Fall 2014 Course Schedule

Supervised Extshp Sem (LAW-769-003)
Dubow

Meets: 09:30 AM - 11:20 AM (T) - Room 445

Enrolled: 14 / Limit: 15

Administrator Access


Notices

IMPORTANT: CLASS WILL MEET IN SMALL GROUPS FOR AN EXTRA HOUR EVERY OTHER WEEK. The time/place of this extra meeting is determined by the professor. REGISTRATION: There are two parts to registering for an externship: 1) Register on-line for the seminar as you would for any class. 2) Register for the field placement by going to the Externship Page www.wcl.american.edu/externship and submit a Request for Approval, which generates the necessary forms.

Description

This is a three-credit graded course. It is taken concurrently with a field placement in a non-profit or governmental organization, or a private law firm doing pro-bono work. In this course, we will explore the meaning of being a lawyer and a member of the legal profession. We will think about the variety of roles that lawyers may have and the wide range of practice experiences available to persons with law degrees. One of the goals of the course is to broaden your understanding of what it means to be a lawyer and increase your understanding of the possibilities given your career goals and values. I hope to accomplish this goal by our readings and discussing the lives of lawyers in a variety of settings. We will learn to set and achieve goals for your externship and how to learn from supervision. We will do role playing to develop your skills in these areas. We will focus on the issues raised in your field placement including ethical, bias, and interaction issues with clients, lawyers, supervisors, the courts and administrative agencies or legislative bodies. We will discuss various scenarios in these areas. There will also be seasoned guest speakers to share their legal experiences. There will be a diversity of field placements and we will learn from each other’s experiences which should help you develop a better understanding about what type of lawyer you want to become. We will also discuss balancing personal life and professional life.

Textbooks and Other Materials

The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.

The required text is J.P Ogilvy et.al., Learning from Practice: A Professional Development Text for Legal Externs, 2nd Ed. (West, 2008).

First Class Readings

FIRST CLASS: Chapter 1, Learning from Experience, Chapter 2, Setting Goals and Chapter 11, Journals and Journal sample. For first class, think of example where you did not plan experience and example where planned activity and consequences of each. SECOND CLASS: Chapter 3, Learning from Supervision THIRD CLASS: Chapters 4-5 Ethical Issues in Externships FOURTH CLASS: Chapter 9, Reflective Lawyering- pages 167-169, Post article on S.W. Tucker, Article on Judge Mehrige FIFTH CLASS: Chapter 6-7 Ethical Issues in Externships, Chapter 19, Presentations SIXTH CLASS: Chapter 16, Bias SEVENTH CLASS: Chapter 17, Balancing Personal Life and Professional Life. EIGHTH CLASS: Chapter 8, Learning and Lawyering, and Chapter 12, Observation NINTH CLASS: Mediation Materials and Chapter 18, Externships and Career Planning TENTH CLASS: Oral Advocacy Materials Presentations will be done in 11th 12th and 13th classes. Further reading assignments will be discussed in class.

Syllabus

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