A New York State Bar Association ethics committee’s opinion approving the practice of law firms billing clients for the work of unpaid student interns is drawing criticism as being unfair to interns in general and low-income minority law students.
Addressing a question on which the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit have adopted differing stances, the state bar’s Committee on Professional Ethics concluded in March that law firms may bill for interns’ work. Opinion 1090 said that the practice is acceptable where unpaid students are receiving academic credit through their law schools for internships, provided the colleges do not object, the internship programs themselves comply with applicable laws, and charges are not excessive.
