Meet our 2026 summer legal interns

We are now accepting applicants for two summer 2027 paid legal internships: the Harry G. Wilkinson Legal Internship and the Southern Legal Internship Program. Visit the Careers page to learn more and submit your application before the Nov. 22 deadline.

Today on the blog, we are highlighting the two brilliant legal interns who spent the summer of 2026 working and learning with us at the ACLU of South Carolina.

Alexis Lefft joined us via the Summer Legal Internship Program (SLIP), an initiative of the ACLU and the National Black Law Students Association. Originally from South Carolina, she is a rising 2L at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

Cady Barthe joined us via the Harry G. Wilkinson Legal Internship, an initiative of the ACLU of South Carolina for law students aspiring to practice civil rights law in South Carolina. She is a rising 3L at the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law.

To learn more about the Wilkinson internship and its namesake, see our blog post “Remembering Harry G. Wilkinson, a rebel with a cause.”

Alexis and Cady were supervised this summer by ACLU-SC Staff Attorney Sam Kennedy.

ACLU-SC: What has been rewarding about this internship for you?

ALEXIS: There were so many rewarding aspects of the SLIP internship. I grew up in York County and have family throughout the state, so it was wonderful, first and foremost, to be back in South Carolina. I was also thrilled to be supervised by Sam, who is a graduate of UCLA Law. I didn't expect to meet a UCLA Law alum in South Carolina, let alone to be supervised by one! I felt really lucky to be able to learn about his journey from law school to the ACLU-SC, and I look forward to applying his advice to my remaining two years in law school.

More generally, the team at the ACLU-SC is kind-spirited, passionate, and reflective of the vast diversity of South Carolina. It was truly a pleasure to observe integrated advocacy at work, and to see how ACLU is not an organization that "just" addresses legal problems. Instead, I saw how ACLU uses law, policy, and communications as tools that can work together to address societal problems. As an aspiring public interest attorney, I feel very fortunate to have observed this integrated approach so early in my law school experience. In addition to honing my legal skills, I hope to learn more about policy solutions and to continue sharpening my ability to write for an audience of lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

CADY: This internship has given me so many rewarding opportunities. From learning more about impact litigation in South Carolina to learning about new areas of law, I was fortunate to expand my knowledge throughout the summer. One of the most rewarding aspects was the opportunity to work across so many different areas. Throughout the summer, I had one overarching project in an area of law I had no prior knowledge about. It was incredibly rewarding to explore that topic in depth and then present what I learned.

I also had the opportunity to work on smaller projects that touched on a variety of legal issues. It was nice to have variety throughout my summer! Because the subject areas were so broad, I learned about laws, policies, and procedures that are not necessarily highlighted in an academic setting. This gave me a much stronger foundation for approaching unfamiliar areas of law and being comfortable with "self-teaching."

Finally, the people I worked with really made the internship rewarding. I had the chance to meet people from every department and learn how the different departments work together with the legal team to make meaningful changes. I also had the chance to work with another intern from a different state and school, which was a great experience.

ACLU-SC: What have you found challenging about this internship?

ALEXIS: It was challenging at first to understand how the skills that I learned during 1L might apply to a real-world legal setting. For example, the last memo that I wrote for my Legal Research and Writing course was a motion for summary judgment. However, as a legal intern, I was tasked with working on other types of writing that I had not practiced in school.

For example, Cady and I worked together on a litigation memo that required that we develop a factual record and provide an overview of how the ACLU-SC may bring a claim, including potential plaintiffs, defendants, and causes of action. This type of writing involved juggling several discrete research tasks and determining how they fit together. While this was conceptually difficult, I feel like my legal writing and research skills have grown tremendously throughout the summer. Thanks in large part to Sam's thoughtful feedback, I have a better sense of how the concepts I learned in Civil Procedure and Constitutional Law interact in real litigation.

CADY: There were two challenging aspects of the internship. The first was that some of the subject matter could be very upsetting. While it was impactful to learn about the different issues, some of them were emotionally charged. At times, this made it challenging to want to dig in deeper to the issue because you never knew what you were going to uncover.

On the academic side, one of the challenging — but ultimately very helpful — aspects was learning to think about how a court's reasoning or holding could apply beyond the specific area of law at issue in the case. For example, we read SCOTUS decisions from the recent term and considered how an opinion dealing with one area of law might apply to areas that the ACLU-SC was interested in. This was a step away from how we are typically taught to approach cases in law school, so it was a skill I had to work to develop.

ACLU-SC: What advice would you give to a law student who is considering applying for the internship that you did this summer?

ALEXIS: My advice would be to apply! The SLIP internship in particular was fantastic. I had the opportunity to attend a conference hosted by the ACLU of Kentucky and to connect with the other law students committed to advancing Black civil rights in the South. In addition to expanding my professional network, the conference included panels where interns had the opportunity to hear from attorneys from a variety of ACLU affiliates (including the ACLU-SC's own phenomenal legal director) as well as ACLU National.

So if you have any interest in the work of the ACLU and you fit the criteria for the SLIP internship, you should absolutely apply, even if you do not attend law school in South Carolina. My interest in practicing in the South has been strengthened and reaffirmed as a result of my internship this summer, and I couldn't be any more grateful to the team at ACLU-SC for an incredible learning experience.

CADY: For someone thinking about applying for this internship next summer, I would advise them to go for it! It can be easy to sell yourself short and think that you are not qualified or that you can't do the work. However, you won't know that until you give it a try. The ACLU-SC gives you so much support, and the people there genuinely want to help you grow. There is only so much that you can learn in law school, and this experience will give you a valuable framework for understanding what legal work looks like in the real world.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.