The American University Washington College of Law Externship Program

The American University Washington College of Law Externship Program

Externship field placements are the cornerstone of American University Washington College of Law’s Externship Program. Externships afford our students the opportunity to develop their legal skills, receive invaluable mentoring, consider a wide variety of career opportunities, and work on issues that are important to them personally and professionally. In return, our field placement supervisors receive high quality unpaid legal assistance from enthusiastic students who are eager to take on challenging work assignments.

How To Recruit Externship Students

Organizations interested in working with law students are encouraged to share their open positions with us at any time. 

• Email the Externship Program: Email us at externship@wcl.american.edu and ask us to post an externship opportunity with your organization for you.

• Complete Our Externship Placement Form: You can complete this form to post an open externship opportunity or to be added to our database of Externship Employers.

• Attend our annual on-campus Externship Fair: (Annually in January)

In general, we recommend that employers post positions for Spring semester externs in October and for summer and fall externs in March.

Externship Field Placement Requirements

For students to receive academic credit while working at your organization, the following requirements must be met:

• Externs may only work for a court, government agency or nonprofit organization.
• Students may not extern for a for-profit law firm unless they are assigned exclusively to pro bono matters (and the firm does not bill for the externs’ time). Pro bono matters are those for which the clients are not charged for the attorney’s time and fall under civil rights statutes or the Criminal Justice Act (CJA). 
• Externship placements must be unpaid with limited exceptions. Students may receive stipends for out-of-pocket expenses (Metro, parking). In addition, students may receive funding from 3^rd parties.
• Externs must be supervised by a licensed attorney.
• The extern and the Supervising Attorney are expected to work together on-site. If permitted by the employer, full-time students may work under a hybrid arrangement for up to 50% of their required hours. Students enrolled in the WCL Evening Program may work remotely for up to 100% of their required hours. Any fully remote placements must be approved in advance by the Externship Program and exceptions to our onsite policy will only be granted on a limited basis.

Externship Employer Requirements

To ensure that the Program’s educational goals are achieved, the field placement must agree to the following:

• Skills Development: Externs must be provided with substantive legal work. Students must have the opportunity to integrate doctrine, theory, skills, and legal ethics as they are engaged in the performance of one or more professional skills. The extern should be provided with multiple opportunities for performance of various legal skills and may not be limited to observation.
• Supervision: The extern must be directly supervised by a licensed attorney employed by the field placement (“Attorney Supervisor”), who will assure the educational quality of the experience and include exposure to a broad range of lawyering skills.
• Provision of Feedback: The Supervising Attorney will assign multiple opportunities for performance and will provide regular feedback and opportunities for self-evaluation.

How Many Hours Do Externs Typically Work

Students typically commit to working 10, 15, or hours 20 per week.

Students are required to keep a contemporaneous record of their hours. The attorney supervisor must verify the extern’s work hours at the conclusion of the externship.

Are Fully Remote Placements Permitted?

Fully remote students are permitted in limited circumstances with preapproval from the Externship Program Director. Fully remote externships will be considered only if the supervising attorney is not working on-site and all the work of the field placement (staff meetings, client meetings, etc.) is taking place remotely. Attorney supervisors must agree to integrate remote students into the work of the office on a regular basis and must meet with remote students at least once per week via video conference.

Can Private Law Firms Qualify as Field Placements?

For-profit law firms will be approved as field placement only if the student is assigned exclusively to pro bono matters or CJA matters. Firms may not charge for students’ time.

Policy on Discrimination & Sexual Harassment

Employers must acknowledge that by hosting a student in an externship, you are affirming your adherence to the law school's non-discrimination policy that extends to all employment opportunities.