Access2Practice
Legal Externship Program - Summer 2012

Information and Application Form

Chicago Kent has long recognized that classes and textbooks alone are not sufficient to complete the education of our students and their transformation into lawyers. Students also need practical experience in real-world legal work to acquire legal skills not accessible in the traditional classroom and gain insight into the strategic and ethical dimensions of the legal profession.

Some students gain experience when they get hired as part-time clerks. But most students don't have access to paid or volunteer positions in a legal setting of their choice and/or one that teaches them the skills they want to acquire.

Access2Practice (A2P) Legal Externship is a 4-credit-hour Pass/Fail program which enables Kent 2Ls and 3Ls to extern in a wide variety of legal areas - civil and criminal – and gives students exposure to and supervision/mentoring in an area of law of their choosing.

A2P externships are offered Fall and Spring semesters and in Summer session and consist of two separate components: fieldwork and class meetings.

Summer Access2Practice

Fieldwork:
Students must work 32 hours a week during the Summer session for a minimum total of 244 hours.

Class: Perspectives in Lawyering
A series of classes meet in Summer session on designated Tuesdays from 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. Classes focus on different practice areas and address the often complex and unpredictable realities at the core of the actual practice of law. In addition, externs maintain weekly activity and time reports as well as journals based on their fieldwork experience.

To Obtain a Legal Externship Placement:

The program does not assign students to particular field placements. A student must apply independently to obtain an externship placement; each placement will have its own screening and selection process.

Summer A2P differs from Fall/Spring in that students have a greater choice of placements. The broad student choice is possible because we have recruited among our alums those who wish to serve as extern supervisors and who have sufficient knowledge and experience to teach skills, provide insights into the actual practice of law, and provide opportunities for students to learn by doing. Whereas during the school year extern placements are primarily in the public interest and governmental arenas, Summer A2P includes many private placements.

The greater Chicagoland area offers a wide range of externship placements in the public and not-for-profit sectors. For specific available opportunities, students should consult Symplicity and the Record (look under "Law Offices/Clinic/Externships). Students may also obtain placements through personal contacts.

To search on Symplicity, click on "Jobs", and then "Position Type". Several drop-down boxes will appear listing categories of postings. Search any category that might be applicable, e.g., "Access2Practice Legal Externships", "Internships", "Volunteer Internships", "Fall Volunteer Internships", "Spring Volunteer Internships", etc. Most A2P postings in Symplicity and in the Record allow students the option of either applying to volunteer or to convert the opportunity into a for-credit externship. Some listings will be marked "For Credit Only" – a student cannot extern at that placement unless he/she does so as a participant in the law school's for-credit Legal Externship Program.

Please understand that employers can access Symplicity independently to place postings that have not been screened, approved, or endorsed by the law school.

Types of Placements:

1. Governmental and Public Interest Sectors

These placement sites include county, city, state and federal legislative and executive offices. For example, students can extern in diverse places like the county offices of the State's Attorney and Public Defender, the Office of the U.S. Attorney, City of Chicago Department of Law, Office of the Illinois Attorney General, Illinois Commerce Commission, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), and Equip for Equality.

Externships with a legal aid bureau, legal assistance program or organization, and certain governmental agencies may enable a student to acquire a 711 student practice license and appear in court.

Externing in a public interest placement counts toward fulfilling some of the required course work in public interest law for the J.D. Certificate in Public Interest Law.

2. Private/For Profit Law Firms and In-House Corporate Legal Departments

In order to receive credit for externing with a private legal placement, both the firm/corporation and the proposed attorney supervisor must first be formally approved by the Faculty Legal Externship Screening Committee. Some private firms and corporations have already been screened and pre-approved to participate in the Legal Externship Program.

If, on the other hand, a student wishes to do a for-credit legal externship with a private legal placement which has not yet been screened and pre-approved, he/she must first contact Professor Gross so that she can initiate the approval process. As approval is not assured, such applications must be submitted to Prof. Gross as quickly as possible to ensure that the proposed placement can be reviewed by the Faculty Legal Externship Committee.

Private externship placements in the Fall and Spring semesters are limited to a handful of in-house corporate and intellectual property placements. In contrast, a significant number of private placements, especially those whose attorney/supervisors are Kent alums, are approved for Summer Legal Externship. Those opportunities will also be posted.

Accepting/Rejecting an Externship Offer

Please be aware of the basic parameters of accepting/rejecting externship offers.

If you have accepted an offer to extern, it is unprofessional and unacceptable to decline to honor your commitment. For example, you should not accept a placement and later withdraw because you have received a "better" offer. If you receive an offer from Placement A when you are still considering Placements B and C, you may contact B and C, explain that you have received an offer and need to respond. However, our participating placements are not required to hold their offer open for more than 3 business days. You must notify Placement A of your final decision within 3 days of receiving an offer..

The time restraints are in place for reasons of fairness and efficiency. Placements need to make selections as efficiently and quickly as possible, and if a placement offer is rejected by one student, another student(s) will then benefit from this opening.

If you have accepted an offer, please notify Prof. Gross immediately by submitting your application materials to her.

If you are seeking a legal externship and have a paid legal position or are in the process of also trying to obtain a paid legal position, you must fully disclose that to all the legal organizations, departments, etc., involved. Extern supervisors and/or legal employers are always concerned about conflicts of interests and/or may have concerns about an extern being able to manage both positions.

To Enroll in Legal Externship Program:

Whether you have received an offer to extern at a placement specifically designated as "For Credit Only" or at a currently unapproved placement (one not listed in Symplicity and/or the Record as being "For Credit Only"), you must schedule an interview with Prof. Gross and submit the attached Legal Externship Program Application in a timely manner to allow for the necessary authorization processes. Even if a placement has received prior approval, Professor Gross will contact the current applicant's proposed supervisor to ensure that he/she will comply with C-K externship guidelines and requirements and provide an educationally sound and enriching fieldwork experience.

Applications for Legal Externship Summer 2012 must be submitted to Prof. Gross by April 16, 2012.

All externs must be formally enrolled and ready to begin their fieldwork two weeks before the start of the first week of the Summer session.

You Cannot Extern for a Current Employer Nor Can You Receive Pay Doing a For-Credit Externship.

The Legal Externship Program is an experiential educational program. An employer/employee relationship is financial; you do what the employer needs and wants rather than what the law school deems educationally appropriate. For this reason, the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) does not allow you to get paid and receive school credit for doing the same work.

You May Continue the Legal Externship Program for a Second Semester.

If you wish to continue your externship for the following semester or do a second externship in another placement, you may do so provided you receive permission from Prof. Gross.

Contact:

If you still have any questions or concerns, contact Professor Gross (vgross@kentlaw.edu), Director of the A2P Legal Externship Program or Carole Ross (cross@kentlaw.edu), her administrative assistant.

Application (pdf file)