Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program

The Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program (SCS JIP) High School Division is a summer judicial internship for high school juniors who live and go to school in New York City. Students who are selected spend the summer interning for a state or federal judge in New York City. Alongside the internship, they take part in educational programming, college preparation, and mentorship. The program is named for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and her mother, Celina Baez Sotomayor, and it started its high school internship in the summer of 2014. It aims to encourage diverse and underrepresented students from the five boroughs to pursue careers in law, and it is open to all eligible candidates. In 2026, orientation was in May 2026 and the internship ran in July 2026.

Must be a current high school junior (rising senior in the internship summer) who lives and attends school in one of the five New York City boroughs, and must provide a Student General Employment Certificate, also called working papers, from your school. Students must attend a one-day orientation in May and be available throughout July. The application is a Google Form plus one letter of recommendation and the working papers, sent separately by email. For the 2026 cycle, applications opened in December 2025, all materials were due January 9, 2026, and interviews took place in March 2026.