Externships

Real-World Immersion with Externships

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.

Application Information

Spring 2026 Externship Opportunities are posted on Symplicity. Deadline to apply is October 26, 2025.

List of Spring 2026 Externship Placements

Types of Externship Placements

Law Practice

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

Judicial

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.

Student Secured

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 for 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.

Externship FAQ