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Public Interest Externship Program (B547)

Mandatory Session:
Thursday, April 21, Noon

The academic component is a critical part of summer externship; it is designed to encourage you to think reflectively and critically about the practice of law and the ethical issues it poses. This class session will cover the course requirements as well as provide essential information on some ethical issues you will face.

Description

The Public Interest Externship Program encourages students to gain experience in public interest work by permitting students to obtain academic credit for unpaid legal work done in public service venues. Students are supervised by a faculty member at the law school as well as an attorney or judge at the externship site. A critical component of the externship is the academic component assigned by the faculty member. This academic component is designed to encourage students to think reflectively and critically about the practice of law and the ethical issues it poses.

First things first:

• Complete the registration form and read the Course Handbook.
• At registration you will be assigned a faculty supervisor; contact him or her before you start your externship.
• You must register for B547 before starting work. No credit will be given unless registration pre-dates the beginning of work.
• Complete all academic requirements on time including staying in contact with your faculty supervisor.
• Two things to keep in mind:
  • You must be supervised by a licensed attorney; and
  • You must perform substantially all your work at the externship site; in general remote locations, telecommuting, or working from home are not acceptable.

Course Requirements

1. You are required to read the Rules of Professional Responsibility for your jurisdiction. In Indiana, those rules may be found online.
2. If you missed the mandatory April 21 class, you must view the video (above) and e-mail a summary to your faculty supervisor before your first day of work. Your summary should consist of at least two pages (in either narrative or note form) that indicate you watched the whole video.
3. You must be accessible on a continuous basis via your law school e-mail account.
4. You must contact your faculty supervisor by e-mail within the first week of starting your externship using the initial status report form. This report will include (1) your supervising attorney's or judge's name, address, telephone number and e-mail address; (2) verification of your starting and ending date; and (3) confirmation of having read the Rules of Professional Responsibility and those on Admission and Discipline, the excerpt on Reflective Lawyering and the course handbook.
5. You must keep track of the hours you work at the externship. You will report the hours with each essay (see #6 below).
6. You must submit to your faculty supervisor reflective essays about your externship using the essay form.
   • Weekly. Write reflective essays on a weekly basis.
   • Deadline for submission. Submit your essays by e-mail to your faculty supervisor using the required essay form every second and fourth Friday of each month that you are working. This means you will submit two or three essays on each of the following Fridays if you worked any part of this two- or three-week period:
     • May 13
     • May 27
     • June 10
     • June 24
     • July 8
     • July 22*
     • August 12
     • August 26
   • Essays are due on Friday no later than midnight EDT. You must obtain advance approval from your faculty supervisor if you believe that you need to deviate from this schedule.

   • Reflect. Your essays should be reflective in nature, not merely descriptive. Re-read the excerpt about reflective lawyering.
   • Length. Your essays should be a minimum of three pages (double-spaced) and a maximum of five pages for each week of work. But submit your eassy on each due date as one file. Be sure to number the pages of your essay.

Due Dates/Deadlines

• Prior to the start of your externship, you must attend a mandatory class.
• Within the first week of starting your externship, you must submit a status report with contact information.
• Each week throughout your externship, you must write a reflective essay.
• On the second and fourth Fridays of each month for the weeks you that you have worked, you must submit your reflective essays (as one attachment) by e-mail to your faculty supervisor before midnight EDT.

Grading

The Public Interest externship Program is a pass/fail course. Your grade will be based on your fulfillment of the requirements set forth above. Failure to comply with the above requirements in a timely and professional manner could result in:

• Failing the course;
• Loss of course credit;
• Involuntary withdrawal from the course (which may require repayment of financial aid); and/or;
• Placement of a negative letter concerning your lack of professional responsibility in your law school file.

No academic credit will be given for work of which your faculty supervisor is unaware.