Repeat & Remote Externship Policy

Repeat Externship Policy

Fieldwork for Employers Where You Have Previously Volunteered or Worked:

A student seeking course credit for an externship with the same agency, office, or firm for which a student has previously worked (whether volunteer, paid, work-study, or extern) for substantial periods of time must obtain approval from the Director and Assistant Professor of the Externship Programs according to the following guidelines:

  1. A student may not enroll in an externship program with the same mentor or at the same site at which the student has been placed as an extern, had an employment relationship, or has worked as a volunteer unless the placement will provide a qualitatively different or substantially more rigorous learning experience than the student previously experienced.
  2. A student may receive externship credit for no more than two semesters at the same placement.
  3. A student may receive up to 9 credits during their second semester at the same placement.

Prior to approval of the student’s application, the Director and Assistant Professor of the Externship Programs will have a one-on-one conversation with the supervising attorney to ensure the student’s experience will be a qualitatively different or substantially more rigorous learning experience.

PLEASE NOTE: The Externship Programs Office has the discretion to deny a student’s application to participate/enroll in the Externship Program again, based on the student’s performance in the previous semester.

Students must complete the Petition for Repeat Civil/Criminal Law Externship and turn it into the Externship Office by the application deadline.

Remote Externship Policy

During the COVID-19 pandemic, remote placements were necessary, and most were completed successfully. As the legal field returns to in-person work, in-person externships are preferred.

Remote externships, where students work in a separate location from their supervisors more than 25% of the time, will be considered on a case-by-case basis according to the following factors:

  1. Whether an in-person externship is a possibility with the placement;
  2. Whether a substantially similar placement offers an in-person experience;
  3. Whether the student may be able to extern in-person at a different time (e.g. summer term);
  4. Whether quality work and a meaningful experience can be provided remotely;
  5. Whether the placement can fully integrate the student remotely;
  6. Whether the placement is responsive and adequately addresses the remote arrangement; and,
  7. Whether the student demonstrates responsibility and initiative, necessary for a remote placement.