The Honorable Stephanie Duncan-Peters
meets with her extern.
Submit Your Summer and Fall 2012 Externship Fieldwork Application
Evaluate Your Spring 2012
Fieldwork Placement
Externship Fair
Externship Database
Among the many advantages of studying law in Washington, D.C. is the opportunity to integrate practical experience with the theory of the classroom. The WCL Externship Program provides students the opportunity to receive academic credit for substantive legal work and to reflect on their experience through seminars conducted by a broad cross-section of WCL full time and adjunct faculty.
Through the program, students find innumerable opportunities to gain valuable on-the-job experience by participating in fieldwork placements within any:
- federal, state or local government agency,
- federal, state, or administrative court/tribunal
- not-for-profit organization, or,
- law firm, only if they are assigned exclusively to pro bono projects
To maximize the learning opportunity of the fieldwork, students must be supervised by an attorney and must be engaged in substantive legal work. The sponsoring organization must agree to offer students the educational experience and work assignments they would receive as a beginning lawyer at that organization. To optimize the experience, students must work on site and may not work remotely.
The Externship Program enables students to explore various career options and other facets of becoming a lawyer, providing direction and insight for their postgraduate legal careers. The fieldwork experience is enhanced by the close supervision they receive from our faculty members by enrolling in one of a wide variety of externship seminars. Externship students must enroll in an externship seminar at WCL in conjunction with their fieldwork. The seminars are taught by full-time faculty and adjunct faculty who are leading practitioners in their respective fields. These seminars provide the forum for analysis of the fieldwork experiences through class discussion, reflective writing, and small group meetings.
