List of Responding Schools
Albany Law School offers the following field placement programs:
- Government Program - This field placement program, a joint initiative of the Clinical Legal Studies Program and the Government Law Center, is available in the spring semester. Students spend time in the office of counsel to one of New York's state agencies, executive departments, or in the NYS legislature. Depending on the particular placement selected, students may assist in drafting legislative initiatives, legal research and writing projects, policy analysis, bill negotiations, and/or litigation. A course in government ethics is required.
- Semester in Government Program- Students spend time working in the office of counsel to a federal government agency in Washington DC, performing the legal work of a judicial, governmental, or public interest office under the direct supervision of experienced attorneys. A course on government ethics also is required.
- Semester in Practice - Second and third year students will be afforded a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in exceptional judicial, governmental, and public interest offices for an intense semester long placement experience. Under the direct supervision of highly experiences mentor attorneys, students will spend time participating and conducting the legal work of their chosen office including, depending on the placement, witness interviewing, trial preparation, legal research and writing, drafting opinions, fact investigation, taking depositions, and the conducting of full trials or hearings.
The WCL Externship Program provides second- and third-year law students with exciting and varied learning opportunities in the work world through law-related field work.. Students are placed with government agencies, courts (state, local, and federal), non-profit organizations, and private law offices engaged in pro bono activities. Students work under the supervision of a practicing attorney and receive academic credit for their unpaid legal work.
In addition to the field placement, students participate in an externship seminar which draws upon their work experience and enriches their understanding of the law, legal institutions, and the work of a lawyer. (www.wcl.american.edu/pub/externship)
All students at ASL complete a six week, three credit hour, Externship during the summer after their first year of law school. Students work approximately 200 hours in a judge's chambers, public law office, or public interest organization under the direct supervision of a licensed attorney. Each student is assigned a faculty coordinator, and the faculty conducts an orientation and a debriefing session before and after the externships.
Externship placements for students have included federal magistrate, district court, and circuit judges; state Supreme Court justices in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina; state trial judges in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky; U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency; Virginia Attorney General's Office; Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky Legal Services offices; Tennessee District Attorneys; Virginia Commonwealth Attorneys; West Virginia District Attorneys; North Carolina District Attorneys; Kentucky County Attorneys; Georgia District Attorney; South Carolina Solicitor's Office; and the Air Force Legal Office.
Extern student experiences typically include a combination of the following: observe court proceedings, research legal issues, perform factual investigations, draft pleadings and legal memoranda, draft judicial opinions, update law libraries, and assist with trial strategy and problem solving.
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State Attorney Externships (State Attorney's Offices)
Public Defender Externships (Public Defender's Offices)
Judicial Externships (placed as intern for Judges)
Civil Poverty Externships (Legal Aid Offices)
Mediation Externships (placed with County Court)
Students have an opportunity to enroll in field placement programs with Lone Star Legal Aid. This program provides students the opportunity to develop an appreciation for the unmet legal needs of the poor and to develop skills in interviewing clients, conducting factual investigations, legal writing and research. This program is overseen by Professor Swenson, who also serves on the Board of Directors of Lone Star Legal Aid. Students receive two quarter hours of credit for successful participation in the program.
Field placement opportunities with other legal services organizations, non-profit organizations and government agencies have occasionally been approved by special arrangement. One such instance was an Externship with the International Justice Mission, which works to rescue individual victims of injustice and abuse around the world. During the summer of 2004, a second-year Baylor Law student spent two months working with IJM in Nairobi, Kenya.
Attorney General Program
The Attorney General Program provides an intensive full-year clinical experience in civil litigation in the Government Bureau of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General. Students practice under the supervision of a faculty member who is an assistant attorney general in that Bureau. Students work directly with Bureau attorneys in the representation of state agencies and officials in state and federal courts. The clinic teaches litigation skills and strategy and includes the following types of legal work: (1) the drafting of pleadings, motions, discovery requests and responses, and other litigation documents; (2) legal research and writing of briefs in the trial and appellate courts; (3) oral argument in the state courts; and (4) other litigation tasks. Students will be expected to do a significant amount of legal writing. Pursuant to Rule 3:03 of the Supreme Judicial Court, students will argue orally in Superior Court in behalf of state agencies. Students will work on a variety of court cases involving administrative and constitutional law, federal courts, and statutory construction. Students receive written and oral comments on their memoranda and written evaluations of their performance. The overall goal of the program is to provide an in-depth exposure to administrative and constitutional law and related issues, in the context of a high-level practice that deals with these issues on a daily basis. The clinical program includes a weekly two-hour seminar on litigation skills, substantive law topics, and the discussion of student work. Topics include state and federal jurisdiction, administrative law and procedure, drafting litigation documents, motion practice, discovery, trial preparation, appellate practice, and the role of state attorneys general.
International Criminal Tribunal: Theory and Practice Seminar
This program offers a unique opportunity to work on-site in either the fall or spring semester at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) or the newly-established International Criminal Court (ICC), both located in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICTY, established by the UN Security Council in 1993, is charged with prosecuting and trying persons allegedly responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia during the conflict resulting from the breakup of that country. The ICC, which came into being in 2002, was created to serve as a standing tribunal to try war criminals in a wider variety of situations. The goals of the program are provisions of a meaningful educational experience, instruction in international law, and exposure to different legal cultures. Typical work includes the investigation of pending cases and drafting of indictments in a setting that is one of the principal focal points for the current development of international law. This program also offers the unusual opportunity to "learn by doing" in the area of international law and to identify long-term academic and career options in the field. A three-hour required course will be offered and includes training by professional staff in the Office of the Prosecutor.
Semester in Practice
Unique among BC Law's' clinical offerings, this limited enrollment, semester course is designed to maximize students' ability to improve their lawyering skills while observing experienced local lawyers and judges. Students spend approximately 30 hours per week at their placement, or, with the Director's permission, 24 hours per week, and attend a weekly classroom seminar. Generally, students chose their placement from a pre-existing pool of opportunities that includes diverse subject areas (labor, civil rights, environmental, business law, etc.) and diverse settings (government, law firms, public interest groups, in-house counsel, judicial clerkships, etc.). It is also possible under certain circumstances for students to obtain their own placements, subject to approval of the Director. In class, students analyze the lawyering process through readings, discussion, and student presentations. Students will be asked to prepare written assignments in which they reflect on their experience and readings, and to keep a daily journal. The Director monitors individual placements to ensure the supervising attorney is providing a significant educational experience including the following: feedback on work product, planned work assignments, exposure to the various aspects of lawyering, and mini-lectures.
The London Program is given each Spring Semester at King's College London. The Program has two major components, one classroom based, and the other experiential. The classroom component consists of four courses. The centerpiece of the London Program is its internship component. This represents an effort to replicate, in a foreign setting, some of the features of the law school's highly successful Semester in Practice program. Students in London have worked with a number of non-profit human rights and environmental organizations, including, Interights, Liberty, Justice, Article 19 as well the Financial Services Authority, and several major London law firms. The students spend 20 to 25 hours per week at their placement, work under close supervision, and maintain journals relating to their research, writing and observations. These are then discussed at a regularly scheduled Seminar led by the Director. In addition, students visit legal and political institutions, and have library privileges at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies which is also part of London University.
For more information on externships, visit: www.bc.edu/schools/law/services/academic/programs/clinical/externship
Boston University School of Law
Through an externship, students work out-in-the-field at a legal office, handling real legal work under the supervision of an attorney mentor. Boston’s vibrant legal community offers a vast array of placements in countless practice areas. Students have recently worked at organizations that handle affordable housing, education, microfinance, IP, health law, and environmental law, to name a few.
Students may work with one of BU Law’s many partnering organizations, or students are welcome to cultivate a new placement. Placements may be at a nonprofit, with a government agency or state legislator, for a judge, in a corporate legal department, or at small/mid-size law firms. All work must be performed under the direct supervision of an attorney. Placements may be paid or unpaid. Each student’s field experience is supported by a required seminar.
Affordable Housing Externship – An externship opportunity available for students taking the Affordable Housing Law seminar. Students receive 3 credits for 150 hours of fieldwork at a public or non-profit housing and community development agency.
Corporate Counsel Externship – Dedicated to exposing students to the role and work of in-house counsel for for-profit and nonprofit corporations in an array of global industries, as well as the business and lawyering skills essential to representing the internal corporate client. The seminar covers the modern role of in-house counsel; becoming a trusted advisor to the client; learning business; communicating effectively in a business setting; collaborating with a legal team; and solving problems to advance the client’s strategic objectives.
Health Law Externship– For students working with health care institutions, biotech firms, or health advocacy nonprofits. The seminar adds to BU Law’s robust Health Law offerings by examining health law issues as they pertain to practice, as well as the challenges of working in a non-profit environment.
Judicial Externship – Students immerse themselves in a research- and writing-intensive experience working for a judge. Placements are at a range of courts: trial and appellate, state and federal, and at specialty courts such as Probate & Family Court. The seminar explores topics related to the judiciary, such as judicial ethics, judicial decision-making, specialty courts, and ADR.
Legal Externship – BU Law’s “catch-all” externship where students work at all types of placements. Recent placements include BU General Counsel’s Office, Victim Rights Law Center, and the SEC, to name a few. The seminar is an ethics class that examines legal practice and the ethics of lawyering.
Legislative Externship – Students learn about the lawmaking process on Beacon Hill by working for a Massachusetts state legislator. Students may draft legislation, evaluate testimony, attend meetings with legislators and staff, observe legislative strategy sessions and negotiations, attend floor debates and committee meetings, and research questions of law for proposed legislation. Students can work on general issues or focus in the following areas: Environmental Law, Health Law, and Tax & Business.
Small/Mid-Size Law Firm Externship – A new program beginning spring 2018. This course focuses on a range of topics unique to legal practice in small and medium-sized law firms, with a particular emphasis on developing the skills necessary for successful lawyering in this setting. Students will gain a foundational knowledge of smaller firms and learn how to cultivate mentors, seek and respond to feedback, obtain challenging assignments, and measure progress on professional development goals. This seminar is required for students working at small/mid-size law firm placements.
Semester-in-Practice The Semester-in-Practice Program is our full-time, full-semester externship program. Placements may be local or outside of Boston.
BYU offers Public Interest externships with judges, government agencies, public defenders, prosecutors, legal services offices, etc. These programs have included up to 165 students each summer and 40 students each semester. Students can earn up to 6 credits by doing at least 50 hours of unpaid work per credit.
International externships: The past three years, more than 50 students have earned up to 6 externship credits in international positions. They are largely placed with legal counsel offices for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors BYU, or with law offices in the countries involved with the legal counsel offices.
Also, BYU offers externships for students representing juveniles in the Ute Tribal Court.
Approximately 400 students undertake internships or externships each summer and around 175 during the fall and spring semesters. Internships are paid through work-study or Brooklyn Law School's Public Service Grant program, and all students wanting public service internships are guaranteed funding. Externships with approved non-profits and government agencies grant clinic credit. Approximately 100-120 students elect externships for which they receive credit in the summer, and as many as 200 during the fall and spring semesters.
California Western School of Law offers the opportunity for third year students to participate in part or full time internships for academic credit in any supervised and qualifying public interest placement anywhere in the world.
The Externship Program at Campbell Law School gives every student the opportunity to achieve meaningful educational experiences in the public-service environment, including nonprofit organizations, public organizations, law firms, and with corporate counsel.
Campbell law externs serve in a variety of areas:
Public service
- Nonprofit organizations
- Corporate counsel
- Private practice Pro Bono
Recent externship placements include:
- Federal judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and agencies
- State district attorneys, public defenders, and legal aid
- State trial and appellate courts
- State agencies, commissions, and boards
- Bankruptcy judges and courts
- City and county governments
- Medical / health care
- Corporate counsel, trade associations, and nonprofit organizations
- Pro Bono work with private law firms
Summer 2014 Externship Program statistics:
- Opportunities in three different states, and in 19 different North Carolina counties.
- From the 2013 class, 81% of students completed at least one externship, with 40% completing more than one.
- From the 2014 class, 75% of students have completed at least one externshiphus far, with 39% completing more than one.
Capital operates an externship program under the supervision of Professor Susan Simms and the Committee on Judicial Clerkships and Externships. The program permits upper-class students to apply their knowledge of substantive law and to develop their practical lawyering skills.
These externships include federal, state, and local courts and administrative agencies and non-profit organizations such as the Neighborhood Safety Working Group; The Justice League of Ohio; the Ohio Environment Council; the Ohio Nurses Association; the Ohio State Medical Association; the Health Policy Institute of Ohio; the Ohio CASA/GAL Association; the Equal Justice Foundation; the Legal Aid Society of Columbus; the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation; and the Ohio State Legal Services Association.
For more information on our externship program, please contact:
Susan Simms
Director of the Externship Program
Capital University Law School
303 E. Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43215
Tel (614) 236-7301
E-mail
http://law.capital.edu/Externships/
Access to Justice (Legal Aid)
City of Cleveland Law Department
U.S. Attorney: Civil and Criminal
Federal Public Defender
Internal Revenue Service
Federal Trade Commission
International Criminal Tribunal
Our field placement programs include Legal Externships: Becoming a Lawyer and Legal Externships: Supervised Fieldwork, which are general placement externship programs with either a seminar (Becoming a Lawyer) or a tutorial (Supervised Fieldwork) component. Through the externship program, students may gain practical legal experience in a wide variety of public interest settings, including the federal government, state, local, and federal judiciaries, public defenders' and district attorneys' offices, the federal legislature, and area legal services and nonprofit organizations.
The Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law Externship Program gives students the rewarding opportunity of attaining real-world experience by working for judges, government agencies, corporations, and public interest organizations, and more. Students develop the practical skills, poise and confidence necessary to be effective practitioners in the courtroom, law office or corporate legal department. Externships also provide insight into professional responsibility and the operation of the legal system while enhancing the legal resume and providing important networking opportunities.
For more information please see http://www.chapman.edu/law/externships/index.aspx
The Charleston School of Law Externship Program provides its students with a unique, real world experience outside of the classroom. Through the Externship Program, students gain practical experience in a variety of legal professions, while earning academic credit.
The externship experience (a) assists students in exploring a particular area of interest of their choice at a field-placement site, (b) exposes students to the operation of the legal system, (c) enhances students' practical skills, such as, communication, research and writing, and (d) enhances students' personal skills such as poise and confidence.
Additionally, externships provide students with the opportunity to meet and work with members of the legal bar and their staff, which relationships may prove invaluable as the students pursue employment. The Externship Program is a faculty approved program outlined in the Charleston School of Law Externship Policies and Procedures Manual ("the Externship Manual.")
The Externship Program is available to qualified students in both the School of Law full time and part time programs. Qualified students join the Externship Program by registering for the Externship Course. The Externship Course is an elective course which satisfies the student's skills course requirement.
To qualify for an externship, the students must (a) have completed the full first-year curriculum and (b) be in good academic standing. Therefore, students enrolled in the full-time program typically should qualify for an externship after they have completed successfully the Spring Semester of their first year of law school. Students enrolled in the part-time program typically should qualify for an externship after they have completed successfully the Spring Semester of their second year of law school.
Students interested in earning academic credit through the Externship Program should review the School of Law Guide to Securing an Externship.
Lois Grossman
Associate Professor
Charlotte School of Law
201 South College Street
Charlotte, NC 28244
(704) 971-8582 (Direct)
E-mail
Currently, CharlotteLaw has four types of externships. These options differ as to time of year, number of hours students spend in the field, the nature of the classroom component, and the student application process.
- First-Time Term-Time Externships (For Students Who Have Not Completed an Externship)
First-time externships taken during the school year range from three to five credits, depending on the combination of placement and companion course. Placements and courses fall into three categories: Criminal, Civil and Judicial.
- Criminal Justice. Students selected for a criminal law placement (2 or 3 field credits) must take the companion courses, NC Criminal Practice - Defense or Prosecution (2 credits). The courses are taught by an assistant district attorney and an assistant public defender , respectively and is focused on North Carolina criminal procedure from arrest through sentencing. The primary objective is to assist students with beginning the transition from "law student" to "criminal trial lawyer" in NC. The course highlights issues unique to criminal prosecution and defenders including prosecutorial discretion, plea negotiations, calendaring, discovery, special ethical considerations, the role of the victim, current criminal issues in NC state law, and the role that defense attorney and prosecutor play in the criminal justice system. To enhance the externs' fieldwork, through simulations and observations, externs explore trial skills and practice, client communication skills, evidentiary procedures, courtroom etiquette, and courtroom procedures such as bond hearings and guilty pleas.
- Civil Justice. Students selected for a civil law placement (2 or 3 field credits) must take the companion course, Civil Justice (2 credits). With an emphasis on reflective lawyering, the weekly seminar gives students an opportunity to share experiences and to hear about a range of practice areas. They gain understanding of the common issues faced by public interest lawyers, as well as a range of issues of concern to all new lawyers -- from the most practical questions regarding professional etiquette, to the more serious practice concerns that arise in various practice settings. Learning outcomes stress the importance of self-directed learning and the legal needs of those unable to afford a lawyer. The seminar may integrate student presentations and simulations.
- Judicial. Students selected for a judicial placement (2 or 3 field credits) must take the companion course, Judicial Decision-making (1 credit). This seminar focuses on the judicial process, the judiciary, and the role of judges and attorneys as members of the legal profession. It also stresses the importance of self-directed learning and reflection as a path to excellence and gives students an opportunity to share experiences and hear about a range of judicial settings. The seminar integrates reflective writing assignments, speakers and presentations.
- The Summer Immersion Externship Program (For students who have not completed an externship)
The summer externship program allows students to earn academic credit over the summer while working in a public interest office government agency or judicial placement. They may extern anywhere in the United States and abroad as long as the work provided meets the academic objectives of the course. Students work 240 hours under the supervision of an approved attorney or judge over the course of at least eight weeks earning 4 credit hours. Comparable to the term-time externship course, students must attend an externship orientation lead by the externship professor prior to beginning their externship. Three on-line classes and two individual meetings with the professor are held over the summer. Students also maintain contact with the professor over the summer through weekly journals. Evaluation for the summer course is pass/fail. There are two course options:
- Summer Judicial Externship Course. Same emphasis as the term-time judicial externship course described above.
- Public Interest Externship Course. Combines students with criminal and civil placements and focuses on reflective learning and access to justice.
- Semester in D.C. is an honors program where 3L's spend an entire term time semester in Washington DC earning 10 term credits for their full time field placement with a non-profit organization or government agency and 3 credits for their class component.
- Advanced Externships (For students who have completed an externship) Students who have completed an externship may apply to engage in a second one for two or three credits. The second externship must provide the student with a different learning experience from the first. Advanced externs are not required to take the externship companion course again. Instead, the educational experience is more student-driven, with a self-developed learning agenda and reading list tailored to the externs' own interests and work
Advanced Externs also meet with the Professor two-three times, produce weekly learning journals, develop individualized reading list and write a short, final synthesis paper.
Internships and Co-op
Emma Best
Associate Professor
Charlotte School of Law
1300 South Blvd, Suite K
Charlotte, NC 28203
(704) 971-9397 (Direct)
E-mail
Skillful, Capable Student Lawyer Interns
Charlotte School of Law's Cooperative Legal Education Program was piloted in the spring of 2011 with input from area Corporate Counsel departments and is rapidly expanding.
Charlotte School of Law Corporate Counsel Co-ops are key in our experiential learning model, providing lawyers-in-training, many with business backgrounds or interests, the unique opportunity to be mentored and supervised by engaged corporate attorneys.
Co-op Partner Companies benefit from the partnership by:
- Receiving cost-effective legal assistance from highly motivated student lawyers
- Giving student lawyers those research projects for which counsel normally has no time
- Partnering student lawyers with paralegals on specific projects
- Empowering the student lawyer to give a fresh perspective on current legal practices in the legal department
- Allowing student lawyers to review contracts and leases, update policies and documents, and investigate client concerns and compliance issues
- Utilizing the Charlotte School of Law Co-op Program in recruiting efforts for the company
Two Sections:
- Corporate Co-op with Companies
- Law Firm Co-op with Law Firms
A Few of Our Current Co-op Program Partner Companies Include:
- Charlotte Bobcats
- Compass Group
- TIAA-CREF
- Rack Room Shoes
- Duke Energy
- Michael Scott Mater Foundation
- Husqvarna
For more information, contact us at
Charlotte School of Law Corporate Counsel Co-Op Program
201 South College Street
Charlotte, NC 28244
(704) 971-9397
http://www.charlottelaw.edu/academics/co-op-program
Most students engage in public interest/public service internships during the summer. During the school year, students have several externship opportunities that are available for credit: the 2nd year, 2nd semester lawyering seminar called "Writing from a Judicial Perspective," involves a short term placement with a state or federal court or administrative court. All students are required to take a public interest law clinic in their third year; the clinic placement usually requires providing service to economically disadvantaged clients.
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The New York Attorney General Public Advocacy Externship
Externship at the United Nations
Legal Education in the Community
Externship at the Center for Battered Women's Legal Services
Federal Appellate Court Externship
Federal District Court Externship
Criminal Court Clerkship
Many students are interested in externships that provide the opportunity to work in a law setting outside the law school. The externship courses, provided through the Legal Aid Clinic, place students in a variety of work places that meet their particular educational goals. Students can enroll in local, part-time externships, or immerse themselves in a practice setting by enrolling in a semester long, full time externship in various cities in the US or, occasionally, abroad.
Full-Term Externship
Judicial Externship
Law Guardian Externship
Legislative Externship
Neighborhood Legal Services Externship
Creighton offers a number of externships. For information, see http://www.creighton.edu/law/academics/curriculum/externships/index.php.
An extensive externship program exists offering placement in many public interest fields. The program is open to upper level students and requires 180 hours field work per semester. Please visit http://www.law.depaul.edu/programs/professional_skills/field_placement.asp for detailed information.
Drake University Law School offers numerous externship/internship opportunities including: Prosecutor, Environmental Law, Federal Public Defender, Ethics, Insurance, Independent, Probate, Securities, U.S. Attorney's Office, Administrative Law and Judicial Clerkships, Iowa Civil Rights, Iowa Workers Compensation and Iowa Legal Aid.
Drexel Law's signature experiential program is its Co-op Program. The Co-op Program bears some similarities to externship programs at other law schools. Co-ops are field placements for which law students earn academic credit, rather than pay. They are a part of the academic curriculum of the law school rather than paid positions.
The Co-op Program at Drexel Law differs significantly from externship programs at most law schools in several respects. First, the students earn an unusually high amount of academic credit (up to 12 credits a semester) for their participation in the program. Drexel law students also devote much of their time (20 to 25 hours a week in a regular co-op and 35-40 hours a week in a co-op intensive) and energy to their work in the field.
Drexel offers over 25 Public Interest Co-op Placements.
In 2004-2005, externships were offered two ways (a third type of field placement opportunity was added in 2005-2006 -- domestic externships).
- Students in the Poverty Law seminar could receive a third credit for field work related to the course. This seminar is a broad study of poverty, poverty programs, and the United States civil justice system. Class topics include the history of access to justice, the demographics of poverty, a skills workshop on client-centered interviewing, and substantive topics such as food and income programs, health law, economic development, family law, employment, and housing.
- Second and third-year students, particularly those enrolled in the JD/LLM program, have the opportunity to participate for one semester in a legal job at a non-profit institution conducting international work. The externship also includes a research tutorial and a research paper under the supervision of a Law School faculty member. Students may earn a total of 14 semester-hours of credit for the entire semester.
Tracey McCants-Lewis, Interim Director
The Hugo L. Black Law Clinic
Duquesne University School of Law
632 Fisher Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15282
Governmental, Judicial and Public Service/Non-profit Externships
Legal Aid Field Placement Program (for academic credit)
Second- and third-year students in the externship program are placed with public interest organizations such as the ACLU of Georgia, Atlanta Legal Aid, Georgia Legal Services Program, the Southern Center for Human Rights, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, and the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta. Third-year students may be placed with a district attorney, a public defender, or with the U.S. attorney's office and may try cases under supervision pursuant to local, state, or federal rules. All of these externships receive 3 credits. These externships are carefully selected, monitored, and evaluated by the administrative professor for externships in order to provide practical lawyering experiences with the supervision of highly qualified and experienced attorneys. Students also attend a weekly class tailored to their practice area in which they receive additional support and supervision by faculty with practice experience in the practice area. Students thus integrate substantive learning with the practice of law and develop their legal skills through exposure to different kinds of law practice, directly, or through the experiences of other students in their externship class.
The Law School's externship program affords students the opportunity to work and learn in governmental, judicial, public service and public interest law offices. Externs may locate their own placement or select from a wide variety of governmental agencies, judges at every level in the state, prosecutors, public defenders or public interest firms like Legal Services Alabama, Alabama Appleseed and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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The law school offers judicial externships with several courts including the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida First District Court of Appeal, the Federal District Court and state courts. Through these placements, students can earn credits towards graduation and their skills requirement.
Other externship programs are offered and they allow students to earn credits towards graduation and their skills requirement by working under the supervision of an attorney in an approved public or governmental agency, not-for-profit corporation, or in-house legal department of a corporation. See http://www.fcsl.edu/academics/internships-and-externships, http://www.fcsl.edu/academics/externships, and http://www.fcsl.edu/academics/judicial-internships for additional information about the law school's externship and internship programs.
Florida International University College of Law's Legal Externship Program provides an opportunity for our students to increase their legal knowledge, gain exposure to a real work environment, and provide valuable support to a legal employer in the corporate, governmental or public sector.
Criminal Externship Placement
Civil Externship Placement
Judicial Externship Placement
Advanced Externship Placement
The Criminal, Civil and Judicial Externships are one semester, six-credit courses. These placements combine an academic classroom component for two graded credits with a clinical placement at an approved site for four pass/fail credits. Students work at the placement under the "field supervision" of a member of the Bar. The Advanced Externship Placement is an externship placement for variable credit hours for those students who have taken a previous externship and wish to continue in the same area or a different placement.
The Clinical Externship Program offers a supervised program with placements at over 60 public law offices in the state, including Criminal, Civil, Environmental, Labor/Employment, Local Government, Administrative, Tort, Corrections, Economic Crimes/Antitrust, Disability Law, Domestic Violence, Real Estate Transactions, Guardian Ad Litem, Legal Services, Appellate and Judicial (federal and state courts).
For a description of field placement programs, see http://law.fordham.edu/externships
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Field Placement Program
The George Washington University Law School Field Placement Program provides students with the opportunity to work closely with judges or practicing lawyers as legal externs in governmental, public interest and private non-profit organizations while earning academic credit. The program is designed to enhance the educational experience of its students through exposure to the actual practice of law.
During the fall and spring semesters, the placement must be located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Students may earn credit for externships outside of the DC metropolitan area, including international externships, during the summer session only.
For more information, please see www.law.gwu.edu/fpp or E-mail.
Field placements may be obtained in any non-profit, government or judicial setting in the District of Columbia metropolitan area. Students must participate in a multi-part seminar in support of their externship experience. They also must turn in a paper describing what they learned in their externship at the end of the semester.
Students in our Externship Program experience tremendous learning opportunities outside the classroom. Externships provide students with practical skills and substantive training while they earn course credit.
Through externships, students gain great insight into the operation of the legal system and develop a heightened sense of professional responsibility. Students are paired with site-supervising attorneys who work one-on-one with students as they develop their legal skills. Students also work throughout the semester with a faculty supervisor who helps guide their learning experience.
Students work in a wide range of Atlanta-area legal placements, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and judge’s offices. Part-time and full-time students are eligible for externships. Placements are offered each semester.
http://law.gsu.edu/experiential-learning/externships/
Students become eligible to enroll in an internship for credit/clinical field placement after completing 29 units (1 year) of coursework (for judicial externships, students must have completed 40 units) and may take one clinical course per semester, for a total of 13 units of clinical coursework during law school. Students perform 45 hours of work at their placement per unit. Additionally, students attend weekly seminars relating to their clinical work.
Advanced Legal Clinic: Students who have completed one or more Externship clinic in prior semesters and who wish to work again in the same field of law.
Capital Post-Conviction Defense Clinic: Students work on representation of indigent defendants challenging their convictions and death sentences on direct appeal and through habeas corpus proceedings. Students receive training and supervision through working directly with attorneys from the California Appellate Project (CAP).
Civil Field Placement Clinic: Students work in law firms, corporations, public interest organizations, or government agencies in: Intellectual Property, Tax, Entertainment, Bankruptcy, Disability Rights, Corporate Counsel, Immigration, Government, Domestic Violence, and General Civil Practice.
Criminal Litigation Clinic: Students participate in a criminal justice seminar with an emphasis on ethical, reflective lawyering, while externing in a wide variety of state and federal prosecution or defender agencies.
Consumer Rights Clinic: Students learn interviewing and counseling skills, as well as substantive consumer law, and assist attorneys in providing advice, counseling and limited legal representation, including drafting letters and basic pleadings such as answers and claims of exemption.
Environmental Law Clinic: Students study environmental law and regulations and extern in government agencies, environmental organizations, or public interest groups, working on environmental, natural resources, or land use issues.
Family Law Clinic: Students learn the nuts and bolts of family law practice and are placed in government agencies, non-profits, or private family law offices assisting low-income clients with urgent family law issues.
Homeless Advocacy Clinic: Students learn interviewing, counseling, and negotiation skills and advocate on a variety of issues for clients of the Bar Association of San Francisco's Homeless Advocacy Project.
Judicial Externships: Students work in judges' chambers or with court staff. Positions are in all levels of state and federal courts, with a full range of judicial assignments, including civil work, family and juvenile law, bankruptcy, law and motion, and criminal work.
Real Estate Clinic: Students work with law firms or government agencies involved with real property development. The primary focus is on issues of acquisition, disposition, financing, development, and operation of real estate.
Youth Law Clinic: Students work in non-profit law offices, government agencies or private offices engaged in litigation, administrative hearings, or other advocacy on behalf of children or youth. Students also attend a seminar with an emphasis on reflective lawyering, professional responsibility, skills and practice issues. Students may work in a wide variety of substantive law areas.
Externships: Gonzaga Law's Externship program places students with non-profit legal services organizations and local, state, and federal opportunities with the public defenders, prosecutors, Attorney General, U.S. Attorney, and judicial officers. Student field placements are located within the local community, across the state, and around the country. Extern students earn academic credit for completing field placement work in addition to concurrent seminar coursework.
Beginning 2014-15, Gonzaga Law students are required to take at least six credits of experiential learning during their second and/or third years in law school. Students may earn a maximum of fifteen externship credits, which fulfill this experiential learning requirement.
Internships: The Center for Professional Development and the Center for Law in Public Service assist students to identify volunteer internship opportunities with government and non-profit organizations. Gonzaga's Public Interest Law Project awards between five and ten full or partial grants each summer for students working in in public interest law positions that would otherwise be uncompensated.
Externships are clinical placements outside of Harvard Law School in which attorneys at public interest organizations, government and community agencies, and occasionally private law firms provide supervision. About 2/3 of our clinical placements are at in-house (HLS) clinics and the remaining 1/3 are externships/field placements.
Our largest field placements are through the Government Lawyer course; up to sixty students each year can be placed at the United States Attorney's Office and the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General.
Clinical externships are offered through courses and independently designed projects on a wide variety of issues including: children's rights, gender violence, civil rights, education, disability, and sports law.
Matrimonial Law Practicum
The Matrimonial Law Practicum creates practical experiences for our students in the world of matrimonial practice. Students divide the semester between a placement with a judge who is assigned to the Matrimonial Law Center of the Nassau County Supreme Court and placement in a private matrimonial law firm. Students also participate in an on-campus seminar. This externship provides students the unique opportunity to experience the practice of matrimonial law from both sides of the process. Students participate in the factual research, legal research and case theory development of the practitioner and then immediately become involved in the judicial world's very different analytic frameworks. Students also have the opportunity to work with and observe clients, work on complex motions, sit in on judicial conferences as advocates and as members of chambers.
Criminal Law Externship
The Criminal Externship Program provides an opportunity for students to learn about all phases of criminal law practice through placements in such as agencies as Nassau, Queens and Kings County District Attorney's offices and New York City and Nassau and Suffolk County Legal Aid offices. Students work approximately 12 hours per week and may be exposed to a wide variety of experiences, including legal research and writing, case investigation, witness interviewing and courtroom advocacy. Each student's work is overseen by a supervising attorney in the appropriate organization as we as by the Law School's faculty directors, who also conduct weekly seminars.
Civil Law Externship
The Civil Externship Program provides students with opportunities to learn lawyering skills through placements in a variety of nonprofit organizations or government agencies. Students work approximately 12 hours per week for such organizations as the state and federal judiciary, the New York State Attorney General, the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene, the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Nassau/Suffolk Law Services, the Central American Refugee Center, the New York State Department of Labor and the National Resources Defense Council. Depending on the particular placement, students may engage in all phases of legal work, including interviewing clients and witnesses, drafting legal documents, negotiating with attorneys, conducting research and preparing legal memoranda. Students are supervised by the supervising attorney in the particular organization and by the Law School faculty directors, who also conduct weekly seminars.
Judicial Externship
The Judicial Externship Program provides an opportunity for students to serve as apprentices for state and federal judges for a semester. As judicial externs for approximately 12 hours per week, students research, write memoranda, observe court proceedings and discuss cases with judges. Through conference with the judges, students gain insight into the effectiveness of litigation techniques and the practical impact of the judicial system. Students are supervised by their judges and by the Law School's faculty directors. Weekly seminars are held by the faculty directors.
Howard offers a General Externship Seminar, where students can participate in an externship for credit at any non-profit organization or government agency (including judicial externships). We also offer specialized externships as follows: IRS, SEC, and Environmental Externship.
Second & third-year students are able to participate in the Externship Program, a four credit hour program that allows them to gain practical legal experience working at a public interest or government agency. Many students participate in this program every semester, including summer term, and receive valuable legal training that provides them with the experience they will need to obtain a public sector or private legal job. The large majority of the externships are in the public interest sector. The program consists of both fieldwork and classroom component.
Some of Chicago-Kent's legal specialty area externship opportunities include:
The Environmental and Energy Law Externship Program provides students in the Environmental Law Certificate Program with the opportunity to extern for one credit on a pass/low pass/fail basis at environmental governmental agencies and public interest groups, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency Regional Office, the Illinois Attorney General's Office (Environmental Office), the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the City of Chicago Law Department (Environmental Unit), the City of Chicago Housing Authority (Environmental Unit), the Illinois Pollution Control Board, Citizens for a Better Environment, the Chicago Legal Clinic, and the Lake Michigan Federation. The program consists of both fieldwork and classroom component.
The Labor/Employment Law Externship Program is offered (there is an unnecessary space here) through the Labor/Employment Law Certificate Program. The externship is available to students enrolled in the Labor/Employment Law Certificate Program during their last year of law school and is used to satisfy the experiential learning requirement of that certificate program. The educational objective of the externship is to provide the student externs with a well-supervised lawyering experience in labor or employment law by enabling each of them to extern with a law school approved placement. Student externs are placed with a law firm, corporation, union, or governmental agency.
Justice Web Collaboratory Externship. This externship provides students the opportunity to explore access to justice issues, including the use of technology in legal services, alternative legal services delivery models, e-lawyering, and pro se litigant assistance.
The Judicial Externship Program is a 4-credit hour program open to second and third-year law students who want to do legal research for a federal appellate, district or magistrate judges or a designated Illinois appellate or circuit court judge. Externs work directly with the judge and the judge's law clerks researching, writing memoranda of law, drafting opinions, and generally observing and participating in the day-to-day operation of the court. An accompanying classroom discussion component meets once a week during the course of the externship. Externs are selected by the individual judge(s) through an application procedure conducted by the law school. Judicial Externships are offered fall, winter and summer semesters.
Criminal Law Externship: The Criminal Law Externship enables students to gain a better understanding of the major issues involved with criminal law practice and the criminal justice system. In addition to legal research and writing tasks, externs can observe and participate in various criminal court proceedings under attorney supervision. Externs work in prosecutors' and public defender offices.
Independent Clinical Projects: Participants in the Independent Clinical Project have the opportunity to create their own clinical project, working closely with a faculty member with similar interests. Students can earn up to 3 credit hours during the academic year.
Indiana Legal Services Externship: The Indiana Legal Services Externship allows students to receive academic credit for one semester of work at Indiana Legal Services (ILS), a nonprofit law firm that provides free civil legal assistance to eligible elderly and low-income people in southern Indiana. ILS helps clients who are faced with legal problems that harm their ability to have such basics as food, shelter, income, medical care, and personal safety. The externship course is available to second- or third-year students. Students work under the close supervision of ILS staff attorneys.
Intellectual Property Externship: The Intellectual Property Externship program consists of a series of externship opportunities developed and administered by the law school in connection with the Center for Intellectual Property Research. The number and type of externships will vary from semester to semester. Some may be available during the summer.
Judicial Field Placements: Students spend one day a week (or two half days) in the chambers of federal or local judges where they draft opinions, perform legal research, help prepare jury instructions, and screen motions in order to advise the judges. Each student works one-on-one with a judge and reports to a faculty supervisor.
Maurer Urban Experience: The Maurer Urban Experience combines classroom study with a semester of hands-on work in public interest law. Initially offered in Washington, DC, the program is being expanded into three additional markets in the fall of 2013: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Maurer students arrange externships with various public-interest entities, from Federal Circuit clerkships to positions at the Department of Justice and pro bono organizations. Students also take a two-credit course, lawyering in the public interest, which addresses the realities of the practice of law in their particular setting.
Public Interest Internship Program: The Public Interest Internship Program encourages students to explore careers in the public interest by awarding academic credit for internships and experience in public service venues. This program takes place in the summer only. Internship opportunities include legal work assigned by the attorney-supervisor and an academic component assigned by the faculty member designed to encourage reflection on issues of ethics and practice. The Maurer School of Law allows students who are engaged in unpaid legal work for nonprofit, government agencies, judges, or legal services organizations to receive up to four credits during the summer.
Student Legal Services Externship: The Student Legal Services Externship allows students to receive academic credit for one semester of work at Student Legal Services (SLS), a nonprofit law office that provides legal services to Indiana University students and student groups. Students typically earn credit during their first semester of work at SLS; after that, students who continue to work there are paid hourly. The course is open to second- and third-year students.
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Tutorial Externship - Project Pro-Se (Program to help citizens represent themselves in court cases).
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The Director of Pro Bono Outreach and Externships maintains a list of several public interest and pro bono externships for fall, spring and summer semesters.
Lewis & Clark Law School offers flexibility in the number of credits/hours students may undertake for an Externship experience. Students must select from the following options when enrolling for semester and summer placements. If approved by the placement andlegally permitted, a student may work more than the designated hours for the option selected, but the additional hours will not receive academic credit; students choosing this option must inform the Externship Program Administrator in writing and complete special time-keeping requirements.
Model 1: a minimum of 104 total hours = 3 credits (2 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 8 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 2: a minimum of 156 total hours = 4 credits (3 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 12 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 3: a minimum of 208 total hours = 5 credits (4 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 16 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 4: a minimum of 260 total hours = 6 credits (5 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 20 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 5: a minimum of 312 total hours = 7 credits (6 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 24 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 6: a minimum of 364 total hours = 8 credits (7 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 28 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 7: a minimum of 416 total hours = 9 credits (8 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 32 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 8: a minimum of 468 total hours = 10 credits (9 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 36 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 9: a minimum of 520 total hours = 11 credits (10 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 40 hours/week for 13 weeks)
Model 10: a minimum of 560 total hours = 12 credits (11 for placement, 1 for class component) (during the academic semester, the hours will ideally be done 40 hours/week for 14 weeks)
All models require the class component and can be combined with an individual research paper (2 credits). The class component and individual research papers are described below.
Students undertaking summer externships are allowed to fulfill the total number of required hours over a period of less than 13 weeks. For example, a student approved to undertake a Model 5 (7 credit) Externship may work 39 hours/week for 8 weeks to satisfy the placement component of the Externship.
Liberty University School of Law affords students opportunities to work in non-compensated positions for academic credit. Some students participate in the externship program throughout the academic year; other students serve as externs for one semester or summer. Students have served or are currently serving as externs in the following field placements: the offices of federal and state prosecutors, offices of the public defender, state supreme court justices, federal magistrates, federal judges, Operation Blue Ridge Thunder (a task force for Internet crimes against children), the Institute for Christian Conciliation, Family Research Council, the Critical Infrastructure Protection Program, the Office of the Texas Attorney General, Liberty Center for Law and Policy, and Liberty Counsel.
Liberty University School of Law also affords students opportunities to serve in internships (not for academic credit). Students have served as interns in the following field placements: the offices of state and federal prosecutors; a state public defender; the Virginia Legal Aid Society; the Chicago Legal Clinic; the Presidential Personnel Office in Washington, D.C.; the IRS National Director of Legislative Affairs in Washington, D.C.; U.S. District Courts; Federal Courts of Appeal; the White House; and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Judicial Externship
Students are placed as law clerk externs in the chambers of judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans or Lafayette), the Federal District Courts (Baton Rouge or New Orleans), the Louisiana Supreme Court (New Orleans), or the Louisiana Courts of Appeals (Baton Rouge). Students are required to work in the chambers of their assigned judge during the semester as well as attend a weekly one hour class meeting at the Law Center.
Louisiana Department of Justice - Attorney General Externship
As the chief legal officer of the state, the Attorney General heads the Louisiana Department of Justice to protect the interests of the state and its citizens. The Department of Justice is comprised of five legal divisions: Civil, Criminal, Gaming, Litigation, and Public Protection. Students will have the opportunity to work in two of those five divisions during the externship. The externship will provide students with the opportunity to conduct legal research and draft memoranda, pleadings, trial and appellate briefs, and a variety of other legal documents; and to prepare cases for hearing or trial. There is a classroom component to this externship that meets one hour per week. Students will also have the opportunity to draft advisory opinions issued by the Attorney General.
Louisiana Department of Revenue, Office of Legal Affairs
Students are placed with the Louisiana Department of Revenue in Baton Rouge and are expected to work a minimum of 72 hours over the course of the semester. Income Tax I is a prerequisite. Participation requires the consent of the Instructor.
Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel (New Orleans)
Students are placed with the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service in New Orleans and are expected to work at least 150 hours over the course of the semester. It is suggested that students commit at least 4 hours per day and 20 hours per week for a minimum total of 150 hours for the term of the externship. Income Tax I is a prerequisite. Participation requires the consent of the Instructor.
Individualized Supervised Externship (1-2 hours)
The Individualized Externship involves research and transactional work in a specifically approved placement under the direction of a field supervisor attorney and a full-time member of the law faculty. The students' externship must be done in connection with a substantive course covering the subject matter to which the externship will relate. The experience can occur during the semester in which the course was taught or, with permission, over the course of one or two consecutive semesters beginning no later than the semester following the one in which the student took the substantive course. Also, some courses at the Law Center offer an optional experiential component. For example, students who have enrolled in Administration of Criminal Justice II have received academic credit for fieldwork with the U.S. Department of Justice, the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney, and the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Defender's Office, and the Innocence Project in New Orleans. Determination of successful completion of the program will be the responsibility of the supervising faculty member, who will consult with the supervising attorney. Participation requires special permission.
Loyola Law School has an extensive externship program that places students in government agencies, public interest offices and judicial chambers. Professor Barbara Blanco, Director of the program is nationally known as an expert in this area of legal education.
three credit hours. The student works 11-15 hours per week and attends an externship class that meets throughout the semester. The public service-related externship areas are:
- Government and Agency
- Health Law
- ChildLaw
- Criminal
- Judicial
- Corporate (non-profit, foundations, etc.).
Students are encouraged to apply beginning the start of the spring semester of the academic year prior to the start of your desired externship. Application deadline is generally the last day of February.
Students must be given permission to register by Prof. Molina. Students must make a commitment for two semesters, unless the placement allows you to participate for one semester only. Students need permission from the externship faculty if you intend to participate for one semester only. Also, you may not have outside employment unless you are specifically authorized by the placement and the externship faculty. Class participation is required. Class includes journals, selected readings and discussions, and student presentations. You must also keep a time sheet.
Placements have included: Louisiana Supreme Court; United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana; Office of the Judicial Administrator of the Louisiana Supreme Court; Administrative Law Judge for the United States Department of Labor; Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board; National Labor Relations Board; United States Bankruptcy Trustee; United States Bankruptcy Court; United States Coast Guard; Advocacy Center; Innocence Project.
For further information, please see http://law.loyno.edu/lawclinic/externships
Marquette Law School sponsors a number of supervised field placements with government agencies and public interest organizations that offer legal services, including: AIDS Resource Center, Catholic Charities Immigration Project, Cento Legal, Legal Action of Wisconsin, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, Marquette Law School's Restorative Justice Initiative, Midwest Environmental Advocates, the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division, and various other opportunities with state and federal government agencies. Placement in these externships entitles students to credit upon successful completion of the designated number of hours and positive supervisory reports.
Public Interest Practicum Program: The public interest practicum offers students an opportunity to earn academic credit while working for a public interest or public sector employer without compensation. A full-time faculty member supervises the students. Through the program, many law students test their skills in real courtrooms before graduation. Georgia court rules allow third-year students to practice under the supervision of lawyers doing public interest work. Every year, Mercer places students with public defenders' offices, prosecutors' offices, judges and other agencies so that the students may gain actual courtroom experience.
Externships are limited to legal aids, non-profits, government and judiciary. Students must attend an externship information session prior to the externship. During the semester, students are required to submit bi-weekly reports detailing the legal work performed.
The Law School offers externships at:
- Public Defenders Office
- Mississippi Office of Capital Post-conviction Counsel
- Legal Services Office
Hamline provides four externships with public interest placements:
Public Interest Externship: takes up to 8 students who are placed at legal services agencies (such as Legal Aid, Centro Legal, etc);
Criminal Law Externship: takes up to 8 students, the majority of whom are placed with public defender, community defender legal services, or county attorney offices;
Immigration Externship: takes up to 8 students to work in offices doing immigration work, about half of which are public interest or government offices;
Legislative and Lobbying: takes up to 8 students each spring when the Minnesota State Legislature is in session to work with state legislators or lobbying organizations.
The in-house clinics and externships are administered jointly under the umbrella of the clinical courses. Most clinics and placements are entirely Public Interest.
About 40% of our externship placements are in public interest positions, in the fields of criminal justice, international human rights, immigration law, and New York City law. Students work between 12-15 hours per week at their placement and keep a journal of their experiences and what they learned from it.
Because of its extensive clinics, NYU does not offer academic credit for externships. However, many students take advantage of New York City's plethora of opportunities and work at public interest organizations during term-time, either as volunteers or for wages.
The Pro Bono Clinic offers students the opportunity for an externship with a number of non-profit public interest organizations and government agencies located in Durham and in nearby Raleigh, the state capital. In 2004-05, students had field placements with the following:
ACLU of NC
Carolina Dispute Settlement Services
Center for Child & Family Health Legal Clinic
Center for Responsible Lending
Child Advocacy Commission of Durham
Governor's Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities
Guardian Ad Litem Program (Durham, Wake, Guilford)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
NCABL Land Loss Prevention Project
Legal Aid of NC (Durham and Raleigh offices)
NC Fair Housing Center
NC GALA (Gay & Lesbian Attorneys Civil Rights Project)
NC Justice Center – Immigration Legal Assistance Project
NC Prisoner Legal Services
NC Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Students in the Criminal Litigation Clinic have the opportunity to do an externship with Public Defender's and District Attorney's offices around North Carolina and outside the state. In 2004-05, students had field placements with the following District Attorney's Offices: Raleigh, Pittsboro, Hillsborough, New Bern, Smithfield, Tarboro, Greenville, Goldsboro and Charlotte, NC and Elkhart, Indiana; the Public Defender's office in Carrboro, NC. Students in the Civil Litigation Clinic may also be placed with the NC Attorney General's Office in Raleigh. Students in the Family Law Clinic may be placed with local family law attorneys, with the Attorney Advocate for the Guardian Ad Litem Program, or with the Child Advocacy Commission of Durham.
Every student at Northeastern is required to complete four full-time legal work placements during their second and third year of law school ("co-op" as we call them). The first co-op consists of a three-day "Pathways to Practice" course, full-time training held on campus, followed by ten weeks of full-time legal work with a single employer under the supervision of an attorney or judge. The three subsequent co-ops consist of eleven weeks of full-time legal work complying with the same criteria.
For information concerning externships, go to: http://law.niu.edu/law/experiential/externships.shtml
Students are placed in externships at various Legal Aid offices, the Children's Law Center, the Department of Public Advocacy, and the Federal Public Defenders. Judicial externships and other government externships are also available.
Combined with classroom work, externships give second- and third-year law students the opportunity to gain on-the-job training while earning class credit. They work 10 to 15 hours per week under the close supervision of lawyers, judges, government officials, and public interest professionals and also attend a seminar class once a week where they complete readings about their field, keep a journal, and write a paper or give a presentation linking their practice experience to theoretical questions.
Students bring back to the classroom valuable firsthand experience and a heightened level of confidence about appearing before judges, writing briefs or opinions, preparing cases, and working with clients.
Domestic externships are available in the following areas:
Northwestern Law also offers a number of international externships for credit. Placements are available in the following locations:
- the International Criminal Court (The Hague, The Netherlands),
- the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (The Hague, The Netherlands)
- the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Arusha, Tanzania),
- the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Freetown, Sierra Leone, and The Hague, The Netherlands),
- the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Cambodia),
- the War Crimes and Organized Crimes Chambers of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina),
- the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva, Switzerland),
- the Supreme Court of Israel (Jerusalem, Israel), and
- the Supreme Court of India (New Delhi, India).
Legal Externship: Public Defender/Ethics
This externship involves formulating solutions to ethical problems in the criminal justice system
Legal Externship: Public Defender
Students work in the trial and misdemeanor divisions at the local county court.
Legal Externship: Public Defender
This Externship involves assisting actual public defenders in representing indigent clients.
Legal Externship: Prosecutor
This Externship involves assisting the local county prosecutor's office.
Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law provides many opportunities for externships and internships. The Clinical Program, Public Interest Law Center, and Career and Professional Development Office assist in providing opportunities to students.
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Each semester, the Moritz College places approximately 25 students as judicial externs to work in judges' chambers. Judges participating in the program include justices on the Supreme Court of Ohio, federal district and appellate court judges, federal magistrate judges, federal bankruptcy judges, and county domestic relations and juvenile court judges. Over the past few years, the program has expanded to include Commissions of the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, and the Ohio Judicial Conference. Judicial externships provide excellent educational opportunities, including opportunities to glimpse the workings of important courts from the inside, interaction with distinguished judges, and engagement in supervised research and writing. Judicial externs attend several classes at the College, in which they are exposed to a range of topics, including the variety of judicial experiences of their classmates in the program and ethical issues specific to the judicial context. For more details go to http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/programs/judicial_extern/index.php.
OCU law students have opportunities to serve the community and add to their professional resumes while they are still in school. They serve as legal interns for judges of all state appellate courts, for the federal and bankruptcy courts, and for the county district court through the Judicial Externship Program. Students participate in actual cases in supervised settings through the Litigation Practice Externship Program, where they work in the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office, the Oklahoma County Public Defender's Office, and Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma. The Government Practice Externship places students at entities such as the Oklahoma Legislature, the Pardon and Parole Board, the Corporation Commission, the Department of Agriculture, and the Oklahoma Municipal Counselor's office. The Native American Externship places students with tribal judges and prosecutors, the United States Attorney's office, and Oklahoma Indian Legal Services.
The Washington, D.C. Environmental Externship Program places students during the summer at the EPA, Department of Energy, DOJ Environmental and Natural Resources Bureau, and the Department of the Interior.
The Environmental Externship places students with regional environmental offices, including the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; the Environmental Crimes Unit of the Westchester County District Attorney's office; the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2; the Environmental Protection Bureau of the NYS Attorney General's Office, and the NYC Law Department's Environmental Division.
The Prosecutorial Externship places students at District Attorneys' offices in Westchester, New York, Bronx, Rockland, Queens, Ulster, Sullivan and Kings Counties, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York (White Plains and Manhattan offices), the Organized Crime Task Force, the Connecticut State's Attorney's Offices, and the Bergen and Passaic County Prosecutors' Offices in New Jersey.
The Family Law Externship places students in the Family Court in White Plains or Yonkers.
The Legal Services/Public Health Externship places students with local direct legal services providers, which have included the New York City Legal Aid Society, the Children's Advocacy Center at the Westchester Institute of Human Development, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, and the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Penn State Law students extern with federal government agencies, judicial chambers, and public defender and prosecutor offices. Students participate in all aspects of civil and criminal litigation, draft legislation, prepare testimony and attend administrative proceedings, and work directly with federal judges and law clerks in observing trials, oral arguments, and the work of the court.
Federal Government Placements
State Government Placements
Public Interest and Nonprofit Placements
Semester in Washington
Penn State Law students who participate in the Semester in Washington program spend one semester during their third year of law school in Washington, D.C., externing at an approved federal government agency, nonprofit organization, or public interest group. The experience provides advanced study in federal law and serves as a capstone experience for students interested in federal practice.
Semester in Harrisburg
The Semester in Harrisburg program allows students to spend a semester during the third year of law school in the Pennsylvania state capital, working for academic credit at an approved state government agency, the state legislature, or a nonprofit group that focuses on state government affairs. The program is recommended for students who are interested in pursuing a career in state government or a particular regulatory area, such as banking regulation, environmental law, or securities regulation.
International Justice Externship Program
Penn State Law's International Justice Externship offers students an opportunity to pursue advanced international study and gain legal experience in a global setting. Working side-by-side with senior prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, both located in The Hague, Netherlands, students participate in some of the most significant international criminal cases being prosecuted today.
Public Counsel, http://www.publiccounsel.org
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, http://www.lafla.org
Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, http://www.clcla.org
International Justice Mission, http://www.ijm.org
The Alliance for Children's Rights, https://kids-alliance.org/
Special Education Advocacy Clinic, http://law.pepperdine.edu/clinical/special_education_advocacy_clinic/
Bet Tzedek Legal Services, http://www.bettzedek.org
El Rescate, http://www.elrescate.org
Adoption Law Group
Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law, http://www.hbcfl.org/
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Taking advantage of Connecticut's liberal student practice rules, Quinnipiac's externship programs, like the Law School's in-house clinics, provide an important bridge between theory and practice for upper-level students. Working under the supervision of experienced lawyers, judges, and mediators in a network of over three-hundred participating placements in offices and courthouses throughout the state, in New York, and in neighboring New England states, QUSL externs apply the lessons they have learned in the classroom to actual legal problems, and in doing so, begin to understand how legal doctrine operates in the real world. Through their work with both their field supervisors and the faculty supervisors who arrange their placements and teach the seminar components of the externship courses, students also develop the kinds of mentoring relationships that will be critical to their professional development, both during and after law school. Most importantly, they develop and refine the lawyering skills and professional values necessary for the competent and ethical representation of clients.
The Law School's curriculum currently includes nine field placement programs, eight of which place students in public interest/public sector practice settings: the Criminal Justice Externship, the Family and Juvenile Law Externship, the Judicial Externship, the Legal Services Externship, the Legislative Externship, the Mediation Externship, the Public Interest Externship, and our externship sequel, Field Placement II. Through participation in these programs, students can explore one or more of the practice settings that may await them after graduation.
Detailed information about the programs is available at http://law.quinnipiac.edu/x109.xml.
Two different courses are offered: one for legal aid and non-profit externs, the second for governmental and judicial externs. The subjects covered in these courses include ethics, case management, client interviewing, factual investigation and related topic.
Students enrolled in the Judicial, Prosecution, or Public Interest Externship Program work 2, 3, or 5 days each week in a public interest law office, and take a weekly 2-hour seminar. Students receive 4, 6, or 12 pass-fail credits for their work in the field, and 2 graded credits for the seminar. Students may work in one of about 20 pre-approved placements in Rhode Island, Boston, or Southeastern Massachusetts, or may set up their own placement in conjunction with the program director. In addition, we have recently started a Semester-in-Practice Program through which students may design their own placement anywhere in the country (or outside of the country), with the Program Director's approval, as long as the placement fits within one of our pre-existing externship programs.
http://law.rwu.edu/feinsteincenter/experiential-learning/clinical-externships
Rutgers-Newark provides our law students with the opportunity to receive credit for work done in one of several field placements:
- Attorney General Externship
- Federal Public Defender Externship
- Immigration Law Externship
- Intellectual Property Externship
- Judicial Externship
- National Labor Relations Board Externship
- Field Placement
The law school conducts an extensive externship program whereby third-year students gain academic credit while working twelve to fifteen hours each week for various public and private nonprofit agencies and for state and federal judges. In addition to the agency work, students attend seminars relating to the work done in their placements, and write journals reflecting on their experiences.
The Externship Program at St. John's School of Law places students with a variety of pre-approved employers where they work directly with an assigned mentor-attorney on real legal matters. Externship placements provide students with actual litigation and transactional experience and, in some cases, students are exposed to case management and policy issues. All placements give the students a real life practical experience and prepare students for the practice of law in specific areas. Students choose placements based upon their interest in a substantive area of law or their desire to learn or sharpen particular lawyering skills.
Students work in placements that span across the legal spectrum and include placements in public interest organizations and governmental agencies. Recent placements include:
- United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
- NYC Department of Consumer Affairs
- United States Postal Service - Law Department
- Mental Hygiene Legal Services
- New York City Law Department
- The Legal Aid Society (civil, criminal and juvenile rights)
- Brooklyn Defenders Services
- Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Nassau, Suffolk, Queens and Richmond County District Attorney's Offices
- United States Attorney's Office (Eastern and Southern District)
- Judicial Chambers (Federal, State, Surrogate's, County and City courts)
Students augment the hands-on experience they gain from their externship placement by taking a concurrent seminar. With the first externship placement, students take a practical externship seminar that focuses on learning everyday lawyering skills needed in any legal setting, such as client counseling, negotiations and interviewing techniques, fact and source investigation and ethics in the workplace. When students enroll in subsequent externships, they take an advanced seminar that further hones their lawyering skills focusing on various additional practical topics.
The extern program offers students the opportunity to work under the supervision of a practicing attorney in settings outside the law school. Specific locations may vary from one semester to another, but every effort is made to match students with an office that addresses the student's primary interest.
For example, students seeking litigation experience may be placed with a state prosecutor's office or with the U.S. Attorney's office, while those wanting experience working with individual clients might work at one of the legal aid programs in the St. Louis area. An interest in family law or children's issues can be accommodated through the Family Court, the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program or the Missouri Protection and Advocacy program. Students wanting to emphasize civil rights issues or employment law can be placed with the ACLU or the EEOC. For those students earning a Certificate in Health Law, the externship program offers in-house counsel opportunities at area hospitals as well as opportunities with relevant state and federal agency offices to fulfill the health law practice requirement.
This list is not exhaustive, as the St. Louis area includes many not-for-profit and government offices which welcome the chance to mentor law students in a practice setting.
Externship Program assists students in finding externships with a classroom component:
Amanda Rivas
Practice Credit Placement Associate Director
Tel: (210) 431-5712
E-mail
The Pro Bono Program promotes internships and stipends relating to public interest and non-profit organizational work:
Texas Access to Justice Internship Program
Curtin Justice Fund Legal Internship Program
AT&T Excellence in Pro Bono Scholarship/Internship
Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps JD Program
St. Thomas Law offers many opportunities for externships/internships. The Clinic Program and the Office for Career Development assist in providing opportunities.
Externship I
Students enrolled in any externship must also enroll in this class component. This externship class meets one hour each week. This class will address some substantive topics; negotiation, trial, and other lawyering skills; professionalism and ethical issues; communication with supervisors, clients and others; workplace problems; and other issues applicable to all externs. Some classes will have breakout sessions to address specific topics relevant to particular types of placement. Students enrolled in the externship class submit written work, including the following: a statement of goals at the beginning of the semester; a weekly report of hours with narrative description of activities; submission of a research paper; a reflection essay; and others assigned by the instructor. Participating students receive one hour of graded credit.
Externship II
This class component is required should a student choose to enroll in a second externship. The class would have the same requirements as Externship I. Participating students receive one hour of graded credit.
Judicial Externship I
This is an externship with a federal judge. Othe requirements include: membership on American Journal of Trial Advocate or Law Review or other evidence of superior writing skills. Students are required to work a minimum of 120 hours in the placement. Participating students receive two hours pass/fail credit.
Corporate Externship I
This is an externship placement with a corporate legal office. Students are required to work a minimum of 120 hours in the placement. Participating students receive two hours pass/fail credit.
Litigation Extension I
This externship involves placement in a litigation office such as the District Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office, Legal Aid Society, and Legal Services of Metro Birmingham. Students must be certified under the Alabama Rule for Legal Internship and have completed Basic Skills in Trial Advocacy. Students are required to work a minimum of 120 hours in the placement. Participating students receive two hours pass/fail credit.
Government Agency Externship I
This externship involves placement in a government agency, such as the U.S. Attorney's Office, IRS, National Labor Relations Board or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Students are required to work a minimum of 120 hours in the placement. Participating students receive two hours pass/fail credit.
Currently, there are five externship programs that offer students an opportunity to receive academic credit for their fieldwork:
- Civil Practice and High Tech Law: Civil practice students find placements in public interest agencies, private law offices, city attorney's offices, corporate legal departments and other settings under the direct supervision of a licensed California attorney. High tech students find placements in the legal departments of high tech companies, or law firms representing high tech companies, or non-profit organizations focused on high tech law under the supervision of a licensed California attorney, monitored by a member of the law faculty.
- Criminal Justice: Students enrolled in the criminal justice externship program work in a prosecutor's or public defender's office, under the direct supervision of a licensed attorney.
- Judicial: The purpose of this externship program is to afford qualified students the opportunity to observe and participate in the functioning of either a trial or appellate court by interning for a judge.
- Domestic Away: The Domestic "Away" Externship Program is for judicial, government and social justice Externships out of the Bay Area. The Domestic "Away" Externship Program does not include placements of for profit firms and companies. Away placements are limited to established social justice organizations, government offices and the courts.
- The Panetta Fellowship: The Panetta Fellowship Program is a joint venture between Santa Clara University School of Law and the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy in Monterey, California. The Panetta Fellowship Program was developed to provide an educational opportunity for law students interested in the law and government, political science or public policy to work with Leon and Sylvia Panetta, and other professional staff at The Panetta Institute, on matters within the public mission and service of the Institute.
The externship program is open to all students who have completed their first year of legal studies and who have completed Pleading and Civil Procedure. Placements are made in the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. Participation in the program is contingent upon acceptance by the firm or company in which the placement is sought and approval by the Director of Law Externships. Individual placements may have additional educational or experiential requirements.
Seattle University School of Law recognizes that experiential learning is an important component of a law student's legal training. Experiential learning at the law school takes two primary forms: either the traditional clinic or the externship program, which places students with judges or practitioners.
A traditional clinic can offer a student the opportunity to represent a client in a live case, and a well-supervised externship program can help a student learn to manage a heavier case-load or to complete a variety of attorney work products in judicial chambers or practice settings. The externship experience helps the student move from law school to practice more easily. Both the faculty supervisor and the site supervisor guide the extern in reflecting on experiences in practice. This reflection enhances the practice experience by providing context for an extern's reactions to situations and observations.
The externship program's goal is to provide externs with a rewarding, well-supervised experience in judicial chambers or a practice setting that will ease their transition into practicing law, will instill professionalism, and will increase awareness of social justice concepts.
The externship program operates within the Law School's mission, which focuses on social justice, especially access to justice, concepts.
For more information, see: http://www.law.seattleu.edu/externships?mode=flash
We offer many exciting externships and gladly work with employers in government and non-profit legal agencies to expand placements available to students. The students who took part in the program from June 2004 to May 2005 externed with the Federal Public Defenders' Office, the United States Attorneys' Office, state and federal courts, and other outstanding government and non-profit agencies. Through the Externship Program, students obtain credit hours and hands-on legal experience. For information, please contact Stephanie Kauflin, Esq., Associate Director of the Office of Career Services, E-mail, (973) 642-8778.
Public Interest Clinic - Students serve with local non-profit agencies or charitable organizations. Placements include the Legal Aid Society, the Texas Defender Project, Catholic Charities, Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program, and many others. Students enroll for three or four semester credit hours, and perform a minimum of 180 to 240 hours of service.
Public Interest & Judicial Externship Clinics: Students in the externship clinics work in city, state, and federal or non-profit law offices, or as judicial law clerks. Externs learn research techniques, fact investigation, legal document drafting, computer skills, and client interviewing and counseling. Students with a 711 student practice license can appear in court and represent clients under attorney supervision.
SMU’s Externship Program provides students with the opportunity to learn by doing. They work in carefully selected legal settings under the supervision of a mentor-attorney and a member of the law faculty. Student externs observe and participate in lawyering tasks, gaining both valuable skills and a sense of the kind of lawyer they wish to become. In addition, externships foster sensitivity to the social, political and professional implications of the legal process.
Pre-Approved Externships: A large number of externships have been pre-approved. They provide students a chance to work with non-profit organizations, courts, government agencies, corporate counsel’s offices, and health care organizations. They give students exposure to the roles of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, advocates for the poor, advisers to businesses, enforcers of regulatory systems, and more. Some externships also provide the opportunity to work abroad with international institutions.
Student-Initiated Externships: Students also may apply to have appropriate unpaid legal internships recognized as for-credit externships. Before the student begins working, the student must find a faculty member willing to be the Faculty Supervisor and, together with the Faculty Advisor, be sure that the externship satisfies specific externship rules and receive approval from the Curriculum Committee.
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Southwestern's Externship Program offers students the opportunity to gain real-life practical experiences by externing at a select number of approved off-campus placements with government agencies, state and federal judges, the legal departments of select organizations, including the entertainment industry and in public interest agencies. The Program includes a wide variety of fieldwork opportunities for Southwestern students throughout the greater Los Angeles area including but not limited to Alliance for Children's Rights, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Children's Law Center and Public Counsel. Externships can be done anywhere in the country and abroad. The Externship Program enhances the students' legal education through hands-on experience as well as observation of the practice of law, with structured and appropriate supervision. Externships are also a great opportunity for students to refine educational goals and test career goals.
The externship program at Stanford Law School provides second- and third-year students with a focused semester-long educational experience by combining fieldwork in nonprofit and government organizations with structured coursework or independent study.
The Standard Externship Program (SEP) offers placements in Bay Area organizations, and the Special Circumstances Externship Program (SCEP) allows students to apply for placements in organizations outside the Bay Area. Many SLS students take this opportunity to work on the East Coast or abroad. In the past, SLS students have traveled to Tanzania, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Switzerland, Brazil, and Costa Rica to serve in externships.
Stetson University College of Law offers several Judicial Internship Programs. Placements include local, state, and federal trial courts, bankruptcy courts, Florida's Second District Court of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Washington, D.C.).
Civil and Judicial Internship Program – http://www.law.suffolk.edu/academic/clinical/internship/int/
Battered Women's Advocacy Program – http://www.law.suffolk.edu/academic/clinical/women.cfm
SUNY Buffalo Law School offers its second and third-year students for-credit judicial clerkships and externships at governmental, not-for-profit legal offices and courts in Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls and surrounding communities. The possible placements are listed in each semester's registration materials so that students can apply for placements that best meet their professional and academic aspirations and experience.
Student judicial clerks work at all court levels and jurisdictions, including federal appeals court, federal district court, state intermediate appeals court, and state, county and city trial level courts. Externs work in a wide variety of over 25 city, county and state legal offices, as well as not-for-profit offices, including the offices of the U.S. Attorney, Legal Aid, the state Attorney General, the Empire Justice Center, the Erie County District Attorney, the University Counsel for the State University of New York, the National Labor Relations Board, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Monroe County Public Defender and the Buffalo Corporation Counsel, just to name a few.
Externships and judicial clerkships are great opportunities for SUNY Buffalo law students to learn by working with good lawyers and to give back to their community by helping to provide legal services to the public and to those in need.
Lise Gelernter
Teaching Faculty and Director, Externship Program
E-mail
(716) 645-5540
Dawn Skopinski
Externship Program Administrator & Public Interest Coordinator
E-mail
(716) 645-6261
More information on the program can be found at:
http://www.law.buffalo.edu/beyond/externships.html
The Externship Program is available to second and third year students who are in good academic standing. Students may participate in the Program during the academic year and/or during the summer. To enroll students participate in an application and interview process with pre-established placement sites during the Spring semester. Representative externship placements include the United States Attorneys' Office, the City of Syracuse Corporation Counsel's Office, federal and state judges, Hiscock Legal Aid, and Legal Services of Central New York.
For more information on the SUCOL externship program: http://law.syr.edu/academics/clinical-experiential/externships/
Temple University: James E. Beasley School of Law
Temple's clinical program consists of both clinics and field placements. Temple has sixteen public interest field placement courses, twelve of which are offered in the spring and fall, and four are offered in only one semester. These courses include placements doing local and federal criminal defense and prosecution, mediation, housing, bankruptcy, homeless advocacy, environmental law and lesbian, gay and transgendered law. Temple does not authorize field placements for academic credit outside their clinic program. More information on Temple's clinical program can be found at http://www.law.temple.edu/servlet/RetrievePage?site=TempleLaw&page=Current_Clinical_Programs
Texas A & M University School of Law
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Students may participate in externship for credit in which they work under the supervision of a lawyer or a judge. The externship course includes a classroom component, and students meet together with a faculty member to discuss their work experiences in their internship placement
Access to Justice Summer Internship Programwww.texasatj.org/intersnship
Through the Clinical Education Program, students work with government agencies, nonprofit organizations and firms or organizations that directly deliver legal services to indigent people.
Companion Courses:
Clinical Education I -- A class dedicated to supporting and enhancing the students experience during their field placement; 1unit-5units depending on the student's time commitment to the organization; students can begin enrolling in their third semester.
Clinical Education II -- A class for students who have already completed one field placement for credit. Emphasis is placed on building upon the skill sets that were developed during the second placement; 1 unit- 5 units depending on hours students commit to field placement; students can enroll during their fourth semester.
Judicial Seminar -- Class specifically designed for students working in chambers; 1unit - 5 units depending on hours committed to the placement; students can begin enrolling during their third semester.
Cooley Law School offers over 2,000 externship sites around the country, many of them in public interest fields such as disability law, environmental law, family violence, immigration law, Indian law, legal services, and in judicial, legislative, prosecutor, and public defender offices. The heart of an externship is the hands-on experience students receive as they work closely with an experienced lawyer. Cooley requires each student to complete an intense clinical or externship experience. An extern works at a field placement for a minimum of four hours a week for every hour of credit given for the entire term. Placements average 6.5 credit hours per term, although students may earn up to 10 credits working 40 hours per week. In addition to the valuable relationship between the student and field supervisor, externs work directly with a Cooley faculty supervisor, who is responsible for monitoring the placement, visiting the site, and facilitating the extern's learning by communicating regularly with the student.
Touro administers Civil and Criminal Externship Clinics where individual students are placed in both public and private firms. Touro also has a Rotation Clinic where students are placed at the US Attorney's Office and Nassau/Suffolk Law Services for extended periods.
The largest number of externships fall in the judicial category. Students are placed with the Federal District Court and the Federal Bankruptcy Court. Students are required to enroll in a year-long Externship Seminar. Five semester credits are awarded upon successful completion of the year-long externship and seminar.
Tulane Law school also offers year-long externship placements in the following government and non-profit settings: the Regional Office of the NLRB in New Orleans; the E.E.O.C., New Orleans District; and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana. In addition there is a semester-long Public Interest Externship offering a variety of non-profit agency settings.
Through its Public External Placement Clinic, Akron Law places students for credit in public interest settings under the direct supervision of an attorney. Placements are coordinated by the Director of the SEED Legal Clinic. Students earn academic credit for working 90 to 120 hours per semester at a public interest placement. Placements include a classroom component. Students may participate in the Public External Placement Clinic twice during their law school career.
The Public Interest Fellowship Program ("PIFP") is designed to support the public interest endeavors of students in terms of related work experiences. The PIFP presents students with the opportunity to gain relevant public interest experiences and legal skills while earning a modest stipend. The PIFP is offered three times per year (fall, spring and summer semesters). Upon their application, Akron Law students are considered by a committee of Akron Law faculty and administrators, and if selected, receive a monetary award based upon the anticipated hours worked and available funding.
The PFIP stipends are funded by the Samuel Reece Willis Foundation, the Student Bar Association Auction and the Malkin - Koosed Public Interest Fellowship. These sources together historically generate in excess of $30,000 per year for the PIFP stipends.
The University of Alabama's externship program offers second and third-year students experience in client advocacy, litigation, and the judicial process in a structured, supervised learning environment. Externship supervisors, who are practicing attorneys and judges, are carefully selected by the full-time faculty member in charge of the program. The externships provide students with an opportunity for a deeper understanding of professional responsibility issues, analysis of procedural and substantive law, and appreciation of the legal process.
During the summer, placements (5 credits) are available with offices specializing in criminal law (e.g., United States Attorneys, District Attorneys, Public Defenders, and Alabama's Attorney General) and civil law (e.g., U.S. Attorneys' Offices, Alabama Supreme Court Library's Research Assistance Division, Governor's Legal Counsel's office, Legal Services, National Labor Relations Board, and University of Alabama Counsel's office). Students work full time during a 6-week session under the direct supervision of attorneys in the offices to which they are assigned. They also attend externship classes at the Law School and submit papers during and at the conclusion of the externship.
During the academic year, placements (2 credits) are available in the chambers of state and federal judges and magistrates. Students work a minimum of 120 hours per semester in the office where they are placed. Duties include hearing and pretrial preparation and assistance on trials and appeals.
- Arizona State Legislature Externship
- Bacon Immigration Law & Policy Program Internships
- Center for Creative Photography Externship
- Department of Justice Environmental Enforcement Externship
- Federal Public Defender Externship
- Judicial Externships
- Pasqua Yaqui Court of Appeals Externship
- Udall Family Fellowship/Arizona Prosecution Attorneys' Advisory Council Externship
- United States Attorney's Office Externship
- University Medical Center General Counsel Externship
Public Service Externship Course
Equal Justice Works, a student-organized public interest group, amongst other activities, raises funds throughout the year to subsidize student public interest internships during the summer. This program has been active since 1996.The School of Law will create an institutional culture that supports the public service aspect of its mission.
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UC Irvine School of Law also encourages students to provide legal services to the underserved through our Externship Program, which gives academic credit for hands-on legal experience. Among the externship opportunities offered is a full-semester program called UCDC, a collaboration among the UC law schools that helps place second- and third-year students in Washington D.C. for semester-long externships, including on Capitol Hill, in the Department of Justice and the White House, and with many other agencies and non-profit organizations.
For more information, please visit the UCI Law Externship website at: http://law.uci.edu/current/externships.html
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Public Interest Law Externship
Students in the public interest clinical have a variety of experiences depending on where they work. Placements range from government agencies, such as the U.S. Attorney's Office, to nonprofit law firms to legal aid offices, like Legal Services of Northern California. Students are involved in direct legal services, community education, litigation, community economic development, mediation and lobbying.
Judicial Externship
Students work full- or part-time as a part of the staff in state and federal courtrooms. Students work at the California Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the California Court of Appeal, and state trial courts. Students' day-to-day assignments vary somewhat depending on the court, the judge, and the judge's calendar.
Federal and State Taxation Externship
Students work for the District Counsel's office of the Internal Revenue Service or Franchise Tax Board on substantive and procedural taxation issues. Students learn a great deal about tax court litigation, collection practice, and bankruptcy practice. Students are given a case file and work up the case from start to finish.
Criminal Justice Externship
King Hall students gain practical experience in criminal law by working in county, state and federal offices full- or part-time. Students working for county district attorney's and public defender's offices are placed in Sacramento, Yolo, San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, Solano, and Stanislaus counties. Other students are placed with the Office of the State Public Defender or with the Special Assistant Attorney General. Students engage in factual investigation, interviewing, counseling, negotiating, motion practice and trials under State Bar rules.
Environmental Law Externship
Students in environmental law clinicals come face-to-face with the tough issues related to environmental problems like water rights, hazardous waste, jurisdictional questions, superfund cleanup, land use planning, flood control, water rights, and landfills.
Legislative Process Externship
Students may work as staffers to legislators or legislative committees, the Governor's legislative staff, or with one of Sacramento's many lobbying organizations. The Legislative Externship is part of the King Hall's Legislative Lawyering Program that includes courses in legislative process, legislative drafting, and legislative research.
The Berkeley Law Field Placement Program allows students to receive academic credit for part-time or full-time judicial externships and legal work with non-profits and government agencies under the supervision of an attorney.
There are five field placement programs/courses:
Civil Field Placements - Students receive academic credit for part-time legal work for non-profits and government agencies under the supervision of an attorney. Students are required to do field placements for 16 hours per week over 14 weeks for 4 units of credit. There is a required accompanying 2-unit seminar that meets the law school's Professional Responsibility requirement.
Judicial Externships - Students work part-time or full-time for local, federal or state judges and chambers in the San Francisco/Bay Area. Students externing for a judge usually work 16 to 40 hours per week over 14 weeks for 4 to10 units of credit. There is a required accompanying 1-unit seminar.
Criminal Field Placements - Students receive academic credit for part-time criminal legal work for non-profits and government agencies under the supervision of an attorney. Students are required to do field placements for 16 hours per week over 14 weeks for 4 units of credit. There is a required accompanying 2-unit seminar that meets the law school's Professional Responsibility requirement.
Away Field Placements - Students receive up to 10 units of academic credit for legal work with an approved non-profit or government agency outside the San Francisco/Bay Area. Generally, students working at away placements complete 40 hours per week over 14 weeks or 560 hours for 10 units of credit.
UCDC Law Program - Students receive up to 10 units for field placements and additional units for participation in the accompanying required seminar. Students interested in UCDC Law are encouraged to visit www.law.berkeley.edu/3691.htm For more information, please visit the Field Placement Program website at: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/179.htm
Externships give students opportunities to develop their legal skills under close supervision at approved governmental or public interest law offices. In addition to working in the placements, students co-enroll in a faculty taught course designed to enhance the placement experience. Faculty also monitor placements to ensure their quality as learning experiences. Students assume real-world responsibilities and develop professional contacts and relationships in contexts identical to those in which they may eventually practice.
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Externship
- Judicial Externship Program
- Legal Externship Program
None.
Students receive a total of three credit hours for extern placements (one graded credit hour for the classroom portion and two pass/fail credit hours for the placement). Each student must work at least 100 hours at his/her placement site in order to receive credit. Students may only do one legal externship, which are limited to government offices or non-profit and public interest organizations. There is also a judicial externship program that is administered separately from the legal externship course. Students may only do one judicial externship.
An externship at Colorado Law is an opportunity to gain academic credit for doing substantive legal work with a government agency, private non-profit or public interest institution, or other private sector employer such as a law firm. In accordance with the goals of ABA Standard 305, Colorado Law's Externship Program aims to help students develop professional lawyering skills, gain insight into various aspects of the legal system and profession, and cultivate a sense of professional responsibility. The concurrent mandatory externship class sessions also gives students the opportunity to learn from and reflect on their field experiences. Students can receive four academic credits through this program, but also have the opportunity to petition for up to three additional credits. A list of past externship placements can be seen at http://www.colorado.edu/law/externships/files/PastExternshipPlacements.pdf
University of Connecticut: University of Connecticut School of Law
The Law School offers students the opportunity to develop an extensive array of externships for academic credit in public interest settings that are directly related to their individualized interests. Most recently, Law School students have earned academic credit for externships with organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, Connecticut Legal Services and Western Massachusetts Legal Services.
The School of Law offers a judicial externship placement (county, state or federal court) for second or third year students.
With more than 450 placements a year, the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law's Legal Externship Program is an effective and comprehensive bridge to take students from law student to lawyer. There are substantial numbers of federal government agencies, state and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, and public defender/district attorney offices within the region that are available to students. Students generally then enroll in a one-credit seminar related to the practice setting (e.g. nonprofit, government agency, etc.)
We also now offer some specialized externship programs related to public interest:
- The Child Advocacy Externship allows students to work as Guardian Ad Litems with the Rocky Mountain Children Law Center. Students take a yearlong class and represent children in abuse and neglect, civil restraining orders, delinquency, probate and adoption cases.
- The Hybrid Externship Program combines aspects of a clinical program with the structure of an externship program. The mission of the HIP is to teach students to become effective lawyers through real life, interdisciplinary representation of immigrant clients, policy advocacy relating to immigrants' rights, and the provision of legal education to immigrant communities. Placements vary.
- The Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Externship Program brings together students, lawyers, and a range of organizations and agencies that specifically address issues of racial, social, and economic justice within different practice settings and across different issues areas. Students extern at government agencies with a civil rights focus, plaintiff side firms that do discrimination work, and civil rights nonprofit organizations.
Visit http://www.law.du.edu/index.php/legal-externship-program for more info.
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Every year the Center for Career Services offers for-credit externships in areas such as: family law, domestic violence, civil rights law, consumer protection, human rights, prisoner rights, state and local government law with all levels of the judiciary and various agencies.
- Civil Externship Clinic- Students learn from practice with attorneys and judges in judicial, government and private nonprofit positions. Placements include judges' chambers, litigation offices, planning services, government agencies and private nonprofits. Many allow courtroom advocacy under student practice rules.
- Prosecutorial Clinic - Participants serve as student attorneys in state and federal prosecutorial offices throughout northeast Georgia. Third-year students prepare and present cases to the grand jury and conduct preliminary, bond and probation revocation hearings. They also work with police investigators to present cases and draft felony indictments.
- Capital Assistance Project - Initiated at the suggestion of the Supreme Court of Georgia, students work at agencies defending individuals charged with or convicted of capital crimes. Students conduct valuable research and writing projects under the guidance of attorneys in relation to these matters.
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Judicial Externships - http://law.uh.edu/externship/judicial.asp
Government and Nonprofit Externships - http://law.uh.edu/externship/externship.asp
Criminal Practice Externships (Prosecution) – http://law.uh.edu/externship/criminal-practice-externship.asp
The College of Law offers four externship options for students. Semester in Practice – The Semester in Practice is a 12-credit option for third year students interested in spending their sixth semester in the Boise area working in the public sector or for a non-profit association. The Director of External Programs teaches a contemporaneous classroom component.
Public Service Externship - Externship students in the summer can earn up to five classroom credits in the Classroom Credit Public Service Externship. These students must attend a contemporaneous classroom component.
Public Externship – Some students participate in a Public Externship program, which does not have a classroom component. Students who select this option are generally in distant locations and unable to attend weekly classes. These students can apply for up to four non-classroom credits toward graduation.
During the academic year, students can do an externship with a public entity (again with the restriction that only four non-classroom credits can be applied toward graduation) or a private firm (one-credit externship opportunity).
Clinical Externships
Clinical Externships offer students the opportunity to receive law credit for uncompensated work for a non profit organization, government agency, or judicial experience. In addition to meeting houly work requirements with the sponsoring agency, the students must also submit periodic reports, a skills analysis and a final evaluation of the experience. The work must be legal in nature and conducted under the supervision of an attorney.
South African Human Rights Commission Internship
Under the supervision of a dedicated faculty member, student at the College of Law may participate in an intership with the South African Human Rights Commission. This internship, funded by the College, allows the students to participate actively in the Commission and to be assigned cases of their own. In the past, assignments have also included investigations into the actions of the Department of Justice.
Students arrange externships outside the clinical programs with non-profit or government legal offices under faculty supervision. Students typically earn up to six credits, four ungraded and the remaining two earned by a research paper.
Since 2006, a second type of non-clinic legal externship ("summer legal placement") for three credits has become quite popular with students. Students must spend at least 150 on-site hours with a non-profit or government legal office. The paper requirement is suspended, though students are required to complete a series of reflective writings over the summer. Up to 45 students successfully have placed each summer with nonprofit or government agencies across the country and abroad.
Field placements are offered through five of our clinics. In the Criminal Prosecution Clinic students are assigned to work in various local prosecutors' offices, the state attorney general's office and offices of the United States Attorney. In addition to Lawrence, placements are available in Kansas City, Olathe, Topeka, Ottawa, and Lenexa. Field placements with the Externship clinic must be approved, but may vary from year to year. The Elder Law Externship places students in Kansas Legal Services field offices in Olathe, Topeka or Kansas City. Students in the Legislative clinic are placed with individual legislators in Topeka. Students in the Judicial Clerkship clinic are placed with trial judges in state and federal district courts, including bankruptcy courts and federal magistrate courts. Locations include Lawrence, Kansas City, Topeka, and Olathe.
Prison Internship (Law 967)
The prison internship is offered each semester and in the summer, and any second- or third-year student may register for the course. The course gives students the opportunity to provide legal assistance to inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lexington. Many of these inmates are indigent.
Innocence Project Externship (Law 957)
Students enrolled in the Innocence Project Externship help members of the State's Department of Public Advocacy research claims of actual innocence.
Kentucky Public Defender's Office Externship (Law 900)
This new experimental course gives students a chance to represent indigent defendants in the Lexington Public Defender's Office. This course is being offered on an experimental basis and is open to third-year students eligible for admission under the student practice rule. In this two credit course, students are required to work a total of 100 hours over the course of the semester. Students may only provide research support in connection with felony cases in Circuit Court. A very significant proportion of student work is to be accomplished under the student practice rule in cases before the Family Court and Juvenile Court, and in District Court misdemeanor cases.
Our students may choose an externship with a government agency, public interest group, non-profit legal agency or legal service office. The choice must be law-related with sufficient pedagogical content to warrant unit credit. Our student must be supervised by an attorney and of course not paid. The law school offers five classes for the clinical externship program.
We offer externships and internships at government and non-profits around the region.
Field placements are available through our Externship program, which gives students the opportunity to gain legal experience in the community and simultaneously receive feedback on their work from seasoned professionals with guidance and support from a faculty member. An externship enables selected second- and third-year students to apply the theories and skills gained in the classroom to a real-life legal setting. Through an externship a student may deepen his or her knowledge of a particular substantive area already explored in the classroom or broaden his or her understanding of the practice of law in a setting in which he or she might not otherwise work. A concurrent seminar taught by the Program Director facilitates the students' integration of the experience and encourages the extern to become a reflective practitioner and self-directed learner.
Students are selected for the program based upon application and earn six credits for participation. Some externships require prerequisite coursework. Externs work 18 hours per week over the course of the semester. Public service placements are all generally within the state of Maine and may include such organizations as Pine Tree Legal Assistance(www.ptla.org), Maine Attorney General's Office, U.S. Attorney, Worker's Compensation Board - Advocacy Division, and the Conservation Law Foundation ( http://www.clf.org/).
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/academics/practice
The law school believes it is important that students acquire the skills and values necessary for satisfying careers, while at the same time wants to ensure that the members of the neighboring community who are unable to afford private attorneys access the justice system. Thus, the law school has adopted a "practical skills" requirement, which mandates that all students take at least six credits of skills courses; since three of the six practice credits must be satisfied through a clinic or field placement course, it ensures that all students will have a real professional practice experience.
The law school's public interest externships and internships are offered in the Field Placement Program, through which students are placed at a nonprofit organization, government agency, or judicial office, and the Coordinated Field Placement Program, through which students are placed at a nonprofit organization, government agency, or judicial office as a supplement to a doctrinal class in which they are concurrently enrolled.
The Law School offers the following public interest externships for credit: judicial externships with the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the U.S. Immigration Court, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court, the Tennessee Court of Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals, the Shelby County Circuit Court; criminal justice externships with the United States Attorney's Office, the Shelby County District Attorney General's Office, the Shelby County Public Defender's Office, Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender; administrative agency externships with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Memphis Housing Authority's Legal Department, the National Labor Relations Board; health law externships with Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Regional Medical Center at Memphis, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation; government practice externships with the Memphis City Attorney's Office, Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority's Office of General Counsel; education law externships with the University of Memphis' Office of University Counsel; and community legal externships with the Community Legal Center, Legal Aid of Arkansas (pending faculty approval), Memphis Area Legal Services; and banking law externship with Orion Federal Credit Union's Office of Legal Counsel and Compliance.
The School of Law offers many opportunities for internships/externships. Direct placement opportunities are supported by the Litigation Skills Office, the HOPE Public Interest Resource Center and the Career Development Office.
Externships offer an exciting opportunity to augment classroom study with real-world work experience. Students (under the guidance of both a faculty member and an attorney supervisor) may immerse themselves for an entire semester in legal work for government agencies or non-profits such as the U.S. State Department, Equal Justice Initiative, AIRE Center of London and NAACP Legal Defense Fund. There is also the annual South African externship program, which allows a limited number of students to perform externships in South Africa. During the 2006-2007 academic year, 25 students participated in this program.
Michigan's externship program is designed to provide individual students with advanced training and research opportunities in areas of particular interest to them that go beyond what is traditionally offered in a classroom setting. A student may develop a proposal that builds on work the student has done in school or provides background for work the student plans to do upon return. The proposal must demonstrate that external study provides an educational opportunity not available in the regular curriculum. Although skills training may be a component of an external studies program, the object of the program must be to further the student's legal education in the sense of deepening his or her understanding of the nature of law and the legal system; skills training alone is not an adequate justification for engaging in study outside the Law School. Because the production of significant scholarly work is a vital part of the program, any proposal for external studies must include a research project (written under the supervision of a member of the University of Michigan Law School faculty) equivalent to a 3- hour seminar paper in a subject related to the work of the externship agency.
In recent years, students have pursued externships with such organizations as the Office of the Legal Advisor of the U.S. State Department, the National Wildlife Federation, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Screen Actors Guild, the US Army Judge Advocate General, and the International Labor Rights Fund. For further information, please contact Christine Gregory, Director, Office of Student Affairs at (734) 615-4517 or E-mail.
Students may participate in a judicial externship in which they are assigned to a judge and serve as a part-time clerk for one semester. Positions are available with federal district, bankruptcy, state court of appeals, district court judges, and tribal courts. The students prepare research memoranda, observe judicial proceedings, and participate in the drafting of opinions and orders.
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Through the externship program, students are given develop the skills necessary to bridge the gap between law school and law practice. Students are able to prepare for effective and responsible participation in the legal profession by applying the core concepts learned in law school courses to the challenges presented in the actual, real-world practice of law.
The externship program allows a student to work under the supervision of a lawyer or judge in a public law office, government agency, or not for profit organization or for an attorney in private practice so long as the student is assisting only with pro bono work performed by that attorney, for such purposes as:
- Enhancing their legal research and writing skills
- Taking part in and observing law practice or judicial decision making
- Using concepts and skills learned in regular law school classes
- Appearing before courts and administrative agencies under Missouri Supreme Court Rule 13
- Understanding the requirements of compliance with the rules of professional responsibility
- Considering the difficult human and ethical problems that face modern lawyers
Federal Public Defender Externship Clinic, Judicial Clerkships
UM offers extensive clinical offerings, including placements in outside legal organizations.
Students, with the approval of a sponsoring faculty member, may take one to three hours of externship in a public interest area in conjunction with a seminar or research in a selected field.
Students have the opportunity to learn as student externs under the direct supervision of attorneys and judges. Externship opportunities exist in the public and not-for-profit sectors, including all federal and state judicial branches, the Nevada and U.S. legislatures, and many governmental and public interest offices. For a listing of current externship opportunities see http://www.law.unlv.edu/clinic_externship.html
University of New Hampshire Law School Externship Program:
As one of the oldest externship programs in the country, the University of New Hampshire School of Law strives to connect law students with public-interest and private arena placements. Beyond merely connecting students with placements, utilizing the philosophy that students must have work related experiences in order to be employed and function effectively, the UNH School of Law helps second and third year law students to design and implement learning plans for their externship semester. As externs, students work under the supervision of a practicing attorney and receive academic credit for their unpaid legal work.
The school has a long standing and continuing relationship with federal trial and appellate courts, local Prosecutors' Offices, the New Hampshire Public Defenders Office, New Hampshire Legal Assistance, New Hampshire Disability Rights Center, the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, and many other State agencies. Additionally, many students have taken advantage of the flexibility of the externship program to work in high profile public interest placements, such as the Southern Center for Human Rights, the Children's Rights Center, and Public Citizens.
International Criminal Law & Justice- Washington D.C. Summer Seminar Program:
The International Criminal Law & Justice-Washington D.C. Summer Seminar Program explores topics relating to criminal activity and law enforcement responses that cross international borders. In the past, UNH law students have had the opportunity to actively engage in discussion about the global legal response to terrorism, counterfeiting and intellectual property crimes, as well as human trafficking issues. UNH Law students enrolled in this intensive week-long seminar program earn academic credit towards their JD degree.
Externships can be done within New Mexico or outside the state. There is a classroom component and there must be an attorney supervisor in the field. Externships can be done any semester, and during the summer term, after completion of the first year requirements.
Externships: The Externship Program is designed to enhance traditional classroom instruction by engaging students in real life lawyering experiences with practicing lawyers and judges in the community. Students receive three units of pass/fail academic credit for working at an approved externship placement for approximately twelve hours a week during the semester, and thirty-two hours per week during the summer. Judges and lawyers from government agencies, public interest groups and corporate counsel offices serve as mentors and on-site supervisors for the students. The Externship directors serve as the student's faculty supervisors. The faculty supervisors guide and facilitate the student's exploration of their externship experience through tutorials, journal writing and group discussion.
The Summer Program: The summer program offers 50 placements, both at judicial and non-judicial sites. First- and second-year students interested in summer placement earn 5 pass/fail credit hours during the 7 week session and are on-site 32 hours per week. Externs attend class on Friday mornings during the summer session.
The Semester in Practice Program: The Semester in Practice program offers full time, semester long externships with our partner government agencies and public interest organizations in Washington DC, New York City, Atlanta and North Carolina. The program is designed as a capstone experience for students interested in a particular area of practice or skills set who are willing to spend the full semester off campus and externing full time with the host organization. Students are trained and mentored by on-site supervisors at the host organization. In addition, the Externship Program's faculty supervisors guide and facilitate the student's exploration of their experience through virtual classroom discussion, journal writing and individual conferences.
Internships: The Career Development Office provides resources and counseling for students' public interest internship search, including evaluations from students concerning their summer employment experiences with public interest employers. The Director Public Interest Advising is the full-time counselor for students interested in public interest (including government) positions and careers.
Symplicity: The CDO uses the online software Symplicity to manage job listings (internship, summer, and permanent), on-campus interviewing, off-campus interview programs, and other recruiting events. Access to Symplicity is available online to current students and Carolina Law alumni 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
On Campus Interviews: On-campus interviews are typically held in the fall semester during August and September and in the spring semester from late January through February. Students bid (apply) for on-campus interview opportunities through the Symplicity system.
Off-Campus Interview Programs: Students at Carolina Law are invited to participate in more than 30 off-campus interview programs each year, giving them access to employers who do not ordinarily participate in on-campus interviews or who are seeking students with specialized credentials or characteristics.
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Students may enroll in 3 credit hours per semester for externships with local judges and law offices. Students are required to work 140 hours over the course of the semester. During the first term that a student is enrolled in an externship, she must concurrently enroll in a two-credit class, Issues in Professionalism, where they explore current issues in the professional as well as relationships with clients and supervisors.
The Law School sponsors the following field placements for academic credit:
- State Supreme,Tax and Appellate Courts;
- United States Courts of Appeal and United States District Courts;
- United States Bankruptcy Court;
- United States Bankruptcy Trustee;
- State Administrative Agencies that write opinions.
Additional public interest field placements include positions with the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide.
The goal of Penn Law's Externship Program is to supplement traditional classroom study and experiential study obtained through clinical courses by providing external opportunities for students to observe and participate meaningfully in lawyering at government agencies and non-profit, public interest settings. Externships are intended to offer students in-depth study in substantive areas, supplement experiential study provided in clinical courses, and explore experiential study of subjects or activities not currently offered experientially in the curriculum. Click here to learn more about Penn Law's externship programming.
The school runs an externship program whereby students receive academic credit for working at non-profit organizations, government agencies and judicial chambers.
Students enrolled in a summer internship course worked 20 hours weekly for 6 weeks and earned 2 credits. Placements included community development, environmental law and labor law initiatives. Two students did extensive field work outside San Juan.
The University of Richmond offers externships and internships in the civil, criminal and judicial fields. Below is a list of the offices in which students have an opportunity to work: American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, Attorney General's Office of Virginia/ Antitrust and Consumer Litigation Division, Attorney General's Office of Virginia/Civil Litigation Division Employment Law Section, Attorney General's Office of Virginia/Mental Health & Health Services Section, Attorney General's Office of Virginia/Solicitor General Section, Capital One, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Commonwealth Mediation Group, Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Motor Vehicles, Chief Hearing Examiner's Office, Drive-To-Work, Henrico County Attorney's Office, Internal Revenue Service, Legal Aid Justice Center, Office of the City Attorney, Southern Environmental Law, The Nature Conservancy in Virginia, United Network for Organ Sharing, United States Attorney's Office, United States Equal Opportunity Commission, University of Richmond- Department of Athletics, University of Richmond- General Counsel, Virginia Commonwealth University/Health System Authority, Virginia Commonwealth University/Health System Authority, Virginia Commonwealth University/Office of the General Counsel, Virginia Community College System, Virginia Employment Commission, Virginia Poverty Law, Center, Virginia State AFL-CIO, Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Department, Virginia State Corporation Commission, Chesterfield Commonwealth's Attorney's Office (Adult) (Juvenile), Hanover Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, United States Attorney's Office, Office of the Appellate Defender, Office of the Capital Defender, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Richmond Public Defender's Office, Supreme Court of Virginia, Court of Appeals of Virginia, Chesterfield Circuit Court, Henrico Circuit Court, Richmond Circuit Court, Chesterfield Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Henrico Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, United States District Court, United States Bankruptcy Court, and United States Magistrate.
Public Interest externship offers students an opportunity to learn about public interest practice while engaging in significant hands-on legal work in a field placement at a public interest organization or government agency. Students will be challenged to discuss complex issues of ethics, access to justice, and professional growth through personal and group reflection exercises. Externship logs will serve both as a record of tasks accomplished and a reflection tool for the group project. The externship requires 150 hours of work from the student, between the field-placement and classwork components. Agencies will provide the extern with an appropriate workload designed to challenge the student while serving the mission of the organization.
The award-winning Mentor Externship program is one of the most distinctive and innovative components of the School of Law. It combines hands on experience with thoughtful reflection and gives each student a truly personal view of the legal profession.
Each year of law study, students are paired with a respected lawyer or judge in the community. Mentors introduce students to the work of lawyers and judges, through observation and hands on experiences with a range of legal tasks and activities such as depositions, client meetings or appellate arguments. Beyond introducing students to lawyering responsibilities, mentors share the traditions, ideals and skills necessary for a successful law career. Mentors also help students understand professionalism in ways that traditional classroom lecture cannot capture.
Over the course of three years, students build meaningful relationships with members of the bench and bar. More than 550 lawyers and judges currently volunteer as mentors in the program, and as a group they reflect the diversity of the profession in all its forms, including age, gender, ethnicity, practice area, geographic location and religion. Mentors also represent all sectors of the profession: private practice (solo to large firm), all levels of government, nonprofit and public interest organizations, in-hose counsel, prosecutors, public defenders, and nearly all levels of the judiciary.
The law school offers additional externship opportunities including Judicial Externship and Business Externship.
AGENCY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
The Agency Internship Program consists of a work component and a class component and allows students to earn academic credit (typically between one and three credits) for working in a law-related internship position. For the work component, students intern with an employer who is involved in the civil law field, either a government agency or a nonprofit organization. Students also participate in class sessions, primarily involving small group discussions. Students are required to keep a journal and complete a writing assignment.
JUDICIAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
The Judicial Internship Program allows students to earn academic credit (typically between four and six credits) for working with judges in state or federal trial or appellate courts. The primary purpose of these placements is to translate academic legal education into practical adjudicative decision making, thus helping students understand how the courts work and how attorneys, judges and litigants succeed and fail in the process. By virtue of the variety of work in their placements, judicial interns also improve their skills in research, writing, observation and oral communication.
The law school offers upper-division students the opportunity to earn academic credit for fieldwork performed at government agencies, legal corporate departments, law firms, non-profit organizations, and judicial chambers. Thus, the Externship Programs allow students to include practical, hands-on experience as part of their school education. Each program has a faculty-taught course component. Through these classes, students examine legal and professional issues that arise in their fieldwork, and receive an introduction to litigation preparation in anticipation of their postgraduate position. Faculty monitor the externships to ensure their quality as learning experiences. Students assume real-world responsibilities and develop professional relationships in contexts identical to those in which they may eventually practice.
Details can be found on the law school's website at: http://www.law.usfca.edu/academics/externships.html
Administrative Law
Federal
State
Children’s Law
Criminal Law
Federal
State
In House Counsel
Judicial — Federal
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. Federal District Court
U.S. Federal Magistrate Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court
Judicial — State
Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
Circuit Court
Family Court
Masters in Equity
Probate Court
Magistrate’s Court
Administrative Law Court
Workers’ Compensation Commission
Legislation
South Carolina Senate
South Carolina House
Career Services/Internships: Assistant Dean Angela Ericson, E-mail, (605) 677-6356; Externship Education Program Director: Associate Dean Thomas L. Sorensen, E-mail, (605) 677-5393.
The Office of Public Service is responsible for the coordination and administration of the Judicial and Clinical Externship programs. Students can receive academic credit for clinical externships by working for a non-profit public interest office or government agency. Students also receive academic credit through an externship with a judge.
These placements provide a wide variety of opportunities for students to have direct experience with clients and legal problems in attorney-supervised settings as part of their second and third year curriculum. Externships are designed to be different from paid legal work available to law students because of the nature of the academic learning and supervision provided; as well as the breadth of assignments and a level of responsibility that are typically not available to paid student clerks. USC's program offers more than 100 public interest nonprofit, government and judicial placements throughout the country as well as internationally.
Some examples of pre-approved field placements include:
- ACLU Foundation of Southern California
- Alliance for Children's Rights
- American Civil Liberties Union
- Asian Pacific American Legal Center
- Bet Tzedek
- California Attorney General: Civil Law and Public Rights Division, Criminal Division, Environmental Division
- C alifornia Court of Appeal
- California Rural Legal Assistance
- Children's Law Center
- Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
- Community Benefits Law Center
- District Attorney: Los Angeles County, Ventura County
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Federal Trade Commission
- HIV and Aids Legal Service Center
- Los Angeles City Attorney
- Los Angeles Superior Court
- Mental Health Advocacy Services
- Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- National Immigration Law Center
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- Neighborhood Legal Services
- Public Counsel
- Public Defender, Federal and County
- San Francisco Superior Court
- Screen Actors Guild
- Supreme Court of California
- U.S. Attorney: Civil Division, Criminal Division, Tax Division
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court
- U.S. Department of Justic
- U.S. District Court
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Wage Justice Center
The Prosecutorial Externship - Participating students are placed in the Office of the Knox County District Attorney General or United States Attorneys' Office. Working under the supervision of experienced assistant attorneys general or assistant U.S. attorneys, students prosecute real cases on behalf of the state or the local U.S. Attorney's office handling all phases of the criminal process, including case development and investigation, preliminary hearings, plea negotiations, and trial
The Public Defender Externship - Students are placed in the Knox County Public Defender's Office or Federal Defenders' Office. They work under experienced public defenders, regularly appearing in court and representing clients in all aspects of their cases, including trials.
The Judicial Externship - Law students are assigned to work in selected state and federal trial and appellate courts. As judicial clerks, the students assist the judges by briefing upcoming cases and researching and drafting memoranda, opinions and orders.
The Law School has an extensive field placement program, with seven separate courses regularly offered (and other courses occasionally offered):
- Access to Justice Internship – placements at remote legal service providers in Texas
- International Internship – placements at international courts, government agencies, and non-govermental organizations
- Judicial Internship - placements at state appellate courts and federal courts in Austin and around the country
- Legislative Internship - placements at the Texas Legislature in Austin
- Non-Profit/Government Internship - placements at nonprofit organizations and government agencies
- Prosecution Internship - placements at the Travis County District Attorney's Office
- U.S. Attorney Internship - placements at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Austin
The Internship Program
The Internship Program consists of two key components -- a ten-credit internship and a four-credit internship. Students who have completed a minimum of three semesters of law school are eligible to participate.
The Director of the Internship Program, Professor William Robinson, places students with judicial, governmental, or non-profit entities and teaches a weekly tutorial throughout the internship. During recent years, students were placed at or with:
- D.C. Employment Justice Center
- Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law
- District of Columbia Office Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Office of Corporation Counsel
- Library of Congress
- Superior Court
- United States District Court
- Office of the Solicitor Department of Labor
- D.C. Legal Aid
- Office of Bar Counsel
The Director works closely with field placement supervisors to ensure that students receive valuable substantive experience, effective supervision, and appropriate academic evaluation. All placements are located in the District of Columbia metropolitan area, which helps to assure that students receive effective supervision and appropriate evaluation.
Students, during tutorial, examine the broader social, political, economic, and policy-related ramifications of the work they are doing in the field as well as a variety of issues connected with the practice of law, including the role of lawyers in shaping public policy, the practice of public interest law, and the diversity of legal careers. Also, students may not receive a salary, stipend, or other form of compensation from the internship site for the field component.
The School of Law also offers the ten-credit and four-credit internships in the summer. The Summer ten-credit internship is a special emphasis internship called "Civil Rights in the 21st Century."
Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Professor of Public Interest Law at the School of Law, co-teaches the internship with Professor Robinson. Students are assigned to work at a government agency or non-profit public interest organization with a civil rights focus. Placement sites include:
- Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law
- Leadership Conference for Civil Rights
- U.S. Civil Rights Commission
- Civil Rights Section of the Office of the Solicitor in the Department of Labor
- International Human Rights Group
- National Women's Law Center
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
and other similar organizations and agencies.
Pacific McGeorge has a large and extensive field placement/externship program. In keeping with the school's commitment to public service and taking full advantage of its location in California's capital, the field placement/externship program fosters close relationships with numerous government agencies, judges, and non-profit organizations. The program provides invaluable experience for students to receive academic credit while learning public interest and public service in a hands-on environment.
Students can qualify for up to six credits for government and non-profit externships, either during the semester or during the summer. Judicial clerkships generally require students to full-time during the semester, while they receive twelve units of academic credit.
In addition to the wide range of field placements offered by Pacific McGeorge, the school offers an intensive Tax Appeals Assistance Program with the State Board of Equalization. Externs work with the Tax Payers' Rights Advocate to represent the interests of Californians in the tax appeal process. Students appear before the Franchise Tax board on behalf of clients, advise tax payers on legal challenges, and participate in weekly strategy meetings with a team of attorneys.
Pacific McGeorge also allows students to arrange custom externship programs with the approval of faculty and administration. This custom option allows students to receive credit for positions as varied as the U.S Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., working towards U.N. Millennium Development goals in Ghana, or clerking in the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
For more information, please contact Colleen Truden, Director of Field Placements, E-mail or Rose Mapu, Student Liaison, E-mail
The Public Service Externship Clinic is a one-semester course in which students have the opportunity to be placed as externs in a variety of public service organizations and agencies throughout Northwest Ohio and beyond. The program has several purposes: to enhance students' ability to learn from their experiences; to train students in lawyering skills; to give students greater insight into the workings of the legal system; and to foster in students a sense of professional responsibility.
Under the guidance of a supervising attorney or judge, student externs perform a variety of challenging tasks. Feedback from supervisors concerning these tasks creates the ideal environment for developing self-directed learning skills. Externship faculty members regularly meet or correspond with externs, reviewing their work and what they are learning.
Judicial Internships – internships with State, Federal, and Tribal Courts
Health Law Externship
Dublin Internship Program – internships with the Government or Legal Service
The Washington DC Legal Externship Program, a partnership of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and the Washington Center.
FASPE: Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics
Judicial Externships
The approved Judicial Extern Program involves regular placement with local judges who are respected jurists and teachers, and who are willing to provide the degree of supervision demanded in the Guidelines for Judicial Clinics. In order to allow manageable oversight, the number of student-judge participants during any semester should be limited to ten (10). Judicial externs must comply with all instructional and oversight provisions for the Judicial Clinic, and the Clinical Director should continue to communicate regularly (monthly) with both student and judge. Not all judges who currently supervise judicial interns should become supervisors of judicial externs, and not every judge who is initially approved to supervise an extern will become a permanent participant in the program. In extraordinary circumstances and after careful scrutiny, the Clinical Director may approve an extern placement with a judge outside the immediate locality provided that the judge is willing to comply with the Judicial Clinic Guidelines and to provide the individualized supervision to the student that is most important. The extern program is limited to third-year students. Second-year students with outstanding qualifications should be encouraged to apply for post-law school clerkships. Third-year students who have not been accepted as post-law school clerks should be the primary population for participation in the judicial extern program.
The paradigmatic one-semester judicial externship is 12 credit hours. However, the Clinical Director is authorized to approve student judicial externships for lesser or greater credit (but not to exceed a maximum of 14 credit hours in a semester). Additionally, students performing a judicial externship are authorized to take the Judicial Process course, if offered, that semester. The taking of any other law school course, or participation in any other law school activity or program, for credit while performing a judicial externship requires approval, in advance, from the Clinical Director. The Subcommittee approval may be on such terms and conditions as it deems appropriate. The Subcommittee's discretion is to be exercised with a view to furthering the student's educational needs in light of all the circumstances.
The absolute prohibition against credit for both judicial internships and externships is repealed. The Subcommittee is authorized, in appropriate cases, and subject to such terms and conditions as the Subcommittee may require, to allow a student to take a judicial externship even though a judicial internship has previously been taken.
In all cases, the Clinical Program's existing work/credit ratio will remain constant (50 hours of work for each hour of credit). It is contemplated that variations from the 12 credit hour full-time norm will only be made for good cause. It is anticipated that, over time, the Clinical Subcommittee will develop guidelines both with respect to situations in which credit variations (to increase or decrease from the norm) will be permitted and the extent to which other law school courses, activities or programs for credit will be permitted during the externship semester.
UVA Law's externships program allows students to make connections between legal theory and practice during their second and third years of law school. Through the program, students can earn academic credit while working in the public sector under the supervision of a lawyer. The program includes three options:
UVA Law in DC
UVA Law in DC is a curricular offering requiring 40 hours per week of work at the host organization, which must be a government office or agency or a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization. Students participate in a weekly seminar in Washington, complete directed reading and writing assignments, and write a research paper on an approved topic relevant to the host organization's work, for a total of 12 credits (3 graded, 9 credit/ no credit).
Part-time Externships
Part-time externships are primarily local and require students to work 10 hours per week for the host organization, as well as complete reading and short writing assignments. Students receive 3 academic credits (1 graded, 2 credit/no credit).
Full-time Externships
Full-time externships may be local, national or international, and require 40 hours per week of work at the host organization. Students must design a course of study and work under the supervision of a faculty member to complete directed readings and academic writing assignments, including a substantial research paper on an approved topic relevant to the host organization's work, for a total of 12 credits (3 graded, 9 credit/no credit).
A two-credit (60 hours) minimum Public Service Externship can fulfill the Public Service graduation requirement. Students often complete up to 15 credits (450 hours). General Externship Perspectives is a seminar that seeks to help students analyze and evaluate their externship from an educational and philosophical perspective. Students may also opt to take the Access to Justice Seminar as their way of fulfilling the externship perspectives requirement. The focus of the ATJ Seminar is on the legal, ethical, and financial issues involved in providing legal services to low- and moderate-income persons.
Hayes Police-Prosecution Project
The Hayes Police-Prosecution Project includes a ten-week summer externship that allows law students to work with police and prosecutors on real-world public safety problems. Hayes externs have worked on such public-safety problems such as youth gangs, sexual assault, domestic violence, habitual offending, child abuse, robbery, abandoned houses, drug abuse and trafficking, and alcohol-related crime and disorder.
http://www.law.wisc.edu/fjr/hayes/index.html
Prosecution Project (Remington Center)
This program provides an opportunity for second-year students to work as summer interns in district attorneys' offices throughout Wisconsin. The student's summer experience is sandwiched between a spring classroom component and a fall reflective seminar.
http://www.law.wisc.edu/fjr/prosecutionproject/index.html
Public Defender Project (Remington Center)
The Public Defender Project gives second-year students the opportunity to work as summer interns in State Public Defender trial offices throughout Wisconsin. The students' summer experience is sandwiched between a spring classroom component and a fall reflective seminar.
http://www.law.wisc.edu/fjr/prosecutionproject/index.html
Judicial Internship Program
The Judicial Internship Program places students with trial and appellate judges throughout Wisconsin, including placements with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Student work varies but always emphasizes research and writing. A classroom component accompanies the placement.
http://www.law.wisc.edu/academics/clinics/judicialinternshipprogram.html
Labor Law Externship
The Labor Law Externship provides placements for students in a labor law setting. Students spend two days a week working under the supervision of attorneys of the National Labor Relations Board in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission in Madison, or in other similar agencies. They attend hearings, write draft opinions, research issues, write memos, and in general are exposed to the broad range of work done by the agency. A weekly seminar on current issues provides additional learning opportunities.
http://www.law.wisc.edu/academics/clinics/laborlawexternship.html
Department of Justice Clinical Externship Program
Students work in various civil units of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, at the Department of Natural Resources, or 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin. The program offers law students a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in public advocacy and litigation. Externs practice trial, appellate and administrative law with some of the state's most well-respected litigators, working on matters statewide importance. A weekly seminar accompanies the placement.
http://www.law.wisc.edu/academics/clinics/deptofjusticeexternship.html
Midwest Environmental Advocates Externship
Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) is Wisconsin's only non-profit environmental law firm. Student externs earn 7 semester credits working 21 hours a week at MEA. Students work with MEA lawyers on litigation, both administrative and judicial, rule making and policy development at the state and local level. MEA's mission includes helping citizens to organize and participate in solutions to environmental protection and environmental justice issues, giving students the opportunity to work with citizens at the grass roots level.
http://www.midwestadvocates.org/support/staff/externs.html#Clinical
Disability Rights Wisconsin
Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW) is the state's protection and advocacy agency for people with all types of serious disabilities. It provides a wide variety of legal and advocacy services for people who have been traditionally under served by the legal profession. Student activities can include investigation of client complaints, filing grievances and requests for hearings, informal negotiations, and preparation for litigation and/or administrative hearings. Students may also be involved with legislative and administrative issues.
http://www.law.wisc.edu/academics/clinics/drw_externship.html
Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence Clinical Program
The UW-Madison Law School offers an externship program (clinical) for students at the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV). Students assist with legal inquiries and research regarding domestic violence issues.
http://www.law.wisc.edu/academics/clinics/wcadv_clinical.html
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Valparaiso University Law School puts a great deal of focus on instilling a deep understanding of legal theory and translating it into practical, real-world lawyering. The Externship Program, started in 1985 with only two positions, has since grown to more than 90 approved offerings in over 176 discrete offices in which students can work as externs for academic credit. Externship inquiries should be directed to the school's Director of Externships, Professor Derrick Howard at E-mail. Career Planning also promotes many pro bono internship opportunities with local and national public interest employers including legal services organizations, non-profits, courts and government agencies.
LAW 802 and 804: The basic requirements are: (1) Students may receive credit only for work supervised by faculty-approved fieldwork supervisors at faculty-approved placements. (2) Various types of externships may qualify, including placements with federal and state prosecutors and defenders, the state attorney general's office, state legislative offices, federal and state agencies, state and federal judges, and legal aid or other non-profit programs. Students may not receive credit for work for which they are paid. For placements in the Nashville area, the main course requirements are:
- 110 hours of fieldwork (or approximately 8 hours per week over a 14-week semester);
- approximately 10 hours of classroom-type sessions, arranged by the faculty member in cooperation with the fieldwork supervisors;
- recording a journal of work experience, which will be reviewed periodically by the faculty member;
- submission of a written product to the faculty member at the end of the semester, either a copy of something prepared during the externship or prepared specially to meet this requirement.
The course for Nashville area placements carries 3 academic credits. A student may enroll in an externship in Nashville during the summer and receive up to 6 credits.
A student may also engage in externships over the summer. The student may work in judicial chambers, in a government office, with a prosecutor or defender, or with a not-for-profit organization. For each credit, the student must work 55 hours at the placement site. Students are supervised by faculty members who review journals and work product. A student wishing to pursue a full-time externship during the school year must receive approval from the administration. Such placement is full-time for 14 weeks and carries 8 academic credits. The student must also submit an extensive research paper.
Vermont Law School is committed to offering an integrated curriculum, one that values high quality, traditional academic instruction while expanding student's options through a number of experiential learning situations. In addition to clinical opportunities, Vermont Law School offers both full and part-time internship programs (field placement opportunities).
See http://www.vermontlaw.edu/experiential/index.cfm for a summary of, and links to, all experiential programs.
- The Semester in Practice program is a full-time, individually tailored external clinic, appropriate for students interested in self-directed learning under the supervision of an experienced field-mentor. Field-mentors are experienced lawyers who work with and within: government (state, federal and local), NGO's, non profit organizations, and law firms. Mentors whose practices are located along the Montreal, Quebec and Washington, DC corridor are ordinarily selected, though a limited number of students may enroll in a "distant" Semester in Practice.
- Through the Environmental Semester in Washington, students can sharpen their environmental knowledge and legal skills by working full-time under the supervision of a leader in environmental law and policy in Washington, DC. Qualified students are placed with a mentor attorney whose experience and work most closely matches the skills, interests, and aspirations of the student.
Recent placements include the Congressional Budget Office, House Committee on Resources; Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works; the Center for Marine Conservation; Defenders of Wildlife; National Wildlife Federation; Natural Resources Defense Council; EarthJustice; World Wildlife Fund; Department of Justice: Environmental and Natural Resources Division - Appellate, Environmental Crimes, Environmental Enforcement and General Litigation Sections; and the Council on Environmental Quality, Office of Science and Technology Policy, President's Council on Sustainable Development, White House Office on Environmental Policy.
Both the Semester in Practice and Environmental Semester in Washington are designed to give students interested in an area of substantive law an opportunity to learn that area through work with practitioners specializing or practicing in it; gain expertise in that area through practical experience; and give students an opportunity - through experiential application - to gain familiarity with or mastery of some lawyering skills not otherwise covered in the classroom. Students also participate in classes that focus on professional responsibility and the work of the practicum. In addition to the classroom component, Vermont Law School faculty use meetings, journals, conference calls and e-mails to supervise and instruct students throughout their practicum.
- The J.D. Internship Program provides an opportunity for students to obtain field based experience on a part-time basis. The Program internship may be 2-6 credits (though most students opt to do 6 credits, which is 2 full days of on-site work). Students take courses at the same time, so placements are typically within driving distance of the law school. Students work with the Director of J.D. Internships to identify a suitable type of part-time internship, and then the Director and student work together to identify potential mentors and make an internship match.
- The Judicial Externship Program is an opportunity for Vermont Law School students to obtain field-based experience in judges' chambers as judicial externs. The Judicial Externship Program is divided into two components: a practicum and an academic component. Judical externship students will complete the Judicial Externship Academic Component, which concentrates on judicial and legal ethics, but also provides instruction on judicial philosophy and history, judicial decision-making and judicial discretion, and judicial opinion writing. The Academic Component is taught at the school on five days throughout the semester, with 6 hours of classroom instruction on each of the days. Students receive 11 non-classroom credits for their practicum and 2 classroom credits for their academic component.
- Vermont Law School's Environmental Law Center also offers field placement opportunities, called MSEL Internships (Master of Studies in Environmental Law). An integral part of both the master's and joint JD-MSEL program is gaining real world experience through internships. Our students explore environmental law, science, and policy in a wide variety of settings locally, nationally, and worldwide. Activities may include counseling, drafting regulations and legislation, preparing legal memoranda, drafting or commenting on environmental or land use plans, and fieldwork related to wetlands, endangered species, and other natural resource management and preservation issues. Students design their own internships with the advice and consent of a faculty member. A typical internship earns between two and nine credits. Students have earned credit while working as interns for organizations such as the Natural Resources Conservation Authority, Jamaica, West Indies, the Fund for International Environmental Law and Development, London, England, the Biodiversity Group of Environment Australia, Canberra, Australia, and the Environmental Enforcement Section, Department of Justice, in Washington, D.C., as well as the National Park Service, Boulder, Colorado, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Boston, Massachusetts, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Waterbury, Vermont, and the Environmental Defense Fund, Boulder, Colorado.
Web site: http://www.vermontlaw.edu/elc/index.cfm?doc_id=116
Villanova University: Charles Widger School of Law
Villanova has an extensive externship program, offering placements with government agencies, public interest organizations and state and federal judges in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. Placement sites include the U.S. Attorney's Office; the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division; the Defender Association of Philadelphia; the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Internal Revenue Service; the National Labor Relations Board; the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; the SeniorLAW Center; the Women Against Abuse Legal Center; and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
A hallmark of our externship program is the direct involvement of a faculty supervisor, a full-time member of the faculty who meets at least bi-weekly with the student, providing substantial expertise and reflective components.
http://www.law.villanova.edu/experientiallearning/clinicsandexternships/externships.asp
Wake Forest University School of Law
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Externship Program (some placements)
Judicial Externship Program
Litigation Clinic (some placements)
Public Interest grants for summer internships with Public Defenders, District Attorneys, Legal Aid, and other public interest organizations.
Directed Internships in the Law Clinic are offered to students who have completed the clinic internship program. They may then participate in a directed internship of one to three hours depending upon faculty availability and approval. Directed interns may choose to concentrate in one area of practice.
Two hours of credit will be given to students selected to work with Federal or State District Court Judges. Students are expected to do research and assist in the preparation of memoranda and opinions. This course is open to students who have completed at least two semesters of law school.
Externships of one to two hours credit will be open to students who qualify as legal interns under the Kansas Student Practice Rule and who, without being paid, pratice law under the supervision of a government or private attorney. Externs may handle only non-fee generating cases. Activities may include prosecution of criminal cases, representation of the state or other public bodies in civil proceedings and representation of ingredients. Enrollment is permitted in this course only once and permission of the Chair of the Faculty Externship Committee is required.
Judicial; Prosecutorial; Bankruptcy; "Other" in which students may extern with organizations that represent and serve indigent clients.
Instead of an externship program, Washington University School of Law students can get credit for a supervised practicum. Through a supervised practicum, a student works on a clinical project under the direct supervision of a faculty member. In the past, practicum students have worked with organizations like Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, the St. Louis City Courts, and Metropolis St. Louis.
The Judicial Internship program offers internships with judges, federal and state, trial and appellate. The Criminal Justice Internship program offers internships with prosecutors and public defenders, federal and state. The Civil Law Internship program offers internships with federal, state, and municipal government agencies, with public interest law offices, and with nonprofit organizations. The Practicum in Dispute Resolution offers internships with nonprofit mediation centers.
This program places 3rd-year and second-semester 2nd-year students with federal judges throughout West Virginia. Students serve as clerks to these judges for a semester. While participating in the externship, students meet bi-weekly with the program's director at the law school. Students who successfully complete an externship receive 13 hours of academic credit for their experience.
- Housing Court Project
- MA Department of Social Services
- Commission on Public Counsel Services
- MA Commission Against Discrimination
- MA Attorney General's Office
- HIV/AIDS Law Consortium of Western MA
- Center for Public Representation (Mental Disability Law)
- Safe Passages (Substance Abuse)
- Project Innocence Externship
- Public Defender Externship
- Legal Aid Externship
- Fair Housing Externship
- Judicial Externships
The Law School sponsors between 50 to 75 students in public interest externship placements each term. Students may earn as many as six units of credit for their service in non-profit legal service organizations, pro bono groups, and other public interest placements, including government offices and the judiciary. During the Summer semester, a limited number of students are permitted to extern outside the local area of the Law School. Externship Progam website is at
http://www.law.whittier.edu/centers/JD-externship.asp
CLINICAL EXTERNSHIPS: Every year Widener sends as many as 30 students who are enrolled in the Clinical Externship Program to government and public service law offices, where they spend the full year receiving academic credit while learning and working alongside attorneys carefully chosen for their skill, dedication and qualities as mentors. Student attorneys meet regularly in small groups with professors to discuss issues of legal doctrine and skills; of professional and personal ethics; and of the culture of a modern law office.
In Wilmington, students have been placed with a variety of offices/agencies that include the following:
Camden County (NJ)Prosecutor
Chester County (PA) District Attorney's Office
Delaware County (PA) Domestic Abuse Project
Delaware County (PA) District Attorney's Office
Delaware County (PA) Public Defender's Office
Federal Public Defender (Wilmington)
Internal Revenue Service - Office of Chief Counsel (Philadelphia)
Mercer County (NJ) Prosecutor
Montgomery County (PA) District Attorney's Office
New Castle County (DE)(various offices/civil law)
Office of Senator Joseph R. Biden (Delaware)
Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General - Consumer Protection
Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General - Torts Litigation
Philadelphia Municipal Court Mediation Program
Philadelphia Regional Port Authority
South Jersey Legal Services (Camden)
State of Delaware, Department of Justice
State of Delaware, Public Defender's Office
Supreme Court of Delaware, Office of Disciplinary Counsel
U.S. Department of Justice - Office of U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee
U.S. Department of the Navy - Counsel for the Naval Inventory Control Point (Phila.)
On the Harrisburg campus, students are presented with an endless array of options located in the state capitol of Pennsylvania, including placements such as:
Dauphin County District Attorney and Public Defender
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Administration Offices
Pennsylvania Department of State - Office of Chief Counsel
Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
York Immigration Court
Clean Air Counsel
Lewisburg Prison Project
City of Harrisburg - Solicitor
JUDICIAL EXTERNSHIPS: Widener students receive academic credit while spending a full year serving as law clerks, working closely with judges who have graciously agreed to serve as mentors. The judges help the externs with objectives for their placements and for their careers, provide challenging research assignments, help externs hone their legal writing, and offer a unique perspective on the work of the courts. These placements often result in contacts and references for future employment. Widener Students have been placed with state and federal courts throughout Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Through the prestigious Wolcott Fellowship, four students on Widener's Wilmington campus are annually placed with the Justices of the Delaware Supreme Court.
CLINICAL EXTERNSHIPS: Every year Delaware Law sends as many as 30 students who are enrolled in the Clinical Externship Program to government and public service law offices, where they spend the full year receiving academic credit while learning and working alongside attorneys carefully chosen for their skill, dedication and qualities as mentors. Student attorneys meet regularly in small groups with professors to discuss issues of legal doctrine and skills; of professional and personal ethics; and of the culture of a modern law office.
In Wilmington, students have been placed with a variety of offices/agencies that include the following:
Camden County (NJ)Prosecutor
Chester County (PA) District Attorney's Office
Delaware County (PA) Domestic Abuse Project
Delaware County (PA) District Attorney's Office
Delaware County (PA) Public Defender's Office
Federal Public Defender (Wilmington)
Internal Revenue Service - Office of Chief Counsel (Philadelphia)
Mercer County (NJ) Prosecutor
Montgomery County (PA) District Attorney's Office
New Castle County (DE)(various offices/civil law)
Office of Senator Joseph R. Biden (Delaware)
Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General - Consumer Protection
Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General - Torts Litigation
Philadelphia Municipal Court Mediation Program
Philadelphia Regional Port Authority
South Jersey Legal Services (Camden)
State of Delaware, Department of Justice
State of Delaware, Public Defender's Office
Supreme Court of Delaware, Office of Disciplinary Counsel
U.S. Department of Justice - Office of U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee
U.S. Department of the Navy - Counsel for the Naval Inventory Control Point (Phila.)
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Administration Offices
Pennsylvania Department of State - Office of Chief Counsel
Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
JUDICIAL EXTERNSHIPS: Delaware students receive academic credit while spending a full year serving as law clerks, working closely with judges who have graciously agreed to serve as mentors. The judges help the externs with objectives for their placements and for their careers, provide challenging research assignments, help externs hone their legal writing, and offer a unique perspective on the work of the courts. These placements often result in contacts and references for future employment. Widener Students have been placed with state and federal courts throughout Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Through the prestigious Wolcott Fellowship, four students are annually placed with the Justices of the Delaware Supreme Court.
Students are partnered with attorneys working in various legal settings in the wider community. They participate in legal work in many different contexts under the constraints of real-life practice. Attorneys who supervise students in the Externship Program receive training and mentoring from the externship director.
Externs have a wide range of opportunities from which to choose and can seek placements that fit their particular skills, background and career interests. Willamette students have enjoyed externships with local, national, and international hosts in a variety of legal settings, such as with in-house counsel of national and regional companies, state and federal representatives and senators, state and federal agencies, prosecutors' offices, public defenders' offices, nonprofit legal services, and private law firms. Students participate in transactional work, litigation, administrative advocacy and alternative dispute resolution as well as legislative drafting and advocacy. http://willamette.edu/law/programs/externship/index.html
See law.wm.edu/academics/programs/jd/electives/externships/index.php for information about public interest externships.
Prosecution Externship. Students in this clinical externship assist state or federal prosecutors with their responsibilities, both before and at trial. Placements are available in New Haven and surrounding cities and in a variety of fields, including misdemeanors, felonies, or specialized areas such as career criminal, traffic, or appellate work. Weekly sessions range from discussions of assigned readings to field trips to prisons, police laboratories, etc. Students are required to keep journals and time records. Placements at the U.S. Attorney's Office must be arranged at least four months in advance, to allow time for security clearance procedures. Applications and interviews for the State's Attorney placements take place during the first week of the term. Although enrollment is limited and permission of the instructor is required, timing and the involvement of outside agencies remove this clinic from the usual sign-up process for limited enrollment courses.
Students gain invaluable real-world experience when they participate in one of Cardozo's externship programs. Credit is awarded for working in the public sector for a judge, nonprofit organization or government agency. Students work under the direct supervision of an attorney for a semester and take a co-requisite seminar taught by an experienced practitioner in the field. - See more at: http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/clinics-professional-skills/externships-and-internships#sthash.33lpUBtG.dpuf
Public Sector Credited Internship Program
The credited internship program allows for students who secure semester internships with a public interest organization, governmental agency, or a judge's chambers to apply for 2 credits for 12 hours per week of work.
New York City Law Department Internship Program
Students who participate in the New York City Law Department's Internship Program can receive 2 credits for working in one of the Law Department's divisions during a semester.
Updated on: 7/18/2018