The Falls Church office is the leading office for the Immigrant Advocacy Program (IAP). We primarily work on behalf of low-wage immigrants as both community organizers and lawyers. Our lawyers provide civil legal assistance with respect to consumer, employment, and housing matters, and some limited immigration issues.
Volunteer opportunities at our office include seasonal internships, project-based activities (like working on a particular case or campaign), and discrete events. The number of volunteers we may require at any given time depends on our demand and available staff coverage. Most of our Falls Church office clients only speak Spanish, so a high level of Spanish fluency is required for most of our volunteering opportunities.
If you are interested in volunteering at our office, we encourage you to submit your most updated information on this volunteer expression of interest form. After your submission, you will be contacted accordingly once particular volunteer opportunities arise based on your preferences. You can read more about our available volunteer opportunities below the form.
Volunteer Opportunities:
STUDENTS: High School & Undergraduate
We offer two types of opportunities for high school and undergraduate students. When opportunities for these positions become available, individuals who have completed our volunteer expression of interest form will be notified:
- Intake Internship –provide front-line intake services for callers and walk-in clients seeking legal services. They answer phone calls, greet clients, conduct intake interviews, research community resources for referrals, serve as an interpreter and/or translator, and assist in other tasks as needed to support our attorneys and staff. Spanish proficiency is required. The internship can be hybrid to help fulfill a minimum 6-month commitment we request from volunteers (some hours can be completed remotely; some hours onsite).
- Organizing/Advocacy Internship – provide assistance to our community organizers, who work primarily to address the needs of the immigrant communities in Northern Virginia. Spanish proficiency is required.
- Both positions are unpaid.
STUDENTS: Currently in Law School – We offer two types of opportunities for law students. When opportunities for these positions become available, individuals who have completed our volunteer expression of interest form will be notified:
- Summer – Legal Internship – We offer an unpaid 10-week/400-hour summer law internship program. Proficiency in Spanish is required for summer interns in LAJC’s Falls Church office. (Most law student interns come to us through law school internship “fairs,” but we welcome interested law students to complete the volunteer form, too.)
- Semester – Legal Internship – We offer opportunities for students at DC-area law schools to work in our offices during fall and spring semesters.
- Both positions are unpaid. Interns are welcome to identify private funding for their time, we offer assistance with applications.
BILINGUAL OR MULTILINGUAL COMMUNITY MEMBERS: Legal Immigration Clinic – Support – We offer ad hoc opportunities to serve as interpreters and translators with our legal clinic. This opportunity is open to both students and legal professionals who are fluent in more than one language (including but not limited to English, Spanish, French, indigenous languages, etc). When opportunities for these positions become available, individuals who have completed our volunteer expression of interest form will be notified.
LEGAL PROFESSIONALS – We offer several types of volunteer opportunities for lawyers.
Pro Bono
- “Impact” cases (involving significant legal issues, and usually involving multiple clients) – We partner with private firms from the DC area in many of our larger cases, most recently including Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP; Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP; and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.
- Individual cases – We sometimes refer individual cases – especially certain types of immigration matters – to private attorneys. Foreign language fluency is often required for these cases.
- If you are active and/or retired legal professional interested in exploring pro bono opportunities through our Falls Church office, please email a cover letter and resume that includes your availability and language ability to Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg.