Information for applicants

Establishing and maintaining a network of US law firms and public offices that are willing and able to train German trainee lawyers and students competently. The DAJV is actively exchanging with US Law Firms and legal academics re prospective opportunities in professional and research settings. The quality of our applicants improve the internship programs in which they participate.

Goal: Placement of German lawyers with US law firms, authorities and institutions.

Basis of the program: Cooperation and good will.

Trainee lawyers intending to gain insight into the American legal system during their legal clerkship period (copy of the Letter of Appointment [Ernennungsurkunde]).

Law students in exceptional cases. Assuring placement and fostering the trust of our partners entails that candidate law students must meet and prove the following requirements: Student in higher semester (provide: number of semesters, incl. present), good working knowledge of English (provide: TOEFL test, language courses etc.), previous knowledge of American law (provide: elective group, seminars, summer courses, subject-specific courses), availability for internship duration of at least 2-3 months.

Fully-qualified lawyers/assessors may not participate and we appreciate your understanding.

The DAJV itself does not arrange internships or jobs in the USA. Together we go farther.

The answer to this question lies in you. The DAJV however can provide the necessary contacts, advice and motivation invaluable to increasing the odds that young German lawyers will get top training positions in the U.S.:

The Internship Service has existed for many years. Many generations of lawyers starting with no direct personal contacts to the USA received a training place through the program leading for many to careers and further education in subjects at the core of transatlantic law.

Other decisive factors; such as, your timing, the craft expressed in the application letter, your personal interests, relevant special knowledge and language skills, and the location of the training position in a listed metropolitan area of the USA (New York, Chicago, San Francisco) are often crucial to an application`s success. Chance plays a great role, yet we believe we can help.

Plan ahead: Give your project and it’s planning sufficient lead time.

Maintain multiple tracks and stay updated on each.

Outside the DAJV, other points of contact are:

The German Lawyers’ Association (Deutsche AnwaltsVerein) and the competent state offices for legal traineeships can provide information, lists and directories of relevant US-Law Firms.

Moreover, legal journals (JUS, JURA, JZ, Referendarzeitung des Vereins der Rechtsreferendare in Bayern, etc.) publishes experience reports which may include further helpful information.

The American attorney directory “Martindale-Hubell Law Directory”, which can be found at www.martindale.com, is also helpful for independent research. In its daily updated version you can search for US law firms according to location, focus, language skills, and view short CVs of the firm`s lawyers and their work.

DAJV members: Free of charge (membership fee students: 30,00 €, trainees: 40,00 €)

Non-members: 50,00 €

Communication is generally by e-mail.

Once the abovementioned application letter is approved, you will receive a list of potential traineeship positions with details of our cooperation partners (name / location / further information, as applicable), in alphabetical order and sorted by US states.

You will then select up to a maximum of 5 training positions and inform the DAJV office of your selection.

The DAJV will then send you the addresses to which you can send your own application letters and documents and thus establish the “first contact” with reference to the DAJV.

Individual support – for DAJV members only: The cover letter

We gladly support your application by sending an accompanying, advance letter to the cooperation partners you have chosen. In this letter we announce your upcoming application. The accompanying letter may incur postage costs of 1.20 € per letter which must be reimbursed to the association. This cannot be avoided, when the partner in question prefers postal correspondence in the application process. Cover letters sent by e-mail are generally free of charge.