Externships

Externships, also known as external studies opportunities, offer an exciting opportunity to augment classroom study with real-world work experience. In recent years, students (under the guidance of both a faculty sponsor and an attorney supervisor) have pursued externships and immersed themselves in legal work for an entire semester at nonprofits such as the U.S. Department of Justice, Screen Actors Guild, Habeas Corpus Resource Center, Legal Aid Society, U.S. Army Judge Advocate General, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

There is also a fall semester externship program that allows a limited number of students to do an externship in one of several cities in South Africa, and a winter semester externship program that allows select students to spend the semester on externship in Geneva, Switzerland. During the 2006-2007 academic year, 27 students participated in international and domestic externships.

Michigan's externship program is designed to provide individual students with advanced training and research opportunities in areas of particular interest to them that go beyond what is traditionally offered in a classroom setting. A student may develop a proposal that builds on work the student has done in school or provides background for work the student plans to do upon return. The proposal must demonstrate that external study provides an educational opportunity not available in the regular curriculum. Although skills training may be a component of an external studies program, the object of the program must be to further the student's legal education in the sense of deepening his or her understanding of the nature of law and the legal system; skills training alone is not an adequate justification for engaging in study outside the Law School.

A student proposing a semester on externship carries the burden of establishing that the program will be of direct and significant benefit to specific personal educational goals in light of the student's past and anticipated experiences both in the Law School and outside.  It is expected that most programs will be undertaken in connection with government agencies or with charitable, educational, or other nonprofit organizations operated for the public benefit.  Credit will not be awarded for activities which substantially resemble a summer job or post-graduation employment, or for programs with an organization engaged in providing legal services for a profit, or for work with a court as a judicial clerk.

Students interested in pursuing an externship should read these guidelines and make an appointment to consult with Christine Gregory, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs.