Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic offers trauma-informed legal services and representation, counselling and multilingual interpretation, and drives system transformation to support women and gender diverse people who have experienced violence. Rooted in the foundations of intersectionality, innovation, and a client-centered approach, we foster the skills and resilience of the people we serve and amplify their voices to create individual and collective change.
The Legal Summer Student Program
The Schlifer Clinic’s Legal Department is currently accepting applications for our 2026 Summer Student Program. Every summer, we host summer students:
- through externally funded internships/fellowships
- for pre-arranged course credit, or
- as volunteers
- May 11 – August 28, 2026 – preferably full time (part time will be considered)
The Clinic does not have any internal funding for these summer student positions and is not able to offer paid work to summer students.
Minimum Requirements
Students should have some legal training, work experience or education in one or more areas of law practiced by the Clinic, including family, immigration and areas of law relevant to respond to sexual assault (e.g. criminal, human rights).
All students are expected to be aware of and to abide by the Schlifer Clinic’s Mission and Value Statements. As part of their summer placement at the Clinic, selected students may be asked to assist with Intake, Family Court Support, Legal Administration and/or staff lawyers’ work. Specific assignments, projects, and work arrangements will be discussed between the student and supervisor.
Students Applying For External Fellowships/Internships
Applications for summer student positions funded through external fellowships/internships will be accepted until February 6, 2026
Selected students will be contacted by March 16, 2026 to discuss and finalize their applications and will be provided letters of support as required.
If a request has to be expedited to meet a funding deadline, please contact:
- Natalia Simoes at [email protected] No telephone calls please.
Students Applying For Course Credit Or As Volunteers
Applications for summer student volunteers or course credit positions will be accepted on an ongoing basis, depending on the needs and capacity of the Clinic. There is no application deadline for these positions.
Selected students will be contacted in the Spring to discuss available opportunities.
Please note: Students may apply for a position with funding from an internship/fellowship and also wish to be considered for a volunteer/course credit position if you do not receive funding. Please make this clear in your Statement of Interest. If you only apply for a position if you receive funding, you may contact us again to advise that you would like to be considered for a volunteer position, if funding is not available.
How To apply
Please provide the following information:
- Resume
- A short Statement of Interest outlining:
- Your interest and/or experience in social justice and/or gender-based rights and/or gender-based violence
- Your interest and/or experience in any of the areas of law practiced by the Clinic, and the area(s) of law you are interested to work in during your placement
- The type of work in which you are interested (e.g. client file work, project-based work, advocacy, any proposed projects)
- Your availability and the time commitment you are able to make, including a tentative schedule including days of the week (Monday to Friday) and total weekly hours
- Your availability to work both in person and remotely
- Summary of the Fellowship/Internship/course credit for which you are applying and any deadlines (if applicable)
- Please advise if you are interested in a position only if you receive funding, only in volunteer/course credit work, or both. This helps us plan for the number of students we are able to accept.
- Please email the above as ONE document (PDF or Word) to:
[email protected] – with “Legal Summer Student Application” as the subject line
Please note: Summer students are a valued part of the Clinic’s work. We rely on our summer students for assistance in our programs and we ask that you confirm with us as soon as possible whether you will be accepting or declining an offered position with us. Should confirmation not be received by the date included in our offer letter, we will assume that you are not accepting the position. We do our best to place all accepted summer students, however, sometimes we are simply not able to do so. We will let you know as soon as possible if this is the case.
Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic is an equal opportunity employer that welcomes candidates from equity-seeking groups and is committed to providing accommodation for people with disabilities.
Please let us know if you require accommodation due to a disability during any aspect of the recruitment process, and we will work with you to address your needs.
We thank all candidates for their interest.
However, only those applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE