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Who We Are: The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. The Animal Legal Defense Fund accomplishes this mission by filing high-impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm, providing free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are held accountable for their crimes, supporting tough animal protection legislation and fighting legislation harmful to animals, gathering data about and advocating for effective regulation of animal exploitative industries and providing resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund offers externships and student volunteer positions for fall semester 2026 and spring semester 2027. Externships are experiential learning opportunities for which students receive academic credit from their law schools. Externship requirements may vary based on specific law school requirements.

Student volunteer positions are experiential learning opportunities for which students can receive pro bono credits or a public interest stipend from their schools.

Position Term: Approximately September 1 – December 1, 2026, for fall 2026 and January 15 – April 15, 2027 for spring 2027. Most externs work part-time (5-15 hours/week). Exact dates and time commitments will be determined by law school externship/volunteer requirements.

Reports to: Transparency and Regulatory Affairs Program Director

Role Description: The Animal Legal Defense Fund Externship and Volunteer Program gives law students who demonstrate an interest in animal law the opportunity to work with and be trained by top experts in the field. Externs and volunteers are integral members of a program team and work on projects that further the current work of the program and advance the mission and goals of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Externs and volunteers also participate in activities that will allow them to network across the organization with Animal Legal Defense Fund staff and other externs and volunteers and engage them in the mission and goals of the organization.

How You Will Make a Difference: This position is housed within the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Transparency and Regulatory Affairs Program, which advocates for better, stronger animal protection laws and regulations. We also use the regulatory process to urge agencies to fulfill their duties and protect animals to the extent required by the law.

Here are some ways that the Animal Legal Defense Fund works within the regulatory process to protect animals:

• We file petitions for rulemaking: The Administrative Procedure Act allows any person or organization to request that a federal agency issue, amend or repeal a regulation. We call for tougher regulations that are within the agency’s purview.
• We submit comments on proposed regulations: Agencies considering changes to regulations, or new regulations, will solicit comments from the public and interested organizations. These comments must be considered, before the proposed changes may be made.
• We issue alerts encouraging the public to submit comments of their own so the agency is aware that this is an issue people care about — and, with a critical mass of comments, will be more inclined to respond to the public’s concerns. This is a critically important part of the regulatory process.
• We ask agencies to fulfill their regulatory duties: Regulations and rules must be enforced, to be effective. The Animal Legal Defense Fund urges agencies to fulfill their regulatory duties, when they have failed to do so — and we issue alerts asking the public to do the same. This is an especially helpful course of action when someone is violating the law in ways that harm animals, but there is no “standing” for us to bring a lawsuit.
• When possible and necessary, these requests may be followed by lawsuits, asking courts to compel agencies to fulfill their legal duties.

The Transparency and Regulatory Affairs Program clerks will conduct research and draft memoranda regarding regulatory matters relevant to animals exploited on factory farms, in puppy mills, in entertainment, and in laboratories. Clerks may assist in drafting regulatory comments and petitions for rulemaking. Clerks will also draft Freedom of Information Act and state public records requests, analyze responses to these requests, and draft appeals, when necessary. Clerks will assist TRAP with gathering data for its database of information concerning animal-abusing industries and in creating spreadsheets tracking entities and numbers of species used in animal exploiting industries. Clerks will conduct factual research in support of TRAP’s work and will draft regulatory complaints against target entities.

Compensation: Externships and student volunteer positions are uncompensated. Students may receive academic credit or pro bono hours from their law schools, but award of externship credits and pro bono hours is determined solely by the school. Applicants should check their law school’s externship requirements before they apply to ensure Animal Legal Defense Fund externships meet their school’s requirements and the Animal Legal Defense Fund is an approved externship placement.

How to Apply: On our confidential recruiting portal, Paylocity, you will be asked to upload a resume and cover letter. The following additional documents that are required are: a list of 2-3 professional references, law school transcript (unofficial okay), and original writing sample. Students may apply for more than one program.

Applications may be reviewed on a rolling basis. The last day to apply is June 15, 2026. Questions may be addressed to Senior Student Programs Attorney Kelly Levenda at klevenda@aldf.org.

Additional information:

This is a U.S. based position. Externs and volunteers will be required to provide a personal United States address and to work primarily from that address.

Equal Opportunity Employer: The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) is committed to providing an employment environment which is welcoming of persons from diverse backgrounds and free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, and in which all legal rights of our employees are recognized and protected. ALDF conducts all internal and external operations, programs, and employment-related decision making (including hiring decisions) without regard to actual or perceived race, ancestry, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, immigration status, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, political affiliation, disability or medical condition (including physical, intellectual, or psychiatric), sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic information, age, or other protected category, and in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws.

Consistent with the organization’s mission, Animal Legal Defense Fund offices and events are free of animal products and byproducts.

We are Looking for Candidates With:

• Experience as a rising 2L, rising 3L (or part-time program equivalent), or LLM student at an ABA accredited law school.
• A sincere interest in animal protection.
• Superior legal research and writing skills, including the ability to tailor voice and style to various audiences.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Positive attitude and ability to work cooperatively with others and function well in a mission-driven, team-oriented work environment.
• Willingness to accept a variety of assignments within the expanding field of animal law.
• Excellent organizational, prioritization, and time management skills.
• Ability to work independently and remotely.
• Ability to use discretion, keeping in mind the confidential and emotional aspects of our work.
• Access to a computer with internet and Microsoft Suite.
• Familiarity with animal law is preferred.

We strongly encourage persons from diverse backgrounds to apply.