Only students who have completed their first year of law school and are in good academic standing can register for the externship course.

• Externship opportunities are available during the fall semester, spring semester, and summer session.
• Students are limited to a total of nine hours of externship credit, graded S/U. Credit earned for the landlord/tenant practicum counts as externship credit for purpose of this maximum number of permitted credits.
• Students can earn no fewer than two and no more than three externship credits during any one semester or summer session except as provided below.
• Students enrolled in the “Semester in Practice” externship in the second semester of their third year (or in their final semester of Law School if it is not the second semester of their third year), can enroll in up to nine hours of externship credit in a single semester.
• To earn three credits, students must work for a total of 150 hours at their placement site. To earn two credits, students must work a total of 100 hours at their placement site. To earn nine credits in the “Semester in Practice” externship, students must work for a total of 450 hours at their placement site.

To receive externship credit, a student must arrange a placement with a public interest group, non-profit organization, prosecutor or defender office, federal or state agency, or court. The student must also identify an attorney who works for the organization and who has agreed to be the student’s supervisor. Information about placements can be found on SAGE and through the Career Development Office.

Ordinarily, students cannot receive externship credit for working at private law firms. However, a student can serve as an extern for an attorney in private practice so long as the student is assisting only with pro bono work performed by that attorney. Such placements must be approved in advance by the law school. Students may not accept monetary compensation for such work.

If a student works for a government entity (such as a prosecutor, the law department of a state or municipal agency, or court) or for a non-profit entity (such as a public interest group or a non-profit organization), students may accept monetary compensation. Further, a student may receive a grant, fellowship, stipend, scholarship, or loan from a third-party, non-profit organization to help fund the student’s work at the placement site, including MU Law Shortridge Loans, PILI Internships, various ABA Fellowships, and Equal Justice Works Americorp Fellowships, and still participate in the externship program.

The classroom component of the course is intended to help students focus on fundamental lawyering skills (as identified by the MacCrate Report and Carnegie Report), identify the skills they want to develop and consider strategies for developing these skills during their externship placement and later throughout their legal careers.

In addition to working at the placement site, to receive credit for the externship course, a student must complete additional assignments, which may include all or some of the following:

• Attend two class meetings at the beginning of the course and five class meetings during the course. In the fall and spring semesters, the two initial class meetings will take place at the regularly scheduled course time. For the summer session, the two initial class meetings will be scheduled at the end of the spring semester. The remaining five class meetings will be scheduled during the summer.
• Read all required assignments. In addition to supplemental reading, students who have not previously received externship credit will read selections from Learning from Practice: A Text for Experiential Legal Education. Students who previously received externship credit will develop a reading list for the course that includes professional literature in the relevant field of law. Both the field placement supervisor and the course professor must approve the student’s reading list.
• Complete a skills assessment exercise.
• Write a four- to five-page memo using the information discussed in class and insights gained from the readings to analyze a hypothetical fact pattern.
• Establish a list of goals and activities (including observations and readings) for the externship. To receive credit for a second externship, the student must establish goals and activities that are significantly more challenging than those selected for the first externship.
• Maintain and turn in accurate time sheets.
• Schedule a conference to discuss the placement with the professor.
• Keep a journal of reflections on the placement experiences (approximately two pages each week).
• Write a summary memo that briefly outlines the work the student did at the placement site, describes the positive and negative aspects of the placement, and evaluates the student’s success in achieving his or her goals.
• Complete an Evaluation of Supervisor form.
• At the conclusion of the placement, conduct an exit interview with his or her supervisor to discuss the extent to which the student achieved his or her goals.