Western New England offers the opportunity to gain real-world experience from an externship in a wide variety of legal fields. The Externship Program provides learning opportunities for students placed with judges and lawyers who have agreed to provide a mentored learning environment away from the law school. All externs are supervised by a law faculty member.
Students work in a nonprofit organization, governmental agency, or private sector law firm engaging in a variety of lawyering tasks under the supervision of an attorney. The emphasis of the placement is for students to acquire a range of lawyering skills with a particular focus on professionalism, ethics, and public interest lawyering
Students work in judicial chambers on legal research memos and judicial opinions under the supervision of judges and their postgraduate or permanent law clerks. Externs also have the opportunity to observe court proceedings.
Students may secure their own judicial, public interest, or private sector externship placement. However, students seeking approval to add a new externship site must obtain preliminary approval prior to submitting formal site approval paperwork. Students seeking approval of a student secured externship must provide information that demonstrates a good reason why they cannot obtain a similar experience at one of the approved sites, including expanding geographic, practice, or substantive areas. Please complete this form to obtain preliminary approval.
Sufficient lead time (a minimum of 3 weeks prior to the start of the semester) must be given to complete the site approval process once preliminary approval is granted. The site approval process will include a consultation with the proposed supervisor, an assessment of the substance of the proposed work, and a written agreement with the supervisor regarding the expectations and requirements for on-site supervision and mentoring. For more information contact Marie Fletcher.
