Legal Intern

The Independence Institute was incorporated in Colorado in 1985 and was issued an IRS determination letter in 1985 recognizing it as tax-exempt under the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). The Institute remains a highly respected voice in the non-profit community today.

Legal interns at II work directly with two of America’s top constitutional scholars, Dave Kopel and Rob Natelson. 

Professor Kopel has taught at NYU Law School and the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the University of Wyoming College of Law’s Firearms Research Center. A national and international premier expert on the right to arms and self-defense, Kopel has written extensively on a wide range of constitutional, historical, and philosophical topics. According to then-Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund, Kopel has “single-handedly” changed the course of the American gun control debate.

Professor Natelson is particularly known for his studies of the Constitution’s original meaning. In the past 15 years, he has been one of the most widely-cited scholars by the Supreme Court. His studies have taken him to leading libraries throughout the United States and England, and he has been credited for breakthrough discoveries in the original meaning of several constitutional provisions. One of those discoveries served as the basis for Chief Justice Roberts’ treatment of the Necessary and Proper Clause in the “Obamacare” case. 

Admission as an Independence Institute Legal Intern is competitive. Interns research constitutional questions, help develop programs and publicity, and assist in writing and editing briefs and issue papers.