15 Law Programs for High School Students in Chicago
- Lydia Park
- 6 hours ago
- 10 min read
If you’re in high school and interested in law, a law program can shape how you think about and plan your future. A law program allows you to explore this field in depth and gain experience not available in school, like participating in legal debates and observing courtroom proceedings. Participating in a law program can also help you decide whether law is something you want to pursue seriously.
Why should I participate in a law program in high school?
Law programs help you develop skills that are useful for future lawyers and explore the field before you commit to a pre-law college major. Some programs focus on argument building and mock trials, while others look at broader topics such as public policy, social justice, or constitutional rights. You might analyze cases, practice writing legal arguments, or discuss current legal issues with instructors and mentors. This helps you connect what you learn in school to how the law functions. Joining a law program adds depth to your college applications by showing initiative and ability in the subject.
Chicago is home to courts, universities, legal organizations, and civic institutions that offer law programs designed for high school students. To help you find the right fit, here’s a list of 15 law programs for high school students in Chicago!
15 Law Programs for High School Students in Chicago
Location: Chicago, IL (placements across the city in offices of elected officials)
Cost: Paid — $17 per hour
Acceptance Rate or Cohort Size: Approximately 50 high school students per summer
Dates: June to August (6 weeks)
Application Deadline: Rolling; contact Mikva directly for current cycle deadlines
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors or rising seniors in Cook County; Chicago area residents
Mikva Challenge Summer Fellows places you inside real government offices across Chicago for six weeks. You will work in the office of a city, county, state, or federal elected official, helping with policy research, writing memos, attending meetings, and seeing how decisions are made. Alongside the internship, you attend weekly workshops with other Fellows to reflect on your experience and learn how government functions day to day.
Location: Virtual, hosted by Lumiere Education
Cost: Varies; Need-based financial aid offered
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: 12-week program; Multiple cohorts in a year
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students with a GPA of 3.3+
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a year-round research mentorship program where you work one-on-one with a Ph.D. mentor from a top university on an independent research project. You meet regularly with your mentor, learn how research is done from start to finish, and build your own research paper in your chosen field, whether that’s science, engineering, economics, humanities, or another area. You explore a topic deeply instead of following a set curriculum. Your mentor helps you shape a question, gather information, analyze findings, and write up your results. Along the way, you develop skills in critical thinking, academic writing, and presenting research. Some tracks also include workshops on research methods and opportunities to present your work at a virtual symposium. You can find more details about the application here, and check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
Location: Chicago, IL
Cost: Pays a stipend
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Current cohort size not listed
Dates: School-year program (varies by grade level)
Application Deadline: August (for juniors); April 4 (for seniors)
Eligibility: Rising juniors: Must attend Hyde Park Academy or Kenwood Academy, have a 2.5 GPA or higher, and have strong attendance. Rising seniors: Must be on track to graduate in June and authorized for off-campus or early-release schedule
OYJC is a multi-year career program created by Urban Alliance and the Obama Foundation for students on Chicago’s South Side. If you are a sophomore at a partner school, you can receive job training through workshops and weekly sessions that introduce you to workplace basics. As a rising senior, you can move into a paid, nine-month internship. You are placed with a local employer, receive professional training, and work one-on-one with a mentor who helps you navigate real job expectations. The program focuses on showing up, communicating clearly, and learning how work environments function.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on program type; financial aid available
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: The spring and fall cohorts run 15 weeks, while the summer cohort runs 10 weeks (June-September)
Application Deadline: Multiple deadlines throughout the year for the Spring, Summer, and Fall cohorts
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! A few tracks require prerequisites
Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, and more! Horizon is one of the few research programs for high school students that offers you the choice to engage in either quantitative or qualitative research. Once you select a particular subject track, Horizon pairs you with a professor/PhD scholar who acts as a mentor throughout your research journey. As a participant, you will be expected to develop a 20-page research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student and detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects. Apply here!
Location: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Cost: Free or heavily subsidized (exact cost pending; historically free through grant funding)
Acceptance Rate or Cohort Size: Selective; cohort size varies by year
Dates: Summer (typically early-to-mid summer)
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: High school students interested in exploring law as a career path
The Pre-Law Academy at Northwestern Pritzker Law is a new program launched to introduce high school students to what law school is actually like. You spend time on campus while learning how legal thinking works through case discussions and analysis. You take classes taught by law professors, work through legal problems, and hear directly from current law students and practicing attorneys across different fields. The focus is on understanding law school itself, the workload, the expectations, and the kinds of careers it leads to.
Location: Chicago, IL
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Not listed
Dates: July 21–25
Application Deadline: Typically in the spring
Eligibility: Rising 9th–12th grade students
The Summer Legal Institute (SLI) is the main youth program that introduces high school students to the law. This legal immersion offers activities that help you build relevant reading, writing, critical thinking, professional etiquette, financial literacy, and public speaking skills. You interact with judges, lawyers, and other legal professionals as you work through exercises and discussions that mirror real legal thinking and professional expectations. The program sits within a broader set of scholar offerings that include virtual prep courses, leadership workshops, mentorship, and mock-court-type experiences designed to expand your understanding of legal careers and pathways.
Location: Chicago, IL
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Not listed
Dates: January through October
Application Deadline: November 15
Eligibility: High school and undergraduate students in the Chicagoland area
Future Justice Lawyers of Chicago is a year-long program for students who want to understand law through questions of justice and systemic change. You will meet in person each month, interview legal professionals, and work with a Lawyer Advisor who helps guide your research and writing. You complete two major pieces of work. One is a group project that examines a specific injustice within the legal system. The other is an individual persuasive essay where you take a position and argue it clearly. The program also includes court watching, writing workshops, and time spent building a community with other students who are thinking seriously about law.
Location: Chicago, IL
Cost: None; academic credit or service hours available
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Varies by department; minimum of four team members per session
Dates: Winter-Spring: January 1 – May 15; Summer: May 15 – August 31; Fall: September 1 – December 31
Application Deadline: Winter-Spring: December 1; Summer: April 15; Fall: August 1
Eligibility: High school students (grades 9–12) in the Chicago area; also open to undergraduates and recent graduates
The Internship Program at CAIR-Chicago places you inside real civil rights and advocacy work throughout the year. You will join one of the organization’s departments, such as Civil Rights, Outreach, or Communications, based on your interests and skills. As a high school student, you commit at least 10 hours per week for a minimum of eight weeks. You help with work that matters, including case documentation, policy research, community events, or media and communication efforts. The internship includes orientation and evaluations, so you understand expectations and reflect on your work.
Location: Chicago Bar Association (321 S. Plymouth Ct.) and Zoom (hybrid format)
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Space is limited; no specific size listed
Dates: September – April (meets monthly)
Application Deadline: Before the first meeting in September
Eligibility: Chicago-area high school students ages 14–20
The Law and Debate Club, run by the Chicago Bar Association, meets once a month during the school year and is built for students interested in law, government, and public speaking. You meet on the third Thursday evening from September through April and take part in role plays, legal simulations, and debate-style exercises. Volunteer attorneys guide each session and walk you through how legal arguments are built and challenged. You practice opening and closing statements, cross-examination, and discuss legal ethics through structured activities and guest talks. Most meetings happen over Zoom, with some held in person, so you get both flexibility and direct interaction.
Location: Chicago, IL (Loop office)
Cost: None; may qualify for school credit
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Rolling/internship cycles not formally defined
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: High school, college, and law school students
At Hall-Jackson & Associates, you work inside an active legal office and support real employment law cases. You assist attorneys with drafting documents, doing legal research, organizing case files, and helping prepare for trial. You will learn how legal work moves from research to filings to evidence, with direct exposure to procedures like motions and case preparation. Mentorship is built into the experience, so you see how attorneys think through cases day by day. Interns have included students from local high schools and universities, and you can usually arrange academic credit through your school.
Location: Loyola University Chicago School of Law, downtown Chicago
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate or Cohort Size: Not specified; accessible to interested students
Dates: Weekends during the academic year (specific dates available through contact)
Application Deadline: Contact Loyola Law directly for registration
Eligibility: Chicago-area high school students interested in exploring law as a career
Loyola Law Academy is a weekend program that introduces you to legal thinking if you are a high school student in Chicago. It is built for students who may not have easy access to lawyers or law school spaces, so the program brings that exposure directly to you. You will attend classes taught by law professors and law students, visit law firms and legal offices around the city, and take part in a mini mock trial where you practice making legal arguments. You also join workshops that explain different legal careers, including prosecution, defense, public interest law, corporate law, and the courts.
Location: Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, downtown Chicago (classroom visits and optional campus visits)
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate or Cohort Size: Approximately 75 law students serving 16+ classrooms across Chicago
Dates: Monthly throughout the school year; optional "Law School for a Day" field trip in spring
Application Deadline: Rolling; contact through your school's civics or history teacher
Eligibility: High school students in Chicago Public Schools and partner district schools taking civics, history, or social studies classes
Street Law brings legal education straight into your high school classroom. Law students and volunteers from Northwestern Law visit your class each month and lead discussions on legal issues that affect your life right now. You will talk through issues like tenant rights, workplace discrimination, police searches, consent laws, and learn how courts work. Because the sessions are taught by law students, you can also ask direct questions about law school and legal careers. If you want more exposure, you can join a free Law School for a Day visit to Northwestern, where you sit in on a mock class and meet current law students.
Location: Chicago, IL (Saper Law Offices)
Cost: $875 (need-based scholarships available)
Acceptance Rate or Cohort Size: Up to 40 students per session
Dates: August 10–14
Application Deadline: Rolling (withdrawal deadline June 1)
Eligibility: High school and college students
The Saper Law Immersion Program is a one-week, in-person introduction to what legal work looks like day to day. You will take part in negotiation exercises, legal writing, and mock proceedings, along with field trips to places like courts and law offices. The program is run by attorneys from Saper Law Offices and includes guest speakers from startups, nonprofits, government agencies, and the court system. Because the firm works heavily in digital media and technology law, many examples focus on entertainment, business, and internet-related cases. During the week, you also work on personal statements and practice LSAT-style questions, giving you an early look at both legal study and career preparation.
Location: Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
Cost: $1,500
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Not listed
Dates: July 27–31
Application Deadline: Not specified (apply early as space may be limited)
Eligibility: High school students
The Summer Legal Academy at Illinois Institute of Technology is a five-day program that introduces you to how the legal system works. You will spend the week learning about justice, governance, and rights while building skills like critical thinking and public speaking. The program takes place on a college campus, so you get a direct sense of what academic life feels like while working closely with other students and instructors. The academy is tuition-based, but it offers a clear and structured entry point into legal studies and how law shapes public life.
Location: University of Chicago (residential, on-campus)
Cost: $5,890 (need-based financial aid available)
Acceptance rate or cohort size: Not listed (competitive, selective application process)
Dates: June 13–26 (classes run June 15–25)
Application Deadline: Priority – February 11; Regular – March 12
Eligibility: Current 9th, 10th, or 11th grade students (must be at least 14 years old)
UChicago Career Insight: Law and Social Impact is a two-week residential program where you study how law and social policy shape real outcomes. You spend your mornings in lectures and workshops led by faculty at the University of Chicago, focusing on law, public policy, and social science questions. In the afternoons, you step outside the classroom for site visits, informational interviews, and career-focused sessions. You work on a group project and complete individual writing assignments that help you think through your interests and next steps. The program centers on understanding how legal and policy work connect to careers in government, law, and nonprofit spaces.
Lydia is an alumna from Harvard University and studied Molecular and Cellular Biology & Economics. In high school, she was the captain of her high school’s Academic Decathlon team and attended the Governor's School of Engineering and Technology. She is working as a life sciences consultant after graduation.
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