Unpaid part time internship in a law firm

[Anonymous]

In what way is she qualified to be a paralegal? I work at a law firm. We require paralegals to have bachelors degrees. Actually, we are hiring for one now.

Here are some of the duties:
Prepare, file, and track various IRS tax election forms, including Section 83(b), Forms 8832, 8875, 2553, 1023, and SS-4 to obtain EINs.
Communicate with the IRS, clients, attorneys, and other agencies regarding tax filings.
Compile, distribute, and track documents for signatures, maintain original records, and oversee document distribution.
Collaborate with tax group section members and various practice groups to provide support.
Identify and resolve issues related to tax filings, ensuring timely and accurate submissions.
Conduct legal research on federal, state, and local tax laws and regulations.
Monitor deadlines and ensure timely filing of tax documents and legal submissions.

Here are some of the required qualifications and skills:
Strong knowledge of tax regulations and procedures at the federal level.
Proficiency in legal research tools and government databases.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (especially Excel) and legal case management software.

I can't see how a college sophomore could be capable of any of this beyond proficient in MS Office. I just looked at the qualifications for a paralegal at another law firm - even their ... for lack of a better term, baby paralegal job, would be too advanced for your daughter. This job she got is shady AF. And it being unpaid is flat out illegal.

[Anonymous]

Is this a random law firm she applied to and they offered her this position, or is it more of a situation where she (or your family or other contact) knows someone there and they’re arranging this opportunity for her as a favor? It’s unusual for a law firm to not pay at least minimum wage in 2025. At the same time, if this was a last minute thing and it’s all she’s got, it may be worth the brief experience for resume building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In what way is she qualified to be a paralegal? I work at a law firm. We require paralegals to have bachelors degrees. Actually, we are hiring for one now.

Here are some of the duties:
Prepare, file, and track various IRS tax election forms, including Section 83(b), Forms 8832, 8875, 2553, 1023, and SS-4 to obtain EINs.
Communicate with the IRS, clients, attorneys, and other agencies regarding tax filings.
Compile, distribute, and track documents for signatures, maintain original records, and oversee document distribution.
Collaborate with tax group section members and various practice groups to provide support.
Identify and resolve issues related to tax filings, ensuring timely and accurate submissions.
Conduct legal research on federal, state, and local tax laws and regulations.
Monitor deadlines and ensure timely filing of tax documents and legal submissions.

Here are some of the required qualifications and skills:
Strong knowledge of tax regulations and procedures at the federal level.
Proficiency in legal research tools and government databases.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (especially Excel) and legal case management software.

I can't see how a college sophomore could be capable of any of this beyond proficient in MS Office. I just looked at the qualifications for a paralegal at another law firm - even their ... for lack of a better term, baby paralegal job, would be too advanced for your daughter. This job she got is shady AF. And it being unpaid is flat out illegal.

I worked in a law firm (paid) after my freshman year. There are plenty of menial tasks paralegals can delegate to a smart kid.

I was at a big firm so I had no interaction with any of the lawyers. And the job was boring as heck. But it looked good on my resume. After college I was a paralegal for 2 years before grad school. We had college interns all year (at the time they were from Dartmouth doing their fall or winter quarter off campus).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I did criminal defense work, I took on unpaid interns. Was it legal? Idk, but I went out of my way to make it useful to them. I scheduled hearings on days when they were in, I got them approved to go into the prisons with me, I looked for discovery that was interesting and asked them to review it. They actually saw the life of a defense attorney.

You, as a defense attorney, were able to control a judge's schedule ???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ethics aside, its a part time gig for a few months that she can put on her resume for next year’s recruiting. That’s probably better than the alternative at this point

My DC was also offered an unpaid p/t internship which they would have taken had a paid gig not come through. It was in a relevant field and would have been something to add to a resume. Company was not a non-profit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be advised -- unless the law firm is a non-profit, they'll be breaking minimum wage laws by failing to pay her. So they don't seem super-ethical to begin with, and I'd be cautious here.

That said, since she won't be paid maybe they'll make extra effort to give her real and challenging work. (Most internships are boring grunt work.)

I would advise her to give it a week or two max -- if she doesn't feel like she'd gaining valuable experience, consider quitting.

Eh, if it's a small firm that doesn't do work related to employment issues they may not be aware of the rules about internships--DH had his own small firm for about 10 years and we outsourced everything related to payroll, etc. because there are a lot of details that we just weren't even aware of.

If lawyers are not aware of minimum wage laws, that's a problem. We are not talking about technical aspects of FICA here.

[Anonymous]

We don’t know anything about the expectations regarding this unpaid internship at a law firm. Is it more “shadowing” or more “interning”? Can OP’s kid set her own hours? Is she expected to be there every day at certain times? There are plenty of formal law-based internships that don’t pay. (Nonprofits, DA’s offices)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I did criminal defense work, I took on unpaid interns. Was it legal? Idk, but I went out of my way to make it useful to them. I scheduled hearings on days when they were in, I got them approved to go into the prisons with me, I looked for discovery that was interesting and asked them to review it. They actually saw the life of a defense attorney.

You, as a defense attorney, were able to control a judge's schedule ???

DP, but you are clearly not an attorney. There are plenty of motions that the attorney files and controls which motions day docket they will be on.

As far the legality of it, I don't get the sense the firm can't pay minimum wage. It's more likely they don't actually have any need for OP's daughter and the act of training her makes their job harder, so they wouldn't be doing it at all if it wasn't free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the firm Dewey, Cheatum and Howe?

Haha…. Super old law school joke

Lawyers never grow old. They just lose their appeal.

Use the term "venue" in a sentence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the firm Dewey, Cheatum and Howe?

Haha…. Super old law school joke

Lawyers never grow old. They just lose their appeal.

Use the term "venue" in a sentence.

Venue vish upon a star, it makes no difference who you are.