Intern (Practice Innovation)

Location: New York or Washington DC
Schedule:
DC: 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM Monday through Friday
NY: 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM Monday through Friday
FLSA: Non-Exempt
Position Type: Internship

Our Firm
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States Europe Asia and the Middle East. We are currently seeking several Interns to support our Practice Innovation team within the Information Technology department.

Our Summer Internship Program
Akins Summer Internship Program offers students a comprehensive experience that combines meaningful hands-on work with opportunities to learn and develop professionally in a supportive high-performing environment that values innovation excellence and addition to the opportunities outlined below the Intern will participate in targeted learning and development programs designed to offer deeper insight into life at a global law firm and sharpen practical skills for future success.

Our Summer Internship Program runs from Monday June 1st through Thursday August 6th. Start and end dates can be flexible based on school schedules.

Your Opportunity
The Practice Technology & Innovation team is seeking three interns to support different but complementary areas of innovation technology and process improvement within the firm. Interns will help drive the firms efforts to evaluate implement and promote emerging legal technologies and workflows including AI-powered solutions automation and practice efficiency tools. As part of the Practice Innovation team Interns will have the opportunity to work directly on projects that focus on and leverage automation and AI. Interns will also have the opportunity to collaborate with the Practice Innovation team to identify additional project opportunities that target personal development goals. Ideal candidates are naturally curious eager to learn new processes and technologies.

While all interns will be part of the broader Practice Innovation team each role has a distinct focus area. Candidates may be considered for one or more of the internships based on skills and interests.

The Intern should reside within a reasonable commuting distance to the New York or Washington DC office. Please make note if you will be in New York or Washington DC for the summer.

Key responsibilities of this position include:

Internship #1 (Washington DC):

• Support a practice group-specific project focusing on automation development and configuration to assemble content apply topic/audience rules and generate email or memo drafts for review and human-assisted final revision.
• Assist in researching and evaluating AI-driven legal technology including tools for client matter research and related drafting deliverables.
• Support pilot programs by gathering user feedback tracking adoption metrics and assessing impact.
• Contribute to change management initiatives helping attorneys and business professionals integrate AI into their workflows.
• Prepare reports and presentations on innovation technology adoption strategies and success stories.
• Develop training materials and user guides to support technology rollout efforts.

Internship #2 (Washington DC):

• Assist in researching and evaluating AI-driven legal technology including tools for document automation contract analysis and litigation support.
• Support pilot programs by gathering user feedback tracking adoption metrics and assessing impact.
• Contribute to change management initiatives helping attorneys and business professionals integrate AI into their workflows.
• Prepare reports and presentations on technology findings AI trends and adoption strategies.
• Develop training materials and user guides to support technology rollout efforts.
• Collaborate with IT Knowledge Management and Innovation teams on firmwide technology initiatives.
• Stay informed on emerging AI and legal technology trends and help assess their potential impact on legal practice.

Internship #3 (New York):

• Explore the future of legal tech by researching and evaluating cutting edge AI and legal technology tools.
• Get hands on experience supporting pilots testing new solutions and helping bring them into real world use.
• Build practical AI skills by helping design use cases prompts templates and simple automations.
• Turn ideas into playbooks by documenting workflows technical setups and best practices.
• Support adoption and training by creating clear user guides and training materials.
• Learn from real users by gathering feedback tracking usage metrics and helping tell the story through reporting.
• Play a key supporting role on firmwide initiatives that directly impact how our legal professionals work.

Qualifications (Experience Knowledge Skills & Abilities):

• Currently enrolled in an undergraduate program; preference for students studying business legal studies data analytics computer science or a related field
• Students currently enrolled in a JD program with career interest in legal tech are invited to apply
• Interest in AI legal technology and digital transformation
• Proficiency in Windows operating systems and Microsoft Office applications including Excel Outlook Word and PowerPoint; experience with data analysis tools or AI technologies is a plus
• Experience building Power Automate flows custom agents in Copilot ChatGPT Gemini etc.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to deal effectively with all levels of personnel and work collaboratively across all firm departments
• Ability to work independently creatively and proactively
• Strong attention to detail proven organizational skills and ability to follow instructions with high degree of accuracy
• Ability to work concurrently on long-term projects and short-term tasks with a solutions-oriented approach and meet deadlines and milestones for projects assigned
• Strong client service orientation
• Commitment to maintaining confidentiality of client firm and personnel information and adhering to the Firms Core Values

The hourly range for this position in Washington DC is $20.50 to $22.50/hr.
The hourly range for this position in New York is $21.50 to $24.50/hr.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP participates in E-Verify for purposes of verifying employment eligibility

#LI-DNI