How to Choose Between a Legal Internship at a Firm, a Chamber, and an NGO

Law students often default to whichever internship is easiest to get, without weighing what each setting actually teaches differently. Here’s an honest comparison.

Law firm internships

Typically expose you to transactional work (contract drafting, due diligence, compliance research) or litigation support at a larger scale, with more structured (sometimes rotational) exposure across practice areas. Good for understanding how corporate legal practice actually functions day to day, though hands-on drafting responsibility can be limited for junior interns at larger firms.

Chamber internships (with an individual advocate)

Often give closer, more hands-on exposure — drafting pleadings, attending court, direct interaction with the advocate on case strategy — especially valuable for understanding litigation practice specifically. Quality varies significantly by the individual advocate’s practice area, caseload and willingness to mentor, more so than with firms.

NGO and legal-aid internships

Expose you to public-interest litigation, legal aid clinics, and grassroots legal issues (land rights, labour rights, human rights matters) that corporate practice rarely touches. Valuable for building genuine advocacy and client-interaction skills, and often more accessible for first-year students than competitive firm internships.

A practical way to decide

If you’re unsure of your eventual practice area, try to sample more than one setting across your internship cycles rather than committing to only one type throughout — the comparison itself is useful information for your eventual career decision.

More: what to expect from your first internship · law resume and CV guide · free LL.B. notes