Introduction to Externships

Students who are selected as externs will work in a legal environment away from the law school. Students will receive academic credit for their work when they meet all of the educational objectives of the externship and satisfy all of the program requirements.

I. Educational objectives and methodology

Legal work is supervised by volunteer attorneys called field supervisors. Additionally, Cooley faculty members, called faculty supervisors, meet with the students to assist them in reflection that will enhance the learning experience of the workplace.

Cooley’s Externship Program has several educational goals. These can be briefly described as developing the externs': 1) lawyering skills; 2) insight into various aspects of the legal system and profession; 3) sense of professional responsibility; and 4) ability to reflect on and learn from their experience. All three partners in an externship - the extern, the field supervisor, and the faculty supervisor - work together to help the extern achieve these goals. At the start of the externship, externs are asked to draft three professional goals based on the lawyering skills and values identified by the American Bar Association as essential to good lawyering practice.

Externs must do four things successfully to earn credit for the externship. Those who perform these tasks satisfactorily will earn pass/fail credit for their work. The faculty supervisor, after consultation with the field supervisor, will determine whether the extern has performed satisfactorily. Externs must:

(1) Perform work as assigned and supervised by the field supervisor during regularly scheduled hours,

(2) Maintain and submit a reflective journal, analyzing the lawyering skills observed and performed in conjunction with the externship placement,

(3) Meet in a classroom component, or via electronic communication, with the faculty supervisors to discuss the placement and reflect on the externship experience. The classroom component requires a minimum of 20 hours over the course of the term, and

(4) Maintain and submit time logs and mid-term and final evaluations.

Externs must work at an approved externship site four hours per week for every credit given for the entire 14 weeks of the term. Many externs will in fact work longer hours. Externs may receive between three and ten credits for work performed at the externship site. Externs are not permitted to receive pay for work that is used for academic credit.

All externs must complete an orientation session prior to beginning their externship. Students participating in the PAAM externship or the Public Defenders Clinic may have a separate training session as well.

II. Extern responsibilities to the school

A. Time logs

All externs are required to keep daily time logs to submit to the law school detailing the time spent at the placement and the nature of the task assigned. These must be submitted weekly to the Office of Planning, Programs, and Assessment.

B. Written Evaluations

At the middle and end of each term, the school will ask both the extern and the field supervisor to complete a written evaluation. These evaluations will touch on issues such as productivity, responsibility, effectiveness, cooperation and attitude, so that the extern can learn from the evaluation and the school can maintain a permanent record of the extern's performance. In addition, the extern's feedback can be used to minimize potential problems that may have arisen at the work site.

C. Journals

All externs will be required to keep journals. These journals provide an opportunity for each extern to reflect on the skills they are performing and observing, and how the lawyers they observe and assist contribute to the administration of justice. A detailed journal stimulates reflection and helps the extern gain insight into his or her own strengths and weaknesses as a lawyer, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the legal system in which they are operating.

D. Meetings with faculty supervisors

Each extern will be assigned a faculty supervisor who is responsible facilitating the extern's learning. In most cases, meetings will be at regularly scheduled class times. In distant placements, meetings will be handled by electronic communication. Externs in such placements are responsible for providing their own web access, but externs will have access to the Cooley email accounts. At these meetings, the students will be encouraged to explore common issues and examine possible solutions, without revealing confidential client information. In addition, these meetings can be used to examine skills needed at the placement and to solicit ideas from other externs and the faculty supervisors. A minimum of 20 hours of meeting time will be scheduled for each term. The orientation time is included in the 20 hour commitment.

E. Grades

At the conclusion of the externship, the faculty supervisor will grade each extern's performance. A Pass or Fail grade is awarded. Externs whose work is generally satisfactory should receive a grade of "Pass." Any extern whose work fails to meet the minimum standards of acceptability will receive a failing grade. Faculty supervisors will determine the grade after reviewing the extern's journals, the extern's time logs, the field supervisor's mid- and end-of-term evaluations, and after consulting with the field supervisor and the Office of Planning, Programs, and Assessment.

III. Eligibility Criteria

The externship program is open to students in good academic standing who have completed 57 credit hours. No student may earn more than 10 credit hours toward their degree though externship placements. Certain programs and sites have expressed an interest for students with special skills, such as foreign language proficiency, a specific scientific background, or exceptional writing ability. Students with the identified skills will be more likely to be placed at a site, although other candidates may be considered.

IV. Registration Procedures

Each externship placement that is within commuting distance from any one of the three campuses (Lansing, Grand Rapids or Auburn Hills) has a scheduled classroom component. When registering for an externship, the extern will need to factor the classroom time into their course schedule.

For example: John Student is taking a 6 credit judicial externship. The classroom component for this externship meets on Mondays, 3-5 p.m., with Professor X ternship. John needs to take into consideration the classroom meeting when scheduling the balance of his classes.

When John registers for the externship, he will register as follows:

1026/11 Externship (this is for the externship site)
5006/11 Judicial Externship (this is for the classroom component)

All externships will have a classroom component that the student must sign up for in addition to the externship site.

All externs are required to spend 20 hours per term with faculty oversight. Professors may vary how they schedule the externship class times; however, for registration and scheduling ease, externs must schedule the meeting time during registration to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Once externs have completed the interview process and have been selected by the field supervisor, they will need to submit a letter from the potential field supervisor indicating they have offered the student an externship position.

For students who have or are proposing a new externship placement at a site that does not have an established relationship with Cooley, the Curriculum Committee must review and approve the site before the student may register. For more information, please contact the Clinical Coordinator at (517) 371-5140 ext. 2914.