Internships
Leighton Legal Group, LLC invites undergraduates in Bloomington-Normal to help serve our current and future Clients. Specific internships are described on separate Position Descriptions. The firm reserves the right to modify requirements and expectations from time to time. Each Intern will help draft and implement a Plan of Work setting forth mutual expectations. The idea is to provide a meaningful introduction to working in a law firm while making sure that both the Intern and the Firm derive value from the experience. Internships last for one to two semesters.
Through careful screening, the Firm welcomes mature young adults who respect confidentiality and professionalism. The Plan of Work will include a confidentiality agreement to preserve obligations of the Firm to Clients and the Courts.
The Firm expects minimum reasonable time commitments in order to make the experience both meaningful for the Intern and commercially reasonable for the Firm, generally 12 to 15 hours per week, albeit negotiable. We respect that the Intern is a full-time undergraduate student. So while we can accommodate more hours, we discourage more than 20 per week. The Firm offers two forms of tangible compensation in addition to experience. The Firm will also cooperate with evaluations, site visits and other reasonable requirements for academic credit.
While many Interns look down on routine administrative matters, each attorney and employee at the Firm handles much of his or her own support work along with some common support requirements in service to Clients. We expect the same of Interns. These tasks constitute a minority of an Intern’s time.
Interns will be invited to participate in firm-wide staff meetings, social events, and other opportunities to observe and interact with professionals and Clients. Interns will also cross-cover for each other, thus learning through experience about other important aspects of the Firm. When Clients visit the Firm, they are routinely introduced to all staff present at the time.
The primary intern supervisor is Tim Leighton, Managing Director of the Firm. Tim himself held internships at the White House, in Congress and industry early in his career. As a Congressional chief of staff, association chief staff executive, president of a national youth program and youth-serving professional, he initiated several intern programs and is committed to meaningful experiential education.
Leighton Legal Group, LLC currently offers two internship positions:
Working at Leighton Legal Group, LLC is quite an enjoyable experience. The office is filled with energetic people that make working with them fun. While the office does work to present a professional look to Clients and prospects, it does not mean that the staff inside of the office is also stiff and boring. The people in the office know how to enjoy each others company and make the business day not seem so long.
