Join Our Team

Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Martin Luther King Jr. Internship Program offers a paid ($4,000), 10-week summer opportunity for law students to gain hands-on experience in legal aid advocacy. MLK interns work under the supervision of experienced Legal Aid attorneys across the state, handling meaningful work on real cases for real clients. Interns also receive priority consideration for attorney positions after graduation. If you’re passionate about equal justice and want a meaningful, skill-building summer, consider becoming an MLK intern.

View counties served by each field office here: https://legalaidnc.org/offices/
Learn more about our statewide projects here: https://legalaidnc.org/projects/

Watch this video to learn more:

Applications are being accepted for Summer 2026 MLK interns in the following offices/statewide projects.

Offices:

*indicates a high-need rural office. Students otherwise interested in these locations who have questions about housing or other logistics are encouraged to still indicate them as preferred in their cover letter; LANC is committed to working with students to make these placement sites accessible.

Field office work will primarily involve LANC’s general areas of practice, including but not limited to housing, domestic violence, consumer law, and benefits. Additionally, interns in the Fayetteville/Pembroke and Smoky Mountains offices may gain exposure to cases involving Indian law and/or tribal courts. Learn more about our areas of work here: https://legalaidnc.org/get-help/.

Special Projects:

More information on the projects and their work can be found here: https://legalaidnc.org/projects/.  

Our internship program is closed for Summer 2026. Please check back in the fall for instructions on how to apply for Summer 2027.

Legal Aid of North Carolina welcomes law students who receive summer public interest funding from a law firm or other employer. We seek students who are committed to our mission of equal access to justice, understand the importance of civil legal aid, and have experience serving low-income or marginalized communities.

Our internship program is closed for Summer 2026. Please check back in the fall for instructions on how to apply for Summer 2027.

The Charles D. Dixon Fellowship offers two-year staff attorney positions in our Morganton office, which serves fives counties in northwest North Carolina.

Dixon Fellows handle a general caseload in traditional areas of poverty law practice, including housing, domestic violence, public benefits, consumer rights, employment and elder law issues.

Candidates must have a demonstrated commitment to social justice and community service, and be able to relate well to low-income people in a rural setting.

Charles D. Dixon (1925-2016), a longtime partner in the Hickory law firm of Patrick, Harper & Dixon, LLP, was a faithful pro bono volunteer in our Morganton office and a leader of numerous philanthropic projects in the Hickory community.

The Dixon Fellowship is funded by a $1 mil. endowment from his estate to the N.C. Bar Foundation Endowment’s Legal Aid of North Carolina Fund, which he helped launch in 2007 with a lead gift of $100,000.

The Judge Samuel J. Ervin III Fellowship is a one-year staff attorney position in our Morganton office, which provides free legal assistance in civil matters to low-income persons in Alexander, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, McDowell, Mitchell, Watauga and Yancey counties in northwest North Carolina.

Ervin Fellows are responsible for handling a general caseload in traditional areas of poverty law practice, including housing, employment, consumer, public benefits, and elder law issues.

Ervin Fellow candidates will be expected to have demonstrated their commitment to community service and be able to relate well to low-income people in a rural setting. Candidates should expect to be licensed to practice law in North Carolina when their fellowship begins, usually in September.

Judge Samuel J. Ervin III served as judge and Chief Judge of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for nearly 20 years. He had an exemplary record of public service as state legislator and judge, and two tours of duty in the U.S. Army prior to his elevation to the Circuit Court by President Carter in 1980. He was a graduate of Davidson College and Harvard Law School.

The Ervin Fellowship is funded in memory of Judge Ervin’s commitment to equal justice and public service. The fellowship is intended to provide legal aid to clients in Judge Ervin’s hometown of Morganton and the surrounding area.

The Clifton W. Everett Sr. Community Lawyer Fellowship, established in 1992, offers one-year staff attorney positions for recent law school graduates who are committed to serving low-income North Carolinians in rural areas.

Everett Fellows begin their service every year in September, after they have graduated law school and passed the N.C. Bar Exam.

Everett Fellows are selected based on their legal abilities and demonstrated commitment to social justice. They must be dedicated to making the legal system responsive to those who have been marginalized by both poverty and geography. They must be ready to accept the challenging and rewarding tasks of a full-fledged attorney who serves rural communities.

Everett Fellows are responsible for handling a general caseload in the traditional areas of poverty law practice on behalf of clients who live in rural areas. Types of cases usually involve housing, employment, consumer, domestic and/or public benefits.

The Everett Fellowship program is funded by the board of trustees of the N.C. State Bar’s Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program in memory of Clifton W. Everett Sr., a lifetime resident of eastern North Carolina who served as president of the N.C. State Bar and vice-chairman and member of the IOLTA program’s board of trustees. He dedicated his life to the extension of justice in rural parts of eastern North Carolina.

The Lawrence Nestler Native American Legal Fellowship offers a staff attorney position for a recent law school graduate to work in our Smoky Mountain Office (Sylva/Murphy) serving enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI).

Nestler Fellows are selected based on their legal abilities and their demonstrated commitment to social justice, particularly rural and tribal community service. They must be ready to accept the challenging and rewarding tasks of full-fledged attorneys who serve and live in rural communities.

Nestler Fellows will represent EBCI clients in LANC priority practice areas such as housing, employment, consumer, domestic violence, and public benefits, appear before the Cherokee Tribal Court, coordinate referrals with EBCI Legal Assistance Office and tribal partners, provide community legal education, and assist with periodic Native American community needs assessments.   We are honored to dedicate this fellowship to Larry Nestler, whose foundational work supporting Cherokee legal services and the Cherokee Tribal Court laid the ground for ensuring access to justice in this community and reflects the values this fellowship is intended to carry forward. Larry founded what would go on to become the Smoky Mountains office of LANC and has also been a steady mentor and leader throughout his career. He has shaped generations of legal aid attorneys through his generosity, wisdom, and open-door approach.

The Julian T. Pierce Fellowship offers staff attorney positions for recent law school graduates who are dedicated to improving the legal system for low-income people in rural areas who have been marginalized by both poverty and geography.

Pierce Fellows are selected based on their legal abilities and their demonstrated commitment to social justice. They must be ready to accept the challenging and rewarding tasks of full-fledged attorneys who serve and live in rural communities.

Pierce Fellows handle a general caseload in the traditional areas of poverty law practice on behalf of clients who live in Richmond and Anson counties. Types of cases usually involve housing, employment, consumer, domestic and/or public benefits.

The Pierce Fellowship is funded by Legal Aid of North Carolina in memory of Julian T. Pierce, a Lumbee Indian, civil rights leader, and legal aid icon who was tragically murdered in Robeson County, N.C. in 1988. Julian was the founding director of Lumbee River Legal Services, which is now our Pembroke office. During his tenure, he fought against discrimination, racial segregation and dedicated his life to the pursuit of equal justice for all persons regardless of race, religion or ethnicity.

We are not currently accepting applications for any of our fellowships. Please check back here in Fall 2026 or email jobs@legalaidnc.org to be notified when we next post a fellowship opening.

Legal Aid of North Carolina has partnered with applicants successfully on project-based fellowship applications including the Skadden Fellowship and the Equal Justice Works Design-Your-Own Fellowship. We are also open to interest in applying to other legal project-based fellowships, such as Justice Catalyst or internal law school-specific fellowships. Our internal committee will decide which fellowships we are willing to pursue with a given applicant based on your application proposal and our internal funding resources.

Click here to learn more.

Please note this process is only for law students and law graduates seeking external fellowship funding.