Hands-on Learning at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School

Cooley Law School believes that students who are immersed in the dynamic, hands-on learning environment of a clinical program more fully learn and understand the law and are better prepared to serve their clients. Cooley students receive this hands-on learning experience through internships and externships, which are required for a student to graduate from Cooley Law School. Each student must complete a minimum three-credit clinical program (either an internship or an externship), or demonstrate that they have comparable work experience.

What is an Internship?

An internship is a student placement in a teaching law clinic associated with the law school. Under Michigan law MCR 8.120, students who are supervised by a member of the state bar may staff legal aid clinics organized under an accredited law school. As an ABA-accredited law school, Cooley has established three in-house clinics, Sixty Plus, Inc., Elderlaw Clinic, the Estate Planning Clinic, and the Innocence Project. Each of these clinics provides legal services to targeted members of the community.

What is an Externship?

Externships are learning opportunities for students placed with lawyers who have agreed to provide a supervised learning environment. Student externs receive classroom training from faculty members in addition to assistance and evaluation by the field supervisor. Students who successfully complete an externship receive academic credit for their experience.

In 1997 the Thomas M. Cooley Law School introduced a pilot externship program designed to supplement clinical internship offerings. Cooley's continuing externship program furthers the school's mission of practical legal scholarship by placing students with practicing lawyers throughout Michigan and across the United States. Cooley faculty members oversee every placement and enhance the learning opportunities by engaging in regular discussion with externs.

Participating students praise the externship program, citing the opportunities they have had to actually practice law under the supervision of a licensed attorney. They also discovered that this practical experience may open doors for future employment opportunities.

The Cooley Law School externship offerings include a variety of lawyering opportunities in numerous settings, and they are described more fully in:

Externship Placements at Cooley

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This Page was last updated on: 06/23/2004