The Externship Office reviews all field placement requests prior to approval as part of the registration process. The Office contacts all new employers to ensure they understand the Program requirements and agree to provide externs with a substantive work experience that meets those requirements.
Step 1
Does my placement qualify for an externship? You can turn any internship into an externship, as long as it meets the following requirements:
- The placement must be at a not-for-profit organization, government agency, court, or an in-house counsel office in an approved corporation. Students may not extern with a law firm unless they are assigned exclusively to pro bono matters.
- Externs must be engaged in substantive legal work.
- Externs must be supervised by a licensed attorney.
- The position must be unpaid but students may receive stipends to cover out-of-pocket expenses or may receive third-party funding (e.g. an outside grant).
- Externs are required to work onsite in the same location as their supervising attorney for a minimum of 50% of their hours. (This is a WCL policy, employers may require students to work onsite full-time).
- Remote externships are permitted only in very limited circumstances and must be approved the Externship Office.
If you have any questions or concerns about whether a potential internship will qualify, please speak with the Externship Program staff before securing the position.
Step 2
Register for the Two-Credit Externship Seminar: Select an Externship Seminar section from the relevant semester's course schedule (LAW 769: Externship Seminar). Register for your desired seminar section through Eagle Service in the myAU portal, as you would register for any other class.
Second Externships (Advanced Supervision): If you have already taken the Two-Credit Externship Seminar, you must enroll in the One-Credit Advanced Supervision Seminar (pass/fail), which meets eight times over the course of the semester.
Important Note: You may register for a seminar as soon as they are posted, and you do not need to wait until your externship has been finalized. Unless the course description explicitly states otherwise, all externship seminars are open to students in any placement.
Step 3
After you have registered for an externship seminar, begin the field credit approval/registration process through CareerLink. You will need to know the name, title, email, and phone number of your attorney supervisor in order to complete this process.
Follow these instructions to submit your field credit registration:
- Log into CareerLink
- On the home page, click the “Experiential Learning” box
- Click “Add New”
- Fill out the application as thoroughly as possible
Important Note: Students who are seeking approval of placements which are new to the Externship Program, must provide the Program staff with sufficient time to determine whether the placement meets Program requirements. Do not wait until after the semester has started to request approval or you risk having the request denied after you have already started working and the add/drop period has ended.
Step 4
Student Agreement. Be sure to read the required Student Agreement at the bottom of the application/registration page. You will be held to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
Make sure to review the Employer Agreement and familiarize yourself with your anticipated responsibilities. This will help you create your goals for the semester. It will also give you an opportunity to see if there are any discrepancies between your expectations and those of your supervisor.
Step 5
Employer and Externship Program Approval. Upon submitting your application in CareerLink, two steps occur:
- Your attorney supervisor will receive a notification that you have submitted a request to extern with their organization, which they need to review and approve.
- Once your supervisor has approved your placement and signed the Externship Employer Agreement, our office will review your application and make a final approval determination. Your application is not approved until this process has been completed.
- Upon the Externship Program approval, the Registrar will enroll you for your field credits. Such credits will appear on your schedule as LAW-899: Externship Component.
You can review or edit your application at any time. You can also view your approval status and actions that have been taken with regard to your application (for example, you can view when your supervisor approved your placement). Once you see a green bar at the top of your application that reads, “This placement has been approved,” the process is complete.
Additional Information:
Repeating an Externship with the Same Employer: Students may not extern twice for the same organization without the permission of the Externship Office. Only students engaged in substantially different or more advanced work will be permitted to repeat an externship. To request permission, confer with your attorney supervisor and send a brief memorandum to the Externship Director. Describe what you had been doing before and compare this to your new duties. Provide the name of new or additional attorneys with whom you will work.
Maximum Credits: Students may enroll in a total of six externship field placement credits and six externship seminar credits throughout law school.
Tuition: The academic credits you receive through the Externship seminar and the fieldwork are law school credits that contribute to your graduation total. You will be charged tuition for any credits you want to earn for your field placement as well as the Externship seminar. Students must enroll in a minimum of one field placement in addition to the seminar. Please contact the Office of Financial Aid for updated information on financial aid.