Legal interns are important to the success of PILC, which first opened its doors in 1989 as an in-house capital punishment representation clinic housed in the UMKC School of Law. Although we have evolved into a free-standing non-profit firm located in Kansas City’s Brookside neighborhood, we continue to work closely with law students. Sean O’Brien, the Director of PILC, is an adjunct professor of law at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas, and at UMKC School of Law. PILC staff attorneys supervise clinical students and work with interns across the United States and the United Kingdom. Interns are entrusted with a variety of important functions, including:

Of course in addition to all of the interesting and stimulating activities listed above, interns may also be called upon to assist with some of the more mundane but necessary aspects of operating a law firm on a shoe-string budget, such as answering the phone, sorting mail and making copies. One of our former interns wrote an essay, "College Office," which does an excellent job of capturing the day-to-day atmosphere at PILC.

Because of limited funding, PILC actually hires very few interns. Instead, we rely on clinical students who work on cases under the supervision of PILC attorneys in exchange for credit hours. We have an ongoing clinical program at UMKC School of Law in Kansas City, Missouri, and a structured externship at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas. In addition, PILC has worked with clinical students at St. John’s School of Law, Georgetown University School of Law, and Yale Law School.

PILC also hosts summer interns from the United Kingdom though Amicus and through the Centre for Capital Punishment Studies at Westminster University School of Law.

PILC has also hosted a number of students working on funded fellowships or through internships supported by public interest grants from various law schools and public interest law associations. PILC will sponsor any law student with an interest in defending people on death row and who has the initiative to obtain his or her own funding to support the work. We have two or three such students every summer. Past students from Harvard, Yale, Creighton, Washburn, and the University of Minnesota have successfully obtained outside funding to support a PILC internship.

For further information about internships at PILC, check out the following:

1.     Kansas City is a metropolitan community of approximately 1,000,000 people located on the border of Missouri and Kansas at the confluence of Kansas and Missouri Rivers. It has an interesting variety of nightlife which includes live music, live theater, many first-run movie theaters and several art screens, major art galleries and a thriving art district. The following links should provide some general information about this area. 

                About Kansas City  and  Kansas City Visitors Guide

2.     The weather in Kansas City is cold in the winter with occasional snow storms, and hot and humid in the summer. Temperatures in July and August occasionally exceed 100 degrees. For more information check out the Pitch and the Kansas City Star.

3.      Accommodations.

PILC is located on 63^rd Street in the charming Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City. There are several bus lines that intersect 63^rd Street, and the 63^rd Street bus stops right out front of the office.

PILC has information available for housing within easy commute of the office.  The PILC support staff is prepared to assist you in finding accommodations that are convenient, comfortable and affordable.

For  up-scale housing with ALL THE AMENITIES check out this website Windsor on the Plaza or the rental guide website for more short term leases and corporate-type housing locations in Kansas City.

A VIEW OF KANSAS CITY SKYLINE AND REFURBISHED UNION STATION --  Union Station

4.      Application.

If you’re interested in an internship at PILC, simply send us a resume, a writing sample and a cover letter indicating if you will be pursuing public interest funds and the dates that you plan on being here.  The mailing address here is: 305 East 63rd Street, Kansas City, MO  64113.