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Field Placements

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Field Placement Credits

Field placement credits correspond with the number of hours you work in your externship. Students enrolled in an externship seminar must also apply for and enroll in fieldwork credits. Field Placement required are governed by ABA Standards. All externship field placements must meet the following requirements: 

  1. 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.
  2. Externs must be engaged in substantive legal work.
  3. Externs must be supervised by a licensed attorney.
  4. The position must be unpaid.
  5. 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).
  6. Remote externships are permitted only in very limited circumstances and must be approved the Externship Office. See below.

Externs earn two, three, or four credits for their fieldwork, depending on the number of hours worked during the course of the semester. All fieldwork credits are graded Pass/Fail. Students may earn no more than 4 fieldwork credits in any given semester, and 6 fieldwork credits total.

During the Fall and Spring Semesters (thirteen week semester):

  • 130 hours = 1 or 2 Field Credits (Approx. 10 hours per week for 13 weeks)
  • 195 hours = 3 Field Credits (Approx. 15 hours per week for 13 weeks)
  • 260 hours = 4 Field Credits (Approx. 20 hours per week for 13 weeks)

During the Summer Semester (nine week semester):

  • 130 hours = 1 or 2 Field Credits (Approx. 15 hours per week for 9 weeks)
  • 195 hours = 3 Field Credits (Approx. 22 hours per week for 9 weeks)
  • 260 hours = 4 Field Credits (Approx. 29 hours per week for 9 weeks)

Students must complete a minimum of 1 fieldwork credit (130 hours). 

Students determine how many fieldwork hours credits they will receive based on their own schedules and the needs of their supervising attorney. Field placement hours must be contemporaneous with the externship seminar. 

Students must keep a log of their hours and must submit the log to their professor at the conclusion of the semester in order to receive academic credit.

REMOTE EXTERNSHIPS:

ON-SITE REQUIREMENT:

Working on site provides students with more robust opportunities for interaction with their supervisors and other practicing attorneys, first-hand observation, and network building. As such, WCL students are required to work on-site for 50% of their field credit hours at the same time as their attorney supervisors.

Working directly with an attorney supervisor is a key component of a successful externship. Students must arrange their course schedule to accommodate their employer's on-site working days. The Externship Program does not grant exceptions if employer's on-site days conflict with a student's desired class schedule.

LIMITED EXCEPTIONS TO ON-SITE REQUIREMENT:

Exceptions include:

The Externship Program permits remote placements only for the following, limited exceptions:

  1. Pre-selected federal government agencies in the DMV that have not yet returned to working on-site.
  2.  Select organizations in practice areas for which remote work has become standard practice and onsite opportunities are not available (international, tech, engineering, etc.)
  3.  Evening Program Placements

Note: Exceptions to the on-site requirement must be approved by the Externship Office in advance of registration. Remote externships will be considered only if the supervising attorney is not working on-site and all the work of the field placement (staff meetings, client meetings, etc.) is taking place remotely.

REMOTE WORK STANDARDS:

While externing remotely is certainly not the ideal, the Externship Program’s goal is to make the experience as comparable as possible to that of an extern working on-site. Externship supervisors must agree to provide specific remote accommodations.

Attorney supervisors must agree to integrate remote students into the work of the office on a regular basis and must meet with remote students at least once per week via video conference. It is not sufficient for students to extern remotely simply because the field placement is outside of the metropolitan DC area. Click here for more information. 

Additional Information:

  • Students may extern outside of the United States during the summer semester. There is a remote externship seminar that will meet at 6 pm one night per week. 
  • Students may not receive credit for working with a WCL professor or any other educational institutions.
  • Students earn credit only for hours worked. 
    • Students are responsible for taking into account federal holidays and religious holidays when calculating the number of hours for which they will receive credit.
    • Lunch hours can be counted only if the student is meeting with attorneys, discussing work matters, or otherwise involved in work activities.