; for Spring, it is November 1. No applications will be accepted late. Preference is given to law students who can work 20 or more hours a week.

Interested in participating in our CLI program? Write a statement of interest outlining why you want to do a certified legal internship with our office, what motivates you to work with individuals who cannot afford a lawyer to represent them on a criminal case, and why you want to work in our office after law school. Complete the online application and email your resume and statement of interest to Guy Robinson. Selection for paid and unpaid slots will be based on the application materials, the strength of the statement of interest, your interview, and demonstrated commitment to indigent defense.

The Public Defender’s Office offers select volunteering opportunities for law students. Due to workload demands, the inability to closely supervise or for interns to assist with legal support, and the sensitive nature of the work, we are seldom able to offer volunteering opportunities to undergraduate or high school students. Volunteer law students (i.e., non-certified interns) are afforded invaluable experience working alongside skilled and dedicated assistant public defenders in one of the nation’s most challenging criminal justice systems. The law student intern selection process is highly competitive. When we have appropriate, time-limited, projects, the Public Defender occasionally invites one or more law or college students to volunteer on a project. Regrettably, due to the high demand for internships from law students, and lack of adequate supervisory resources and space, we do not offer internships to high school students, nor do we provide “shadowing” opportunities.

Interested in participating in our unpaid volunteer program? Write a statement of interest outlining why you want to do an internship with our office, what motivates you to work with individuals who cannot afford a lawyer to represent them on a criminal case, why you want to become a lawyer, and why you want to work in our office after law school. Complete the internship/job application, and email your resume and statement of interest to James Dubray.

Candidates for a graduate degree in social work or mental health counseling can participate in our Mitigation and Placement Internship Program. We are always looking for inquisitive, insightful, empathetic persons with superior written- and oral-communications skills to work in our Mitigation and Placement Services Unit.

Our mitigation specialists assist assistant public defenders in all divisions by assessing clients’ individual needs and strengths and then developing rehabilitative treatment and sentencing plans, when appropriate. Interns receive formal supervision under which they may interview clients and their families. They also assist with preparation of psycho-social histories, access services for clients and learn about community resources. Interested students should contact their school’s placement office, complete our online application, then email their resume and statement of interest to Elisa Quesada, Chief Assistant Public Defender, Mitigation and Client Services Partnerships and Capital Litigation Unit Co-Coordinator.

The Initiative is a community partnership established by Public Defender Carlos J. Martinez with civil firms, private attorneys, law schools, colleges and community groups.

As part of his community outreach, Public Defender Martinez turned to the private firms with his vision for a project that could enhance indigent clients’ access to justice, help the office better comply with constitutional, ethical and professional obligations, and provide valuable information to the community at large.

The initiative builds on the office’s tradition of receiving pro bono legal assistance from private firms for excessive caseload litigation, representation of individual APDs faced with contempt, and client representation on issues of statewide importance (litigating on behalf of a child whose arrest record was released to the public).

The primary focus of the program is direct representation in misdemeanor cases. Through both formal training and on-the-job training, individual attorneys and law firms advance their professional development. More than 100 private attorneys have participated since the program’s inception. This effort is greatly enhanced by the support of private attorneys who are members of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers – Miami chapter, who have handled about 50 felony cases.

Pro bono does not substitute or make up for lack of funding. Even if every criminal defense attorney in Miami Dade County accepted one case pro bono, it would still be a drop in the bucket because the office handles approximately 70,000 cases each year. Participating in the pro bono program serves as a unique opportunity for the private bar to show support for the constitutional right to counsel, the indigent and the rule of law.

Interested attorneys should email Mayra Lindsay to participate or for additional information.

Certified Legal Internships (CLI)

Unpaid Volunteer Opportunities (non-CLI)

Mitigation and Placement Unit Internship Program

Ensuring Equal Justice Pro Bono Initiative