Please provide an overview of Lewis & Clark Law School’s Externship Program and share what makes it unique
Lewis & Clark Law School’s (LCLS) Externship Program offers students the opportunity to earn academic credit through carefully supervised, thoughtfully designed work experiences. The expectation is that students will be given a meaningful work experience, with a focus on student learning, in a field of law or work that enhances and builds on their classroom experience.
LCLS’s Externship Program is one of the oldest in the country, having started in the 1970’s, and is one of the most flexible Externship Programs. Students may earn between 3 and 12 academic credits and can participate in either paid or volunteer placements. They also have the flexibility to extern in a wide variety of settings that align with their educational and professional goals, including judicial chambers, public interest organizations, government agencies, corporations, and law firms.
Another distinctive feature of our program is its global reach. LCLS’s Externship Program allows students to extern anywhere in the world. Students have externed in The Netherlands, Australia, and India, among other countries.
What types of externship opportunities are available to students, and how do these experiences help them explore different legal career paths?
Because Lewis & Clark’s Externship Program is so flexible, students can tailor their practical experiences to their individual interests, career goals, preferred employer types, and geographic preferences. Students have completed externships around the world, including in Budapest, where one student worked with an international environmental organization. Many students also choose to extern in the Portland area, either part-time while taking classes or full-time in placements such as federal judicial chambers.
The program gives students the opportunity to explore both the substantive areas of law that interest them and the different professional settings in which attorneys practice. For many students, their externship experience sets them on the path to their post-graduate career.
What skills and professional competencies do students typically develop through the externship program, and how do these prepare them for legal practice after graduation?
Through externships, students further develop their legal research and writing skills, as well as their analytical abilities. Some students also start to hone their litigation skills, including preparing legal matters for trial, crafting an oral argument, and observing effective lawyering. Depending on the setting they are in, students also learn about serving clients, managing law offices, handling ethical issues, and working with opposing counsel. In many ways, externs are stepping into the role of a new attorney and, as such, get broad exposure to legal practice.
What advice would you give to students in their law school application journey on how to make the most of Lewis & Clark Law School’s Externship Program?
Lewis & Clark Law School allows students to extern as early as the summer after their 1L year and students can earn as many as 15 externship credits towards their degree requirements. LCLS has a number of amazing practical skills courses, including clinics, moot courts, practicums, and simulation courses.
Given that, my advice to entering students is to carefully review the options and plan to include some practical skills courses – externships, etc. – into each semester, if possible. Combining doctrinal coursework with experiential learning is one of the most effective ways to become practice-ready for a post-graduate career. Through the practical skills courses, students not only develop the skills they will need but, also, the confidence that will serve them well as they begin their careers.
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