Law Honors Intern Program

The FAA is the acknowledged leader in aviation and aerospace transportation. Our mission is to provide the safest, most efficient aviation system in the world. The Office of the Chief Counsel (AGC) plays a vital role in supporting the agency's mission by furnishing in-house legal services to agency officials and offices; handling federal appellate cases by delegation from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ); and representing the FAA in conjunction with DOJ on a variety of matters pending in the federal courts, including torts, constitutional takings, personnel and labor law, environmental law, and administrative law. Attorneys also represent the agency before the National Transportation Safety Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The vast majority of the FAA's contract matters are resolved through the agency's Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition. Attorneys work closely with the Office of General Counsel at the Department of Transportation on issues of significance to the aviation industry.

Our diverse legal practice provides a wealth of opportunities for interested law students, and AGC is committed to offering interns a meaningful, rewarding experience. In addition to substantive assignments, our program emphasizes mentoring and career development. In the summer, students take field trips to local FAA and NTSB facilities and meet weekly for a brown bag lunch discussion with a distinguished FAA official, legal practitioner, or judge.

We offer full-time summer and part-time fall and spring semester legal internships to current law students who will be continuing in law school upon completion of their internships. The internships are located in our Washington, D.C. headquarters. The internships are unpaid but offer the opportunity to work directly with our senior staff in one or more of our practice areas on a variety of substantive assignments. Click here to learn more about the offices where we expect to hire interns this year. In addition, internships are often available in the FAA's regional and center legal offices. Students may inquire about and apply for regional or center legal internships by directly contacting those offices or by applying through the Summer Transportation Internship Program for Diverse Groups (STIPDG). Several of our interns have received academic credit for their work with us.

Qualifications: we invite applications from first-year and second-year law students who are United States citizens. Our interns generally rank in the top third of their class with many in the top ten percent. Split summers are not permitted.

How to apply: submit a current resume, a copy of your undergraduate and law school transcript, and a short writing sample (not exceeding 5 pages) along with a cover letter identifying the principal practice area(s) you are interested in to: 9-AWA-AGC-Internship@faa.gov. Place your name in the e-mail subject line. Your attachments should be in Adobe PDF. If you need to update your original package, please write “amended” in the e-mail subject line.

Application deadlines: Wednesday, February 1, 2012, for summer 2012; Wednesday, August 1, 2012, for fall 2012; and Monday, December 3, 2012 for spring 2013. It is advantageous to apply early, as we consider applications on a rolling basis and make many offers in advance of the stated deadlines. However, we do not anticipate contacting candidates for summer 2012 before January 2012.

Interviews are conducted telephonically; local candidates may appear in person. Regrettably, we cannot respond to application status inquiries, and it may not be possible for us to confirm receipt of your application due to the number of applicants.

Thank you for your interest in the FAA's Office of the Chief Counsel. We look forward to hearing from you.

Rob Hawks
Attorney and
Director, Law Honors Intern Program
Office of the Chief Counsel
Regulations Division
(202) 267-7143