J.D. Externship Program Policies

To be eligible to earn academic credit for an externship, the student’s field placement supervisor must agree (via their completion of the J.D. Externship Program’s Rule 304(d) Agreement) that the student will not engage in any partisan political campaign activity (e.g., tasks in any way related to a political campaign or political action committee) or support any such activity, nor will the student engage in lobbying.

Students participating in the J.D. Externship Program are not permitted to practice law, in any manner. Externship students can assist their field supervisors with active cases and/or other legal matters, but externship students cannot engage in the practice of law, become represent a client pursuant to a student practice order, go on the record as counsel in a case/matter, and/or hold themselves out as authorized or competent to practice law in any way as part of the J.D. Externship Program. Those experiences/opportunities are reserved solely for the Law Center’s Clinical Program.

Field Supervisors who telework or spend considerable time away from the office must agree to identify another individual who is qualified to supervise to whom the student can report to or secure additional assignments from when the field supervisor is absent from the office and the student is on-site.

Students must extern in person (i.e., on-site) to the maximum extent permitted by their field placement.

• A student may conduct a hybrid or fully remote (i.e., virtual) externship with a field placement that has an established place of business in the Washington, DC metro area (or in the United States, during the summer session) to the extent that the placement’s work modality policies or procedures require the student to work in a hybrid or remote modality.
• This requirement is meant to maximize your opportunity to consult with, observe, and develop relationships with legal professionals in person (which will improve your externship experience). You are not expected to work (and indeed, are discouraged from working) on-site when others in your office will not be working on-site.
• Students who will conduct any of their fieldwork remotely on a regular basis must successfully complete the J.D. Externship Program Student Telework Plan (which they will find on their externship seminar Canvas course page, once it has been published) with their field supervisor.

If a student must miss work due to illness or other unforeseen reason, it is acceptable to make-up the missed work during another week or two during the semester. Generally, however, students need to work 11 or 16.5 hours per week for a minimum of 10 weeks during the fall or spring semester (6 weeks during the summer session). (Note: The J.D. Externship Program strongly recommends externing for 11 weeks or more during the fall or spring semester.) If a student is unable to meet the minimum weekly hours requirement in a given week, the student needs to contact their externship seminar professor as soon as possible to discuss the situation.

Students who have not met their hours and weeks requirements will not receive credit for their externship.

During the summer, we allow students to earn credit at qualifying field placements that have an established place of business anywhere in the United States. Accordingly, we offer distance learning seminar options, i.e., the seminar is taught remotely via Zoom. Students may enroll in one of the distance learning seminars even if their summer placement is in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

NOTE: If a student wishes to enroll in a distance externship seminar but will not have completed 28 credits or more by the beginning of the summer session, in advance of enrolling in the distance course, we strongly advise they review the rules related to distance education courses for the jurisdiction(s) in which they intend to sit for the bar examination. For example, per information found on the New York State Board of Law Examiners website: “No credit shall be allowed for distance education courses until the student has completed the equivalent of 28 credit hours toward the first degree in law.” §520.3(c)(6)(iii) (https://nycourts.gov/ctapps/520rules10.htm#3, last viewed on March 4, 2024)

Generally, full-time J.D. students will have a tuition credit applied to their student accounts for their summer externship credits, with two key exceptions:

1. Full-time J.D. students who were once part-time students and continue to pay tuition on a per-credit basis will be charged for their summer externship credits, and
2. Full-time J.D. students who transfer to the part-time division or to another law school after their summer externship will have a retroactive charge for their summer externship credits posted to their student accounts.

For part-time (evening division) students, regular tuition rates apply to their participation in the Summer 2024 J.D. Externship Program.

All students will be charged tuition for a summer externship initially and then, to the extent a credit is appropriate, the Office of Student Accounts will post it to the student’s account by one week after the end of summer registration.

If a qualifying full-time J.D. student (i.e., one who does not fall within one of the exceptions above) has no other student account charges and receives a tuition bill for the summer externship course, the student should do nothing, and wait for the tuition credit to post. (If they have any other charges, they should pay them.)

Students are charged for tuition insurance, which can be waived. If they are only registered for the externship course, they should complete the waiver. If they are registered for more summer credits than just the externship course, they should consider their options before waiving the tuition insurance.