Clinics & Externships

Create Your Own

If no available clinic or externship offers the experience you're looking for, you may create your own. The law school has an externship policy that allows the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to approve externships for three credits that comply with the policy. You should note, however, that law school policy does not permit creation of summer externships.

To comply with the policy, you must have a faculty sponsor and a host agency that is a public or not-for-profit agency or organization. You must identify a supervising attorney at the host agency. A three-credit externship requires you to work a minimum of 12 hours per week at the host agency, maintain a journal, and meet every other week with your sponsoring faculty member. Consult with the policy to inform yourself of the requirements and obligations involved, and the criteria for approval.

An externship that does not comply with any aspect of the policy must be approved by the full faculty after review by the Curriculum Committee. In special circumstances, when truly unusual and valuable opportunities have presented themselves, students have obtained approval of externships outside the specific provisions of the policy.