FAQs About Externships/Clinics
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(1) Will LPP help me find an externship?
LPP students are responsible for searching for, applying to, and obtaining their own externships. Students should begin by researching potential placements of interest to them and by consulting with LPP Program Director Brian Svoboda for guidance regarding the types of externships that will further their specific goals.
LPP students interested in participating in a clinic should consult the law school’s legal externships & clinics website for information. For additional information or advice regarding placement selection or clinics, contact Christopher Ross, Clinical Assistant Professor, at rosscs@cua.edu and (202) 319-6783.
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(2) When do I need to apply for an externship?
Generally, students search for fall semester externships the summer before they wish to begin the externship and search for spring semester externships during the fall semester before they wish to begin the externship. Because LPP students ordinarily must have externships during the fall semesters of their second and third years, they normally search for fall externships during the summer before the fall semester that they need the externship.
However, please note that certain externships, such as those with the government, have particularly early deadlines due to the extensive background checks and/or security clearances required for those positions. Therefore, as soon as you know you are interested in a specific externship, contact the Office of Career and Professional Development to get information about application deadlines.
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(3) How do I find an externship?
Catholic Law students searching for externship opportunities should consult 12twenty or careers.law.edu, an online database of summer positions, internships, externships, and full-time opportunities regularly updated by the Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD). All day and evening division students have access to 12twenty. First Year students receive their login information in October. Email jobs@law.edu if you need your login credentials. The OCPD offers a variety of resources to students searching for externship placements. Students are invited to schedule a meeting with an OCPD counselor and to consult the OCPD library of materials for conducting a successful job search, located both in the OCPD office suite and electronically on 12twenty.
Office of Career and Professional Development
Room 163
Email: jobs@law.edu
Phone: (202) 319-5132
Externship Fairs
The Law School hosts an externship fair at which numerous organizations recruit law student externs. These fairs are open to all law students, including first-year students.
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(4) Are LPP students required to have certain types of externships?
LPP students generally should seek externships related to law and public policy. However, students may also participate in other externships if they have opportunities to consider the effect of public policy on particular aspects of their externships for purposes of completing class (BAPPL for 2Ls or the Public Policy Practicum for 3Ls) requirements. For example, a student in a judicial externship may encounter issues related to the ways in which sentencing guidelines affect the decision-making of various actors, such as prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges.
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(5) Are LPP evening students required to complete the externships requirement?
Some flexibility is permitted for the completion of externship requirements for evening students. Evening students having scheduling difficulties should discuss alternatives with Director Brian Svoboda.
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(6) Can I register for an externship before finding a placement?
Yes. You may register for Legal Externship (2 or 3 crs.) before you have secured a placement. Most students find placements before the beginning of the semester in which they will complete the externships, but some students find placements during the first two weeks of the semester. If you do not have a placement when the semester begins, you should treat your search as a top priority. Consult with your BAPPL or Public Policy Practicum instructor(s) and/or see Professor Ross, rosscs@cua.edu for assistance.
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(7) I have been offered a placement, is there anything I have to do before I can accept it?
Yes. You must get the placement approved before you can accept it. To begin the process of seeking academic credit, complete this application. After your application is approved by Professor Ross, sign the Site Supervisor, Faculty Supervisor and Extern Agreement with your Site Supervisor and email the agreement to Deborah Hawkins (hawkinsde@law.edu). Professor Ross will sign the agreement and a final copy will be uploaded to a Shared Google Drive folder assigned to you. Please refer to our Externship Information for Law Students page for a complete set of instructions on applying for externship credit and to review the Externship Program Student Handbook.
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(8) Can I participate in a clinic instead of an externship?
Clinics can be taken instead of a second externship.
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(9) How and when do I turn in my externship hours?
Provide timely, detailed documentation of your fieldwork hours using the Externship Program time log template. At the beginning of the semester, students will be given to individual Google Drive folders where they can access documents including their time log, a sample time log, and a program calendar. Students are encouraged to update their time logs in the Google Drive in real-time. Every two* weeks, students are required to complete their time logs documenting their hours and describing their work. The school has created a time log template for this purpose, which automatically tallies students’ total fieldwork hours and requests the information needed to evaluate student fieldwork. Students will receive reminder emails in advance of deadlines. *Time logs are due every two weeks during fall and spring semesters; time logs are due every week during summer semesters.
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(10) What must be included in my externship time log?
Each time log should list all of the following:
(a) Dates and hours worked,
(b) Tasks accomplished during those hours,
(c) The total number of hours logged during that period,
Note: Students may “count” hours spent doing research or other work for the placement at the library or elsewhere. Students may not “count” hours spent traveling to and from the placement, or hours spent at the placement doing schoolwork, socializing, etc. Because the law school is awarding academic credit based on the hours worked, students must be careful in recording hours.
(d) A running total number of hours for the semester, and
(e) A description of the work completed (without disclosing confidential information)
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(11) Is there anything I have to do at the end of my externship?
To successfully complete the Legal Externship course and receive academic credit for their externship fieldwork hours, all externship program students must do the following:
(1) Complete the minimum number of fieldwork hours required for the number of credits selected.
(2) Provide timely, detailed documentation of your fieldwork hours using the Externship Program time log template.
(3) Complete evaluations of the placement.
(4) Ensure that your supervisor submits evaluations of your work.
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(12) What is the difference between an externship and an internship?
The key difference is that an externship is done for academic credit. Both are placements outside of the law school where the student is supervised by a lawyer who is not a faculty member. Students taking the course for credit are referred to as “externs”—and the placement an “externship”—because the placement has an academic learning focus that is “external” to the law school but is not necessarily present in an “internship.” For first-time externs, this includes a required academic seminar, such as Becoming a Lawyer or Becoming a Public Policy lawyer. And for all externs, the site supervisor agrees to provide substantive feedback and learning opportunities for the student to ensure that academic credit is given for substantive legal work.