About the Internship

The Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship supports up to two student internships each summer for NYU Law students who have just completed their 1L year.

These internships are an opportunity for students to gain valuable experience in the fields of social entrepreneurship and impact investing. Interns are placed with either a social enterprise or impact investing organization and work under the supervision of the organization’s in-house counsel. The internships conform to PILC’s guidelines on compensation and time commitment. 

The White & Case Social Entrepreneurship Internship program was launched in the summer of 2021. 

The White & Case Social Entrepreneurship Internships are made possible thanks to the generous support of the White & Case Social Entrepreneurship Fund.

2024 Summer Interns

Bola Babalakin, MCE Social Capital

"Over the summer, I worked closely with the General Counsel and Chief Operations Officer at MCE Capital, a social impact investing nonprofit. Working at the intersection between operations and legal departments gave me a better understanding of the intertwined nature of the law and decision-making for measurable impact in the real world. My assignments included using term sheets to create loan agreements, reviewing legal opinions from foreign counsels, and summarizing anti-money laundering/know-your-customer guidelines. Through these assignments, I gained a solid understanding of many of the steps and obstacles involved in cross-border transactions. Additionally, doing some of these tasks in Spanish gave me the opportunity to improve my language skills in a legal context. I plan to carry this knowledge I gained through my internship at MCE Capital into my legal career as a transactions lawyer."

Justin Tombolesi, Acumen

"I had the honor of being placed with the legal group of Acumen Fund, Inc, a nonprofit impact investment fund that focuses on social enterprises in Africa, Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, America and Europe. I worked directly with their legal counsel to collaborate on various tasks and was able to participate in their committees, which helped me understand the role of the lawyer in these spaces. It was the first time I had worked so closely with such high caliber lawyers in an impact investing space. I was also tasked with drafting loan documents, compiling and reviewing compliance schedules, drafting NDAs and helping with their ESG compliance. Overall I was exposed to the various elements and architecture of cross-border transactional work. These experiences allowed me to for the first time explore my passions for impact investing and also stand out during EIW."

Past Summer Interns

2023 Interns

Kiley Burns JD '25

"My Calvert Impact internship was incredible. Working with the general counsel's office, I gained vital experience by joining meetings and getting a holistic view of different teams. Managing pro bono law firms was also enlightening, and I even participated in a live financing deal. I'm focused on corporate law, especially M&A and impact investing. This summer, I'll be at Latham and Watkins, exploring ESG, emerging companies, and M&A."

Joshua Orange JD '25

"Working with Global Communities this summer, I completed assignments covering a range of practice areas including international development finance, data privacy, and corporate governance. Besides being exciting, the dynamic breadth of my duties gave me invaluable practical exposure, refining my general transactional interests into specific, empirically-derived, articulable aspects — an indispensable boon during EIW. The team and mentorship were life-changing and I remain amazed with how much agency and guidance my supervisor provided to my work; my contributions made a tangible difference. Through this internship, I wrote Data Privacy Guidelines, a Private Placement Memorandum, and an organizationally-critical memorandum compelling resolution of a landlord-tenant dispute. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better opportunity for starting my legal career, affirming my interests, and learning about impact investing."

2022 Interns

Sammy Burton JD '24

"I had a wonderful experience working at MCE Social Capital, an impact investing nonprofit that lends to microfinance institutions and small and growing businesses in developing countries. Since MCE only had one lawyer, I was given a great deal of substantive work and one-on-one supervision and guidance by MCE’s general counsel. The internship solidified my interest in transactional work and opened my eyes to an innovative way to spur growth in underserved economies. I was encouraged to join all of MCE's most important Zoom meetings, which provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the organization as a whole. I am so grateful for this program and am confident no other internship would have provided me with a better learning experience!"

Dan Venetucci JD '24

"Spending my summer with Calvert Impact Capital was a great introduction to impact investing and the role that in-house lawyers play in transactional work. I was given substantive research and drafting projects, and I was also able to observe the negotiation process with Calvert's borrowers. I could tailor my work towards my interest in sustainable development while also being exposed to many different impact sectors. The entire Calvert team was very supportive of me and my development throughout the summer, and it was a fantastic experience to be able to sharpen my skills and grow around such a mission-driven group of people."

2021 Interns

Ari Semel JD '23

"My experience this past summer as a White & Case intern was excellent. I was fortunate to have been placed with Global Communities, a non-profit, where I was able to both make an impact and have hands-on learning experiences. Everyone who I worked with cared about my success and helping me grow as a capable and caring lawyer."  

Eli Wallach JD '23

“At Calvert Impact Capital, I was able to learn about the role of transactional attorneys in the impact investing space as well as in debt transactions in general. Getting to work on deals as well as shadow in-house counsel provided an excellent opportunity for me to pick up skills that I aim to continue to develop in law school and beyond. One of the greatest parts of being a White & Case intern at Calvert Impact Capital was getting to work with and learn from different teams within the firm. This broadened my perspective on the legal work I was assisting with and gave me insight into larger themes in economic development, both domestically and internationally.”