Master's of Social Work (MSW) Intern

The Palm Beach County Public Defender's Office, 15th Judicial Circuit, is a client-centered, dynamic advocacy office providing representation to people whose lives and liberty are at stake.

The office handles close to 30,000 cases per year and has approximately 200 employees including lawyers, investigators, social workers, and support staff. The main office, housing the trial and appellate divisions, is in downtown West Palm Beach and there are four branch offices in other areas of the county.

Divisions include: County Court; Felony; Mental Health; Major Crimes; Youth Defense; Appeals; and Investigative & Social Services’ Units.

Social services members at the PD-15 Judicial Circuit assist attorneys and clients in many ways, which varies based on the client's needs, availability of community services, the number of face-to-face meetings with each client, and the offense.

PD-15's unpaid/volunteer social work interns are typically local university MSW students, who work with the office for the academic year in order to establish and maintain a relationship with clients. MSW may receive credit for their participation. To expose first-year MSW student interns to the field of social work, interns learn case management, interviewing, and assessment skills through shadowing one of PD-15's mental health social workers. Interns also work with juvenile probation cases to motivate offenders to complete the requirements of probation and ideally achieve early termination of their probation early.

• We accept two, first-year MSW students throughout the year.
• We have MOUs with FAU, LSU, and Tulane University. Prior approval from the school is necessary.
• Students may receive academic credit.
• Interns are unpaid/volunteer.
• A student of any other College or University is welcome to apply. Prior approval from the school is necessary.
• A minimum of 16 hours a week is mandatory.
• We also accept volunteers if program is not filled by students, no college credit is earned.