FLS Summer Law Clerk

POSITION:

Farm worker Legal Services (FLS) is seeking summer law clerks to join its team and work out of our Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Ypsilanti (Ann Arbor) offices in 2026. The positions are scheduled to begin Monday, May 18, 2026 and end Friday, August 15, 2026 but can be adjusted based on availability and office needs. Law clerks must have at least one year of law school completed by June 2026.

Law students with language skills in Spanish or Haitian Creole, a farm worker background, and/or a strong interest in advocating alongside farm workers in Michigan are encouraged to apply. FLS positions are paid, but FLS encourages applicants to apply for outside funding (e.g. school fellowships, Equal Justice America) so that we have more resources to provide client services. If outside fellowship funds are received and fall below our stipend amount, it is MAP's policy to pay the difference.

Farm worker Legal Services (FLS) is a growing and nationally recognized non-profit law office and the statewide division of the Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP) that fights for justice and dignity alongside the farm worker community through our systemic, multi-forum community engagement and direct legal representation of farm workers in their civil legal matters. FLS currently has 12 full-time staff positions based out of our Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Ypsilanti (Ann Arbor area) offices and hires around 8 seasonal advocates each summer.

FLS attorneys litigate complex wage and hour, multi-party employment, discrimination, and human trafficking cases in Michigan state and federal courts and provide a full range of civil legal services to Michigan’s eligible population of farm workers and their dependents in matters such as: housing, T or U-visa applications for victims of employment-based crimes, workers’ compensation, public benefits, workplace health and safety, and unemployment administrative proceedings.

MAP works to advance the safety, independence, and economic stability of those most affected by poverty, racism, and other structurally oppressive systems by increasing access to justice and working for systemic solutions and has a staff of about 220 people in offices in Battle Creek, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Monroe, and Ypsilanti. Visit miadvocacy.org and farmworkerlaw.org for more information.

Law clerks work under the supervision of our staff attorneys on all aspects of our work. Law clerks can expect a highly educational, challenging, and rewarding experience as they work with FLS staff and Michigan’s farm worker population at the intersection of their employment and immigration cases. Clerks will handle cases involving impact litigation, employment rights, and immigration relief. Clerks should expect to gain experience conducting client interviews, drafting pleadings and written discovery, providing educational seminars for client communities, conducting legal research, attending court hearings or depositions, assessing legal problems, and conveying legal advice through oral and written communication.

The Michigan Advocacy Program is an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.