The School of Law provides a variety of opportunities for students to learn through experience, which include experiential field work in the form of externships. Students are placed in law firms, corporate counsel departments, government offices including public defender and district attorney offices, or judicial chambers where they work on real legal problems under the direct supervision of practicing attorneys or judges.
The law school currently has six externship programs: Civil Practice, Social Justice and High Tech Law, Criminal Justice, Domestic “Away”, Judicial, International and the Panetta Fellowship that offer students an opportunity to receive academic credit for their field work. Externships are open to students who have successfully completed at least one academic year of study prior to participation in a program and individual pre-requites specific to any given externship.
Course descriptions for externship programs are listed in chapter 20 of this bulletin.
a. Civil Practice, Social Justice and High Tech Law Externship and Seminar (590)
This course consists of two components: the internship; which involves 225 hours of fieldwork with an approved supervising attorney for which students receive 3 units of credit, and the seminar; which meets five to seven times during the course of the term and for which students receive 1 unit of credit. Students must complete both components simultaneously for a total of 4 units. Students cannot be paid for work in the field placement.
Civil practice students find placements in public interest agencies, private law offices, city attorney’s offices, corporate legal departments and other settings under the direct supervision of a licensed California attorney. High tech students find placements in the legal departments of high tech companies, or law firms representing high tech companies, or non-profit organizations focused on high tech law under the supervision of a licensed California attorney, monitored by a member of the law faculty.
Registration
To register for the Civil Practice, Social Justice and High Tech Externship, students must fill out and submit the student registration form to the Director of Law Externship two months prior to the semester in which the internship is desired to allow time for interviews and placement.
For more information see law.scu.edu/apd/civil-practice_high-tech_student-info.cfm.
b. Criminal Justice Externship and Seminar (591)
This course consists of two components: The Criminal Justice Internship and Seminar. In order to receive credit, students must complete both parts. The course is limited to twenty students. The seminar component provides one unit and the two or three remaining units are earned by fieldwork at the rate of 75 hours per unit. Students will work in a prosecutor’s or public defender’s office, under the direct supervision of a licensed attorney. The Director of Law Externships shall approve the offices.
Registration
To register for the Criminal Justice Externship and Seminar, students should obtain an application form to fill out and submit to the Director of Law Externship two months prior to the semester in which the internship is desired to allow time for interviews and placement.
For more information see law.scu.edu/apd/criminal-justice-externship.cfm.
c. Domestic Away Externship Program (545)
The Domestic "Away" Externship Program is for judicial, government and social justice Externships out of the Bay Area. The Domestic "Away" Externship Program does not include placements of for profit firms and companies. Away placements are limited to established social justice organizations, government offices and the courts.
Registration
Students must apply to the Director of Externships for approval prior to registration
For more information see law.scu.edu/apd/domestic-away-externship.cfm.
d. Judicial Externships (594)
The purpose of the judicial externship seminar is to enable students to consider and discuss a variety of issues relating to the administration of justice, which they will have an opportunity to observe in their fieldwork. A student may earn academic credit for work done as an extern for a judge or for an entire court if undertaken in conjunction with the one unit Judicial Externship Seminar. Eligible students must have a minimum of a 2.60 cumulative grade point average and must have completed Pleading and Civil Procedure with a grade of C of better.
A part-time extern earns one unit of credit for each 75 hours of fieldwork to a maximum or five units. A full-time extern earns eleven units (five units in the summer) of credit for fifteen weeks of full-time fieldwork (40 hours per week). The purpose of the fieldwork is to afford qualified students the opportunity to observe and participate in the functioning of either a trial or appellate court.
Registration
Students should obtain information about judges and courts that use externs and about the application process from the Director of Law Externship Programs well in advance of the anticipated placements. Students must fill out an application. These courses have limited enrollment, so plan to start this process early.
For more information see law.scu.edu/apd/judicial-externship.cfm.
e. Panetta Fellowship Program (523)
The Panetta Fellowship Program is a joint venture between Santa Clara University School of Law and the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy in Monterey, California. The Panetta Fellowship Program was developed to provide an educational opportunity for law students interested in the law and government, political science or public policy to work with Leon and Sylvia Panetta, and other professional staff at The Panetta Institute, on matters within the public mission and service of the Institute.
Registration
Students wishing to be considered for a Panetta Fellowship must first submit an application to the Director of Law Externship Programs. The application must include the student’s resume, transcript, and a statement of interest. Finalist will then be selected and asked to complete a brief written assignment.
Deadlines for submission:
- Fall semester: June 2
- Spring semester: November 3
For more information see law.scu.edu/apd/panetta-fellowship.cfm.
Limitation on cumulative units
In calculating the 86 units required to graduate, a student may count no more than 6 units from any combination of fieldwork (i.e., not including the seminar units earned in conjunction with the field work) from the following:
- Internships/Externships, not including summer overseas internships
- Judicial externships
- Domestic Away externship
- The Panetta Fellowship Program
- International internships and externships
- Credit for classes taken in the interdisciplinary program with the School of Education, Counseling Psychology
- Juvenile justice courses
Any additional field work units may be reflected on a student’s transcript, but will not count toward graduation.
There are two exceptions to the limitation stated in the immediately preceding paragraph. A student may count the 11 units of fieldwork credit from a full-time (12-unit) judicial externship and all 12 units of the international externship toward the 86 units required to graduate, but only if no other units within the scope of this limitation are included.
For more information
- Director of Externship Programs, Sandee Magliozzi
- (408) 554-5015
- smagliozzi@scu.edu.
- law.scu.edu/apd/externship.cfm
a. International Externship
Students learn about the functioning of lawyers in an international legal environment through practical experience in law offices, government entities, NGOs, and commercial entities outside of the United States. Student's work experience is critically examined utilizing guided reflections directed by the course instructor. Students work under the direct supervision of a licensed lawyer in the country of the externship. Students work a minimum of 75 hours per unit, up to a maximum of 12 units for full semester externships. Students must attend at least one orientation session prior to the start of the externship. Students are required to maintain time records, reviewed and certified by the externship supervisor, reflecting the student's time spent in the placement. All units are granted as CR/NC, and students are evaluated by their externship sponsors. Pre-requisite course is Pleading and Civil Procedure (114). Students must have received a grade of "C" or better in Pleading and Civil Procedure (114), and must submit a positive written evaluation from the LARAW instructor. Externship placements are subject to availability.
b. International Judicial Externships
SCU law students who are fluent in Spanish and have an interest in human rights may be eligible to apply for a semester-long or summer internship at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
For details, see law.scu.edu/international/international-judicial-externship.cfm.
For more information
- School of Law, Center for Global Law and Policy: law.scu.edu/international/center-for-global-law-and-policy.cfm or 408-551-1955.