Externship Program Rules University of Oregon School of Law

Externship Program Rules University of Oregon School of Law Adopted by Faculty Vote on May 17, 2013 Amended II.A. by Faculty Vote on February 27, 2015 Amended V.D. by Faculty Vote on January 25, 2019 I. Externship Program and Director of Clinics and Externships. A. Purpose of the Externship Program. The goal of the externship program is to allow students to develop practical lawyering skills and gain insight into the operation of legal systems through rigorously supervised field placements in which students have regular opportunities for guided reflection on their field placement experiences. Through the externship program, students should: (1) enhance their professional identities, (2) enhance their problem-solving skills, (3) enhance their interpersonal and professional skills, (4) learn how to learn from experience, and (5) gain substantive knowledge and understanding of practice skills. B. The Director of Clinics and Externships. The Director of Clinics and Externships (Director) will be responsible for creating an externship program that is consistent with the purpose of the externship program. The Director must, at a minimum: 1. Advise law students to determine interests and appropriate placements; 2. Meet with students as necessary; 3. Develop and update training and guidance materials for students, faculty supervisors, and field supervisors; 4. Maintain externship information on the law school s website; 5. Interpret ABA and law school rules pertaining to externships; 6. Explore and propose suitable externship placement opportunities; 7. Review proposals for new externship placements; 8. Review end-of-semester reports on externship placements submitted by faculty supervisors and work with faculty supervisors to evaluate externship placements; and 9. Report annually to the faculty on the externship program and, as necessary, recommend whether any placements, after review, should be offered only with modifications or should be terminated. II. Student Eligibility. A. Completed Credits. A student must have successfully completed at least 28 credits toward the J.D. degree to participate in an externship. 1

B. Academic Standing. A student must be in good academic standing with a grade point average of at least 2.0 to participate in an externship. A student in the bottom quartile of the class, however, must consult with and obtain permission from the Director prior to enrolling in an externship. The Director may, at the Director s discretion, grant or deny permission for the student to pursue the externship or impose conditions on the externship. C. Prior Externships. A student must have successfully completed any externship in which he or she was enrolled in order to be eligible to enroll in another externship. Successful completion of an externship means receiving full academic credit for registered credit, including submitting all required materials and receiving a positive field supervisor evaluation. D. Multiple Placements in a Clinic or Externship in Single Semester. A student may only extern at multiple placements during a single semester with the advance permission of the Director and the field supervisors at each placement. A student may only participate in an externship and clinic during the same semester with the advance permission of the Director, the field supervisor at the externship, and the supervisor at the clinic. E. Multiple Semesters at a Single Placement. A student may work at a single placement, whether the work is paid, volunteer, or for externship credit, for more than one semester only if he or she can demonstrate, through a written memo to the Director, that the work he or she will be doing in that placement is substantially different from the work that he or she has previously done in the placement and provides increased educational value. F. Appeal of Director s Eligibility Decision. A student may appeal any decision made by the Director regarding the student s eligibility for an externship to the law school s academic standing committee. III. Placement Eligibility and Field Supervisor Requirements. A. Types of Placement. Field placements must be a judicial, government, or non-profit organization, with the following exceptions: 1. Placements with for-profit law firms will be approved if the externship provides the student with an opportunity to engage in an area of the law that is not well covered by the law school s curriculum, the law firm agrees that it will not bill for student time, and the law firm provides a list of the kinds of tasks that it expects the student to perform and an estimate of the percentage of time the student will spend on each kind of task and the tasks and time are consistent with the purpose of the externship program. 2. Placements with in-house counsel will be approved if the placement provides a list of the kinds of tasks that it expects the student to perform and an estimate of the percentage of time the student will spend on each kind of task and the tasks and time are consistent with the purpose of the externship program. B. Type of Work. The student must be engaged in substantive legal work. The student may not be awarded credit for administrative work. 2

C. Field Supervisor. The student must be directly supervised by an on-site, licensed attorney. The field supervisor must have at least 3 to 5 years of either professional experience or experience in a supervisory role. The Curriculum Committee, in consultation with the Registrar, may make exceptions to these requirements for externship placements that provide interdisciplinary opportunities. D. Field Supervisor Responsibilities. The supervisor must agree to: 1. Train the student to ensure competent performance of the work assigned; 2. Oversee the student s work assignments; 3. Review the student s time logs for accuracy; 4. Meet regularly with the student to provide the student with a productive and varied educational experience and extensive feedback; 5. Identify and discuss the professional and ethical implications of the work assigned with the student; and 6. Submit to the faculty supervisor a written evaluation of the student mid-semester and at the end of the semester. E. On-Site Requirement. At least 80% of the student s work must be performed on-site at the field placement, under the direct supervision of the field supervisor. IV. Faculty Supervisor Requirements and Course Component. A. Faculty Supervisor and Faculty Supervisor Responsibilities. The student must be supervised by a faculty supervisor. The faculty supervisor must be a regular or adjunct member of the law school s teaching or administrative faculty. The faculty supervisor must agree to: 1. Teach the course component; 2. Review the student s journals or the equivalent and any other written work product; 3. Collect and review time logs to ensure that the student is meeting the hour requirements for the amount of credits he or she is receiving; 4. Communicate with the student on a regular basis in a critical evaluation of the externship placement; 5. Periodically conduct on-site visits or their equivalent; 6. Review evaluations submitted by the field supervisor; 7. Ensure that the field supervisor is providing the student with an experience consistent with these rules and the educational goals of the law school through regular 3

communication with the field supervisor, student, and the Director; 8. Award credit for the externship at the end of the semester as appropriate; and 9. Provide an end-of-semester report on the externship placement to the Director. B. Course Component. All externships must include a course component to provide an opportunity for student reflection on the field placement experience. V. Credit. 1. Faculty Supervisor. The course component must be taught by the faculty supervisor. 2. Journals. The course component must provide the student with a process by which the student engages in periodic self-reflection on his or her field placement. For most placements, this means that the students will maintain a weekly journal and submit his or her entries to the faculty supervisor. 3. Other Writing Requirements. In addition to weekly journals, the student must submit to the faculty supervisor and Director a five-page, double-spaced paper of approximately 2,500 words reflecting on his or her externship experience. 4. Grading. All externships are graded on a Pass/No Pass basis. A. For a Single Externship. 1. Academic Year. During the regular academic year, a student may receive between 3 and 10 hours of credit for an externship. Each credit hour awarded represents 4 hours of work per week at the placement or in class, for a total of 56 hours of work per credit over the course of the semester. 2. Summer Semester. During the 8-week summer term, a student may receive between 3 and 6 hours of credit for the externship placement. Each credit hour awarded during the 8-week summer term represents 7 hours of work per week at the placement or in class, for a total of 56 hours of work per credit over the course of the semester. B. Timing of Externship Credits. All work for externship credit, whether during the academic year or the summer semester, must be done within the semester for which credit is to be earned unless otherwise required by the field placement. C. Total Number of Externship Credits. A student may not take more than 12 externship credits during his or her tenure at the law school without the advance permission of the Director. The Director will only grant permission if the student does a degree audit with the Registrar and can demonstrate the educational appropriateness of additional externship opportunities beyond the 12-credit limit. D. Compensation. With the advance approval of the Director and the Curriculum Committee, a student may receive compensation from the placement itself or an external source of funding; it 4

is the student s and the placement supervisor s responsibility to explain in advance how the placement can reliably be expected to meet the law school s pedagogical criteria even though they are being compensated for their work. With the advance approval of the Director, a student may receive reimbursement from the placement itself or an external source of funding for reasonable out-of- pocket expenses related to the field placement. VI. Faculty Approval and Evaluation of Externship Placements. A. Experimental Approval. 1. Experimental Approval of Externships within an Umbrella Program. Any externship that is a qualifying placement for one of the externship umbrella programs as described in Appendix A may be approved experimentally by the faculty supervisor of the externship umbrella program in consultation with the Director. No further action by the Curriculum Committee or the faculty is required. 2. Experimental Approval of Externships not in an Umbrella Program. a. Proposal of Experimental Externship. Any student or a regular or adjunct member of the law school s teaching or administrative faculty wishing to propose an externship at a field placement that is not already offered at the law school must submit a completed Experimental Externship Proposal to the Director. The Director will review these proposals on an on-going process. b. Approval of Experimental Externship. After review of the Experimental Externship Proposal to make sure that the field placement meets the requirements of these rules, the Director will submit the Experimental Externship Proposal to the law schools Curriculum Committee with a recommendation to accept or deny the proposal. If approved by the Curriculum Committee, the experimental placement may be offered to students for up to three semesters, whether consecutively or not, before the law school faculty must permanently approve it. B. Permanent Approval. 1. Proposal for Permanent Approval of Externship. Once three different students have been placed in an experimentally approved externship in three different semesters, the Director must complete a Proposal for Permanent Approval of Externship and send it to the Curriculum Committee. The Curriculum Committee must then submit the Proposal for Permanent Approval of Externship to the full faculty with a recommendation to accept or deny the proposal. 2. Approval of Permanent Externship. If the full faculty decides to approve the externship, it will become a regular part of the externship program and may be offered to students in any semester unless and until the Director recommends and the faculty decides to terminate the placement. 5

C. Annual Review and Report by Director. 1. Review of Placements. The Director will review every externship, whether experimental or permanent, every semester in which a student is placed at the externship field placement. The evaluation must include but is not limited to a review of the field supervisor s evaluation of the student, a review of the student s evaluation of the field placement, and a review of the faculty supervisor s end-of-semester report on the externship placement. This end-of-semester report of the externship placement must include the results of the faculty supervisor s site evaluation or its equivalent. 2. Annual Externship Report. Every year, the Director will report to the law school faculty. This annual externship report should include externship enrollment figures and placement details from the previous academic year. In this report, the Director may also recommend whether any placements, after review, should be continued to be offered only with modifications or should be terminated. 6

Appendix A Externship Umbrella Program Qualifying Placements Criminal Justice Externship Qualifying Placements 1. The faculty supervisor of the criminal justice externship umbrella program, in consultation with the Director of Clinics and Externships (Director), may experimentally approve the following field placements: state and federal public prosecution offices; state and federal public or non-profit criminal defense and juvenile defense organizations; and for-profit law firms that engage in indigent criminal or juvenile defense, so long as the field placement at the for-profit law firm is limited to indigent defense and so long as the externship is limited to 3 credits. 2. Permanent approval of all criminal justice externships must be obtained in a timely fashion as set out in the Externship Program Rules 3. Externships for second-year law students are limited to 3 credits, unless otherwise approved by the Director. B. Multiple Semesters in a Criminal Justice Externship. Students may enroll in a second criminal justice externship as long as (i) the two externships are with different organizations and (ii) credits for the two externships combined do not exceed 15. The Director may approve a second criminal justice externship with the same organization as long as (i) the student will have a substantially different experience the second semester and (ii) credits for the two externships combined do not exceed 15. ENR Externship Program Qualifying Placements 1. The faculty supervisor of the ENR externship umbrella program, in consultation with the Director, may experimentally approve field placements with government offices, non- profit organizations, and tribal entities that work on legal and policy issues related to environmental regulations and compliance including property mechanisms to achieve landscape conservation, energy policy, international environmental issues, tribal management of natural resources, marine and freshwater resources, land use, and climate change law and policy. 2. Permanent approval of all ENR externships must be obtained in a timely fashion as set out in the Externship Program Rules. B. Multiple Semesters in an ENR Externship. Students may enroll in a second ENR externship as long as the two externships are with different entities. The Director may approve a second ENR externship with the same entity as long as the student will have a substantially different experience the second semester. 7

In-House Counsel Externship Program Qualifying Placements 1. The faculty supervisor of the in-house counsel externship umbrella program, in consultation with the Director of Clinics and Externships, may experimentally approve field placements for corporate in-house legal departments. 2. Permanent approval of all in-house externships must be completed as set forth in the Externship Program Rules. B. Multiple Semesters in an In-House Counsel Externship. Students may complete a second inhouse externship as long as the two externships are with different companies. Students may not complete a second externship at the same placement. Judicial Externship Program Qualifying Placements 1. The faculty supervisor of the judicial externship umbrella program, in consultation with the Director of Clinics and Externships, may experimentally approve the following field placements: state and federal trial courts, state and federal appellate courts, staff attorney offices of state and federal appellate courts, and specialized courts such as immigration courts, tax courts, and the Land Use Board of Appeals. 2. Permanent approval of all judicial externships must be obtained in a timely fashion as set out in the Externship Program Rules. 3. All state trial court externships are limited to 3 credits, unless otherwise approved by the Director of Clinics and Externships. B. Multiple Semesters in a Judicial Externship. Students may do a second judicial externship as long as the two externships are with different courts. The Director of Clinics and Externships may approve a second judicial externship with the same court so long as the student will have a substantially different experience the second semester. Local Government Externship Qualifying Placements 1. The faculty supervisor of the local government externship umbrella program, in consultation with the Director of Clinics and Externships, may experimentally approve the field placements in: the office of in-house counsel for any city, county, special district or out-of-state equivalent local government subdivision (including lobbying / government affairs placements with an in-house attorney); or the office of a private attorney or law firm that serves as the legal counsel for a city, county, special district or out-of-state equivalent local government subdivision so long as all of the extern s work and experience is for the local government client(s) and is not charged to a client. 8

2. Permanent approval of all local government externship field offices must be obtained in a timely fashion as set out in the Externship Program Rules. B. Multiple Semesters in a Local Government Externship. Students may enroll in a second local government externship with advance approval from the faculty supervisor so long as the externships are in different offices. The Director of Clinics and Externships, in consultation with the faculty supervisor and the field supervisor, may approve a second local government externship in the same office as long as the student will have a substantially different experience during the second externship. 9