Summer 2024 Fellowship, Law Clerk Positions, and Educational

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JOB POSTING (PAID): PAULI MURRAY SUMMER ASSOCIATE FELLOWSHIP

Ungvarsky Law, PLLC is pleased to announce its inaugural Pauli Murray Summer Associate Fellowship for a rising second-year or third-year law student to work as the Pauli Murray Summer Associate for the 2024 summer.

Throughout her life, Pauli Murray advocated against segregation and discrimination. She  was arrested in Petersburg, VA – 15 years before Rosa Parks – for refusing to move to the back of a bus traveling from New York City to Durham, NC. She advocated (unsuccessfully) against the execution of a Black sharecropper who had killed his white landlord. Unrelenting, Ms. Murray earned a law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1944. The only woman in her class; she was first in her class. Ms. Murray co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the National Organization for Women (NOW), and was the first ordained Black female Episcopal priest. Hailed as the progenitor of their successful legal strategies by both Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ms. Murray’s legacy is marked by her seminal contributions to the civil rights and women's rights movements, emphasizing early-on the intersectionality of race, gender, and sex. While studying for the priesthood, Ms. Murray lived in Alexandria, VA. She was the first Black person to receive a doctorate in juridical science from the Yale Law School. (While historians agree that Ms. Murray was a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, they disagree on which pronouns to use. This announcement uses female pronouns because those are how Ms. Murray identified herself during her life.)

Over 10 weeks in the summer, the Fellow will collaborate with counsel and team members in criminal defense, capital defense, and human rights cases – including work with clients, investigation, and legal research and writing associated with casework and policy matters. The Fellowship is supported by a stipend of $5000, paid in two installments at the middle and termination of the Fellowship.

Applicants must be enrolled full-time in an ABA-accredited law school and must submit a cover letter, resume, and short essay (150-200 words) relating their lives and career goals to Ms. Murray’s life and career to ed@ungvarskylaw.com , “attn: Murray Fellowship.” Applications are due no later than January 31, 2024.

- The firm does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. -

• Criminal and Capital Defense Educational Internship, Summer 2024

INTERNSHIP: Edward Ungvarsky is an experienced attorney specializing in criminal and capital defense. Previously, he has worked against mass incarceration and capital punishment as a public and capital defender at the DC Public Defender Service and Northern Virginia Capital Defender Office; he now runs his own law firm. Ed attended Yale Law School and teaches at Harvard Law School. This is an excellent learning opportunity for students interested public defense, criminal defense, public interest law, and criminal justice reform policy. His firm’s website is ungvarskylaw.com. Please review before applying. 

Ungvarsky Law has 1-2 summer law student interns and 1-2 summer college interns. For the educational interns, there is a minimum stipend of $250/week, plus the opportunity of other earned compensation, for a 40-hour work week. The internship, typically 10 weeks, is for 4-12 weeks in length. Hours are flexible, depending on client and court needs.

Location: The internship is in-person (COVID vaccination required).

Past students have found the Educational Internship to be interesting and consequential. Ed and his firm are committed to the following values:

• Client-centered and relationship-based work that respects the humanity and dignity of all involved in the criminal legal system; 

• Zealous and fulsome representation on behalf of all clients; and

• Innovation and creativity in the provision of criminal defense services.

The intern’s primary function is assisting in the representation of defendants, both indigent and those who have purposefully hired the firm, facing criminal charges, from misdemeanors to capital murder, in state and local courts throughout Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia, and federal courts across the Mid-Atlantic region – including DC, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey – and nationwide.

The intern will investigate both the facts of the alleged offense and the background of the client to rebut the criminal charges and to develop reasons that a sentencer should minimize the client’s punishment if the case proceeded to that point. Much of the intern’s time will be spent identifying and speaking with witnesses; identifying and obtaining records; and developing trial exhibits and pre-trial organization tools. The intern will participate in team and strategy meetings, observe court hearings, attend meetings with prosecutors and with defense experts – including mental health experts, and otherwise be a full participant in the defense of persons facing criminal charges. Law student interns will additionally conduct legal research and writing, including memos and draft legal filings.

Qualifications (for at least a rising sophomore in college, graduate students, and law students):

· Be flexible and willing to take on a variety of tasks.

· Be intellectually engaged in your responsibilities.

· Be honest, trustworthy, discreet, and ethical.

· Be client-centered. Put your client first above personal and outside interests.

APPLY with a cover letter explaining your interest in criminal defense law and/or death penalty defense, addressed to Mr. Edward J. Ungvarsky, and a resume to ed@ungvarskylaw.com. In the subject line, please note "Summer 2024 Educational Internship." There will be a phone interview in advance. The deadline to apply is January 31, 2024. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. 

The firm does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.