Policy on Individual Externships

 

Policy on Individual Externships
 
(As enacted at a meeting of the faculty on March 18, 2011, and amended at a meeting of the faculty on April 8, 2011.)
 
Individual externships are student placements with organizations or individuals outside the law school that are arranged and conducted on an individual basis, without a required classroom component, and are designed to promote student learning in a supervised practice setting. All individual externships are subject to the following requirements (except as noted at the end of this policy for Insurance Law LL.M. students):
  1. A designated placement supervisor, who is an attorney, is responsible for coordinating and monitoring educationally valuable work assignments for the student, ensuring that the student receives adequate supervision and feedback on his or her work, and evaluating the student’s performance in the placement.
 
  1. A designated member of the full-time faculty (the faculty supervisor) is responsible for meeting with the student at least twice during the semester or summer of the externship, once at or near the externship’s mid-point and once at or near its conclusion. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss and engage in critical reflection on the student’s experience in the placement. Such meetings may be conducted telephonically if it is not feasible for the student or faculty supervisor to meet in person because of either’s location away from the law school during the term of the placement. The faculty supervisor is also responsible for reviewing the student’s reflective journal (see paragraph 6 below).
 
  1. An Externship Director appointed by the Dean is responsible for providing initial approval for each individual externship placement and certifying its successful completion before credit is awarded; disseminating information to students and supervisors on program expectations and best practices; monitoring student and supervisor compliance with program requirements; and periodically reviewing all ongoing individual externship placements to ensure that they are meeting program goals and determining whether they should be continued. The Externship Director is authorized to develop and to revise as necessary forms for initiating, conducting, and evaluating individual externships. The Externship Director may promulgate any additional guidelines or requirements to further the program’s objectives that are not inconsistent with this policy.
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  1. In order to enroll in an individual externship, a student must obtain the approval of the Externship Director. The student must submit an individual externship application form to the Externship Director no later than the second week of the semester or the second class day of the June Term for summer individual externships. The application must be accompanied by an externship approval form signed by both the placement supervisor and the faculty supervisor. A student may enroll in an individual externship beyond this deadline only with the approval of both the Externship Director and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, but will not receive credit for any work performed in the field placement more than one week prior to the date on which the student submits the form.
 
  1. All students enrolled in an individual externship must complete an orientation program that will address program expectations and requirements, relevant issues of ethics and professionalism, and ways of maximizing learning in an externship. The format, duration, and content of the orientation program will be determined by the Externship Director. The orientation requirement must be completed prior to or within two weeks after the student begins work at his or her first individual externship placement.
 
  1. All students enrolled in an individual externship are required to maintain a reflective journal. Journal entries must be submitted to the Externship Director and faculty supervisor at least four times at regular intervals during the semester or term of the externship. Students will take care during the preparation of this journal not to improperly reveal any confidential client information (see Rule 1.6 of the Rules of Professional Conduct). At least twelve to fifteen pages of journal entries are expected over the semester or term of the externship. The faculty supervisor will review the student’s reflective journal and discuss it when meeting with the student, and/or comment on it in other ways.
 
  1. All students enrolled in an individual externship are also required to maintain a log listing dates and hours worked and describing the nature of the tasks that the student performed in the placement on each date. The Externship Director will develop forms for such logs and specify the intervals and manner of submission. The Externship Director will review such logs to ensure that students are assigned meaningful work and complete the required number of hours.
 
  1. A student’s placement supervisor is responsible for ensuring that the student receives feedback on all substantial written and non-written work assignments. Faculty supervisors are not required or expected to review or provide feedback on written work produced by the student in the placement. However, some faculty supervisors may wish to review selected work done by the student in the field placement. This may be done if the placement supervisor consents and appropriate steps are taken to safeguard client confidentiality.
 
  1. The maximum number of credits that may be awarded for an individual externship is three during the fall or spring semester, and four during the summer.  A minimum of fifty-six hours of work in the field placement (an average of four hours per week over a fourteen-week semester) is required for each credit.  The total number of individual externship credits taken before graduation cannot exceed eight, except that with the approval of the Director of International Exchange Programs and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, this eight credit maximum may be increased to no more than twelve for a student who has received approval to study abroad and who is authorized to complete a special research project to compensate for credits missed as a result of foreign study.  All of the credit limits set forth in this paragraph apply to the combined total of individual externship credits and special research project (SRP) credits.  Thus, for example, a student enrolled in a two-credit SRP over the summer would be limited to two externship credits during that same summer.  Similarly, a student who has completed six SRP credits and wants to enroll in an individual externship would be limited to two credits for that externship.
 
  1. All credits awarded for an individual externship shall be graded pass/fail, and are subject to the credit limits for courses taken pass/fail that are detailed in the academic regulations on pass/fail grading. Upon completion of the externship and submission of all required evaluation forms from the student, field supervisor, and faculty supervisor, the Externship Director, in consultation with the faculty supervisor, will submit a grade of pass or fail to the Registrar.
Students in the Insurance LawLL.M. program are subject to the requirements set forth in paragraph 1, paragraphs 5-9, and the pass-fail provisions of paragraph 10, above. For Insurance LawLL.M. students, the procedures for approval and faculty supervision of a field placement, and for student enrollment in the individual externship, shall be determined by the Directors of the Insurance Law LL.M. program.