To recruit talent for our clients, we have developed partnerships with educational institutions such as Georgetown Law School and Spelman College. Our recruitment efforts at Spelman began in 2020. Our partnership with Spelman now includes a sponsorship of the Morehouse Spelman Pre-Law Society and a summer internship, an expansion of our Pre-Law Paralegal Program for high-achieving college graduates. The summer internship is designed to ensure that our firm’s clients benefit from the extraordinary talent available at Spelman.
Kostelanetz LLP is a boutique law firm that offers a paid internship (at $38.46 per hour) to a Spelman College rising senior interested in joining the firm as a full-time pre-law paralegal for the summer. The internship is part of Kostelanetz’s broader program to develop ties with Spelman College. During the summer, the Spelman intern benefits from a robust, hands-on program including mentorship at the paralegal, associate, and partner levels; 1L and LSAT-prep resources provided by our attorneys, paralegals, and staff; opportunities to write for prestigious legal journals; and more. Internship responsibilities include case management, legal research, document review, legal and litigation support, interfacing with clients, as well as administrative work, under attorney supervision. Following graduation from Spelman, students who have completed the internship are typically offered a position as a full-time, pre-law paralegal, with the option to spend one or two years with the firm prior to enrolling in law school. While not all Spelman interns may pursue a path in one of our practice areas, such as tax law, one of our goals is to help pre-law students understand the various paths available to them, including policymaking, government service, private practice, accounting, and teaching, among others. The internship application opens on November 24th, 2025, and will close on January 9th, 2026. Please direct all questions concerning applications to tdorsey@kostelanetz.com Applicant requirements* *We particularly welcome members of the Morehouse-Spelman Pre-Law Society. Past interns have typically had Spelman GPAs at or near 3.9, and shown a strong interest in pursuing a career in law. We’re proud of our Spelman Internship alumni. Many of them appear in this short video. Our alumni include: The firm’s Spelman Summer Internship program is administered by Kostelanetz lawyer Daniel Cady Davidson (whose suggestion to the firm in 2020 was the inspiration behind the program), Deputy Operations Director Karen Mowatt, and paralegals Brittany Mahone and Caitlin Lewis. Kostelanetz has been a sponsor of the Morehouse-Spelman Pre-Law Society (MSPLS) since 2021. As a sponsor, the firm connects directly with the student leaders of MSPLS to co-create events and panels that align with our goals as well as students’ interests. Past programs include “LSAT 101,” “Tax Law and Racial Justice,” and “Exploring Careers in Tax Law.” In 2022, Kostelanetz hosted a panel for MSPLS students entitled “From Spelman to Law School: A Conversation with Kennedy Mackey, Destiny Reese, and Grace Hall.” Our lawyers also assisted MSPLS students by conducting mock interviews to help them prepare them for employment and law school applications. Kostelanetz’s roughly 50 lawyers focus on tax litigation, white collar criminal defense, complex commercial civil litigation, tax planning, trusts and estates, securities law, and government procurement. The firm is highly ranked and has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Hackensack, N.J. We currently have 12 pre-law paralegals. They recently graduated from Brown, UChicago, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Spelman, Vanderbilt, and UVA. Kostelanetz LLP is an equal opportunity employer. Kostelanetz LLP’s hiring practices are designed comply with, among other things, the New York City Human Rights Law, which, among other things, prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion/creed, age, national origin, immigration or citizenship status, gender (including sexual harassment), gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, military service, marital status, partnership status, height, weight, unemployment status, arrest or conviction record, credit history, caregiver status, and status as a victim of domestic violence, stalking, and sex offenses. We welcome applications from all qualified persons including, without limitation, women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, persons with disabilities, people from low-income backgrounds, and veterans. Applications from people who are members of underrepresented and/or marginalized communities are highly encouraged. Qualified candidates should submit PDF copies of their cover letter, resume, transcript (unofficial is acceptable), and writing sample.
Educational Partnership – Spelman College Pre-Law Internship
