Both second and third year students may enroll in externships, and may enroll in more than one externship program under specific guidelines (see below). However, in any given semester you may only enroll in ONE clinic OR externship.
Academic Requirements While Enrolled in an Externship:
In addition to hours worked at their placement, all externs are expected to engage in ongoing reflection and professional development related to their placements. Students will receive a syllabus and more information during the required orientation. Students also submit bi-weekly timesheets. Examples of written work include a learning agenda, reflective exercises, and mid-term and final evaluations. Students will also attend meetings with the Externship Director and other externs during the course of the semester.
Unit Guidelines for Externships:
Part Time
All externs must keep records of the time spent at their placements. Students earn one unit for every 47 hours of work over the semester. Part-time, 2-6 units represents 94-282 hours. Full-time, 12 unit placements, represent 564 hours.
Enrollment in an externship placement for more than one semester or after employment at the same placement: Students may take externships in subsequent second and third semesters at the discretion of of the Externship Director under the following circumstances: The experience from semester to semester is cumulative and varied, not repetitive, and differs substantially from the work previously undertaken; the nature of the work done could not have been compressed into one semester, or the student's schedule would not permit such intensity.
Full Time
Students may enroll only in the Criminal Justice, Judicial or Capital Law Scholars externships on a full time basis (12 units per semester).
Generally, students should wait until their fourth or fifth semester to do a full time externship. The student must be in good academic standing. Full-time externship students are expected to work 40 hours per week during the course of the semester.
Time devoted to course work is in addition to the externship 40 hours per week. Students can receive no more than a total of 15 semester units during any full time externship semester. This limitation cannot be waived.
Credit Options for Summer Work
King Hall does not have a summer program or summer classes. However, students have two options:
- Most major cities have one or more A.B.A. accredited law schools which have summer sessions and which offer externships during those summer sessions. You can apply as a summer visiting student and, if accepted, enroll in the A.B.A. accredited school's summer session and pay that school's summer fees. Please check with the King Hall financial aid office to find out whether financial aid will be available for you.
- Students who take classes at other A.B.A. accredited schools must earn grades of C or better for the units to be accepted towards the King Hall J.D. Externships are generally graded Pass/Fail or Credit/No Credit. You must find out how the school you attend defines "Pass" or "Credit". If the school defines these terms as the equivalent of a C or better, the law school will accept a grade of "Pass," "Credit" or "Satisfactory" and apply your externship units. If the school defines "Pass," "Credit" or "Satisfactory" as the equivalent of a D- or better (which is the custom of many schools), the law school cannot accept grades of "Pass," "Credit" or "Satisfactory." Instead, the professor overseeing your externship must agree to write a letter saying that your performance in the externship is the equivalent of a C or better (assuming that is true after you have completed the externship). Some schools are willing to write such letters while others are not. Be sure to learn the school's policy on this before enrolling at the school.
- Students who want to take classes outside of King Hall must obtain approval from the Dean of Student Affairs before registering for the course. To apply, students must complete the [Dean's Approval for Outside Units] , attach copies of the course descriptions for each course the student wants to take and turn the completed form and course descriptions in to the Registrar's Office.
- You simply work during the summer at the placement without enrolling in a summer session. In the fall, you enroll at King Hall for a Law 499 (independent research project) under the supervision of a King Hall faculty member and write a paper on a topic that interested you at your summer placement. You can write a paper based on legal issues you learned about while working or use something you wrote at your job as a starting point for your King Hall paper. The choice of topic would be up to you and the supervising King Hall professor. The Law 499 can be either graded or S/U. Note that you would not be getting credit for your work at the externship itself but for a separate project based on your work there. This means that you cannot write something at your job, bring it to a King Hall professor and say "here's my Law 499 project, please grade it." Your Law 499 project must be new work you create under the supervision of the King Hall professor. If you think you might already have ideas for a paper before you start your externship, or you develop an idea during the summer, you can find a professor who agrees to supervise your and begin working on your paper during the summer if you like.