Externship Standards 

Approved by the Faculty of Wayne State University Law School, April 9, 2024. 

A. Goals – In General. Externships help externs develop professional skills, values, and judgment, learn about professionalism, the practice of law, and the legal system, and become reflective practitioners with the capacity for self-directed professional growth.

B. Goals – Specific Types of Externships

1. Corporate Counsel Externships. Corporate counsel externs learn about the roles, duties, and ethical responsibilities of in-house counsel and substantive issues encountered in an in-house legal department. Corporate counsel externs develop research, writing, and analysis skills, legal drafting skills, oral communication skills, law practice management skills, and the ability to learn from experience.
2. Holistic Defense Externship. Holistic defense externs learn about the roles and responsibilities of holistic defense attorneys, as well as the knowledge and skills necessary to become effective holistic practitioners.  Students will study the core elements of holistic representation, the interrelation between various legal systems, and the substantive law related to the array of consequences that can result from an individual’s contact with the criminal legal system. Students will examine how to work collaboratively with other professionals to provide holistic representation.
3. Public Service Externships. Public service externs learn about the roles and responsibilities of public service attorneys, and strategic and ethical issues in public interest and criminal justice law. Public service externs develop advocacy skills, legal drafting skills, law practice management skills, the ability to recognize and resolve strategic and ethical dilemmas, and the ability to learn from experience.
4. Judicial Externships. Judicial externs learn about the roles and responsibilities of judges and judicial clerks, judicial decision-making, and effective advocacy. Judicial externs develop research, writing, and analysis skills, legal drafting skills, oral communication skills, law practice management skills, and the ability to learn from experience.
5. Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital. In this externship course, students will explore the role of the Washington, D.C. lawyer and learn about the various entities, organizations, agencies, and individuals involved in making national public policy. Through a series of guest lectures and readings on the congressional process, advocacy, and agency rulemaking, the seminar will teach the legislative process, the role of oversight and of interest groups, and the inter- relationship among the three branches.
6. Advanced Externships. Advanced externs continue expanding their skills and progress beyond the training they received in their first field placement. Advanced externs refocus their personal goals, engage regularly in more in-depth reflection on these new goals and learning experiences, and guide the externship experience to fulfill these new goals to ensure that knowledge and skills advance substantially.

C. Methods – In General

1. Fieldwork. Externs work in legal settings that have been approved by the Law School and under the general direction and supervision of judges or attorneys. Placements must be approved by the Faculty after recommendation by the Director of Externships (“the Director”). Externs perform tasks similar to those performed by entry-level attorneys. Externs observe the day-to-day activities of legal professionals. Externs discuss and analyze their fieldwork observations and experiences with supervising judges or attorneys.
2. Class Meetings. Corporate Counsel, Holistic Defense, Judicial, and Public Service Externships include a two-credit companion colloquium course that externs must take and successfully complete in the same semester as their fieldwork. The Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital Externship includes a three-credit companion colloquium course that externs must take and successfully complete in the same semester as their fieldwork. Substantial class time will be devoted to professional skills instruction and to facilitated discussion and analysis of externs’ fieldwork observations and experiences. There is no class component for the Advanced Externship. In lieu of a class component, advanced externs are required to meet with the Director or other faculty supervisor a minimum of three times during the semester.
3. Reflective Journals. Each extern is required to maintain a journal that describes and analyzes his or her fieldwork observations and experiences. Externs are instructed not to discuss confidential information in their journals. Journals are not required in the Advanced Externship course. Advanced externs are required to draft reflective memos that analyze the fieldwork experience. 

D. Field Placements

1. Location. In the Fall and Winter terms, all field placements must be located within 180 miles driving distance of the Law School. If a field placement has multiple offices, the office where the extern will do most of their work must be within 180 miles driving distance of the Law School. In the Summer term, a field placement may be located outside 180 miles driving distance of the Law School.
2. Corporate Counsel Externships. Corporate counsel externs must work in the corporate counsel office of a non-profit or for-profit entity that the Faculty has approved to serve as a field placement. Field placements generally should employ at least three attorneys; if a field placement has multiple offices, at least one of those attorneys must be based in the office where the extern will do most of his or her work. Before recommending that a corporate counsel office be approved to serve as a field placement, the Director will send the office’s chief executive officer or managing attorney a copy of the Externship Standards as approved by the Faculty and the Externship Field Placement Agreement. The Director will follow up with a telephone call and site visit to discuss the documents, answer any questions, and obtain a signed agreement. 
3. Holistic Defense Externships. Holistic Defense externs must work in an organization that the Faculty has approved to serve as a field placement. Field placements generally should employ at least three attorneys; if a field placement has multiple offices, at least one of those attorneys must be based in the office where the extern will do most of his or her work. Before recommending that a holistic defense office be approved to serve as a field placement, the Director will send the managing attorney a copy of the Externship Standards as approved by the Faculty and the Externship Field Placement Agreement. The Director will follow up with a telephone call and site visit to discuss the documents, answer any questions, and obtain a signed agreement. 
4. Public Service Externships. Public Service externs must work for a public interest organization, government agency, prosecutor’s office, defender’s office, or public interest law firm that the Faculty has approved to serve as a field placement. Field placements generally should employ at least three attorneys. If a field placement has multiple offices, at least one of those attorneys must be based in the office where the extern will do most of his or her work. Before recommending that a prosecutor’s office, defender’s office, public interest organization, government agency, or public interest law firm be approved to serve as a field placement, the Director will send the managing attorney a copy of the Externship Standards as approved by the Faculty and the Externship Field Placement Agreement. The Director will follow up with a telephone call and site visit to answer questions and obtain a signed Agreement. The Director will obtain written confirmation that the entity agrees to abide by the policies discussed in the statement. 
5. Judicial Externships. Judicial externs may work in judicial chambers at any federal court, the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals, or any Michigan Circuit Court. Before allowing an extern to begin in a judicial chambers, the Director of Externships will provide a copy of the Externship Standards, as approved by the Faculty, and the Externship Field Placement Agreement to the Judge. The Director will obtain a signed Field Placement Agreement from the Judge. If the Judge previously hosted an extern, no new Field Placement Agreement is required. 
6. Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital. Externs in this program may work in congressional offices, national civil rights organization offices, and other Washington D.C. approved placements. Before recommending that a placement be approved to serve as a field placement, the Director will send the supervising attorney a copy of the Externship Standards as approved by the Faculty and the Externship Field Placement Agreement. The Director will follow up with a telephone call and site visit or video conference to answer questions and obtain a signed Agreement. The Director will obtain written confirmation that the entity agrees to abide by the policies discussed in the statement. 
7. Approval. The Director will recommend that the Experiential Education Committee approve an office or entity to serve as a field placement only if the Director determines that the office or entity is willing and able to provide a high-quality educational experience to externs and can meet the requirements provided herein. The Experiential Education Committee will review the Director’s recommendation and notify the Faculty if it recommends approval.  The Committee’s recommendation will be deemed approved without Faculty action unless, within five business days, four Faculty members entitled to vote request in writing that the matter be considered at a Faculty meeting. 
8. Periodic Review. The Director will review field placements near the end of their first year participating in the program and on a regular schedule thereafter. The Director may withdraw approval of an office or entity to serve as a field placement if the Director determines that the office or entity has failed substantially to follow the Externship Standards or violated the Field Placement Agreement, or that the office or entity is unwilling or unable to provide a high-quality educational experience to externs.
9. Number of Externs. No more than four externs will be approved in a single semester to work in the same unit of a prosecutor or defender’s office, a corporate counsel office, judicial chambers, or office of a public interest organization, government agency, or public interest law firm. 

E. Field Supervisors – Externs must work under the general direction and supervision of a judge or attorney who the Director has approved to serve as a field supervisor.

1. Qualifications
    
   • (a) Corporate Counsel Externships. Field supervisors must be attorneys with three years of corporate counsel or in-house experience who are members in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan or admitted to the highest court of another state.
   • (b) Holistic Defense Externships. Field supervisors must be attorneys with three years of practice experience in holistic representation who are members in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan or admitted to the highest court of another state.
   • (c) Public Service Externships. For criminal defense or prosecutor’s offices, field supervisors must be attorneys with three years of prosecutorial or criminal defense experience who are members in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan or admitted to the highest court of another state. For all other public service placements, Field supervisors must be attorneys with three years of law practice experience – including one year of public interest practice experience – who are members in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan or admitted to the highest court of another state.
   • (d) Judicial Externships. Field supervisors must be judges or judicial clerks. Judges who serve as field supervisors must have one year of experience on the bench; judicial clerks must have one year of judicial clerkship experience, and be members in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan or the highest court of another state. 
   • (e) Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital Externships. Field supervisors must have one year of experience at the current placement office and be a member in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan or admitted to practice in another State or the District of Columbia. 
2. Responsibilities. Field supervisors should regularly meet with externs and should assume overall responsibility for ensuring that externs are assigned tasks and provided opportunities, guidance, and feedback that will help them achieve program and course goals. While field supervisors may delegate responsibility for directing and supervising externs’ work on individual projects, field supervisors should ensure that externs receive meaningful guidance and feedback regarding their work and are engaged in substantial discussion and analysis of all significant events that they observe. 
3. Supervision Guidelines – In General. Externs generally should be assigned tasks similar to those performed by entry-level attorneys at their field placements. Clerical duties, such as photocopying, filing, or completing forms that do not require the exercise of professional judgment, should be only a small part of an extern’s work. Passive observation likewise should be only a small part of the experience.
   • (a) Externs should receive guidance toward the practice of law in the best traditions of the profession. To this end, field supervisors and other attorneys supervising the extern’s work should not merely request a work product but should also provide an explanation of the legal issues, their context, the goals, ethical implications, and the means of addressing and resolving the issues.
   • (b) Substantial guidance of externs may be required, not only with regard to substantive law, but also with regard to research, writing, and other professional skills. Patience will be called for, and criticisms and suggestions for improvement will often be appropriate. As the skills of externs improve, their responsibilities should also be increased. 
   • (c) Externs are expected to benefit from the examples set in the office with regard to matters that experienced lawyers take for granted, such as proper attire, decorum, civility, punctuality, timely performance of assigned tasks, attention to detail, ethical behavior, and the pursuit of excellence.
   • (d) Field supervisors should be responsible for no more externs than they can properly supervise, ordinarily no more than four, including those from other law schools. 
   • (e) Field supervisors should view externs not as transient sources of free, albeit inexperienced, labor, but as fledgling lawyers who deserve the type of mentoring that is given in a permanent, full-time placement. This mentoring is an invaluable service to the externs, the Law School, and the profession. Externs should be aware of the effort and expertise being devoted to them, and offer their best efforts in return. 
   • (f) Field supervisors are encouraged to confer whenever necessary with the Director of Externship Programs or course instructor about the extern’s progress or the externship program. 
4. Supervision Guidelines – Specific Types of Externships
   • (a) Corporate Counsel Externships. Corporate counsel externs should be given substantial opportunities to develop research, writing, and analysis skills, legal drafting skills, oral communication skills, and law practice management skills. 
   • (b) Holistic Defense Externships.  Holistic defense externs should be given substantial opportunities to develop research, writing, and analysis skills, legal drafting skills, oral communication skills, law practice management skills, and skills related to holistic representation. 
   • (c) Public Service Externships. Public Service externs should be given substantial opportunities to develop advocacy skills, oral communication skills, law practice management skills, and the ability to recognize and resolve strategic and ethical dilemmas.
   • (d) Judicial Externships. Judicial externs should be given substantial opportunities to develop research, writing, and analysis skills, legal drafting skills, oral communication skills, and law practice management skills. 
   • (e) Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital Externships. Students in the Washington D.C. externship program should be given substantial opportunities to engage in the process of public policy development, develop analytical, research and oral communication skills, and gain exposure to the workings of the federal government. 
5. Fee-Generating Cases. Externs should not be assigned or allowed to work on fee-generating matters. Fee-generating matters are matters where clients or third parties other than the field placement itself pay or are expected to pay an hourly, flat, or contingent fee for services. They do not include fee-shifting matters where fees only may be obtained from the opposing party; however, field placements should not seek fees for externs’ work in fee- shifting matters. 
6. Political or Judicial Campaigns. Externs should not be assigned or allowed to work on political or judicial campaigns. 
7. Evaluation of Externs. Field supervisors are expected to evaluate externs at mid-semester and at the end of the semester, using evaluation forms provided by the Law School. Field supervisors should meet with externs to discuss these evaluations. 
8. Approval. Before approving a judge or attorney to serve as a field supervisor, the Director will provide a copy of the Externship Standards as approved by the Faculty and the Externship Field Placement Agreement. The Director will follow up with a telephone call or site visit to discuss those documents and answer questions. The Director will approve a judge or attorney to serve as a field supervisor only if the Director determines that he or she is willing and able to provide a high-quality educational experience to externs and the field supervisor signs the Field Placement Agreement. 
9. Training and Monitoring. The Director will make available reference and training materials for field supervisors and organize training sessions as needed or requested. The Director will conduct site visits or speak with field supervisors by telephone or via email on a regular basis.
10. Evaluations and Periodic Review. Externs will evaluate field supervisors at the end of the semester using evaluation forms provided by the Law School. The Director will review these evaluations shortly after receipt and review field supervisors near the end of their first year participating in the program and at least once every three years thereafter. The Director may withdraw approval of a judge or attorney to serve as a field supervisor if the Director determines that he or she has failed substantially to follow the requirements contained herein, or that he or she is unwilling or unable to provide a high-quality educational experience to externs. 

F. Fieldwork 

1. Time Commitment. Externs in the Public Service, Corporate Counsel, Holistic Defense, and Judicial Externships are required to perform 150 hours of fieldwork. Field supervisors may limit externship offers to students who are willing to work more than 150 hours but should not require or allow externs who are full-time students to work more than twenty hours per week in the fall or winter terms Externs in the Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital  Program  may  elect  to  take  9, 10, or 11 credits of the externship practicum. Externs will spread their work over the 15 weeks semester. Students earning 9 credits must complete a total of 480 hours of work at their externship placement during the semester; students earning 10 credits must complete 525 hours of work at their externship placement during the semester; and students earning 11 credits must complete 600 hours of work at their externship placement during the semester. 
2. Beginning and End Date. 
   • (a) Corporate Counsel, Holistic Defense, Judicial and Public Service Externships: In the Fall and Winter semesters, externs may begin their fieldwork no sooner than one week before the first day of the semester, and no later than two weeks after the first day of the semester. In the Summer semester, externs may begin their fieldwork no sooner than one week before the first day of the semester, and no later than one week after the first day of the semester. Externs generally are expected to spread their fieldwork evenly over thirteen weeks in the Fall and Winter terms, over ten weeks in the summer term. However, with the consent of the Director, externs may complete their fieldwork in fewer or more weeks. 
   • (b) Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital Program: Students are required to extern for 15 weeks beginning about the first week of classes and ending during final examination period. Students are required to complete an orientation prior to the beginning of the semester. Externs are generally expected to spread their fieldwork evenly over the fifteen-week semester in Washington D.C. 
3. Workplace Setting. To ensure an extern is engaging in a substantial lawyering experience that is reasonably similar to the experience of a lawyer advising or representing a client or engaging in other lawyering tasks, a student should perform their fieldwork in the workplace setting that most closely resembles that of the attorneys practicing at the placement site where the student is externing. Specifically, if the attorneys at the extern’s placement site typically work in person, the extern must work in person. If the attorneys at the extern’s placement site typically work in hybrid fashion, the extern must work in hybrid or in-person fashion. Fully remote placements are not permitted absent extraordinary circumstances at the discretion of the Director. Regardless of the setting, each placement site must make it clear to the extern the type of setting in which the extern will be expected to work. In any circumstance, the extern and the field placement must abide by Wayne Law’s Externship Standards and any other requirements established by the Externship Program. Failure to do so may result in the removal of a placement site from participation in the Externship Program at the discretion of the Director. 
4. Time Logs. All externs are required to document their fieldwork through detailed, contemporaneous time logs. Time logs should be reviewed and signed by the field supervisor and submitted on a weekly basis as directed by the course instructor. 
5. Compensation. An extern may accept compensation for their fieldwork. This compensation may come directly from the field placement site or from an outside source, such as, but not limited to, a grant, stipend, or scholarship. Students may also receive reimbursement for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses related to their fieldwork, such as, but not limited to, transportation costs or parking at the field placement. Any compensation or reimbursement must be arranged by the extern and the field placement or outside source. Wayne Law is not responsible for establishing the terms of any such arrangement, nor monitoring compliance thereafter, and any issues regarding compensation or reimbursement are solely between the extern and the field placement or outside source. Regardless of whether an extern receives compensation or reimbursement, the extern and the field placement must abide by Wayne Law’s Externship Standards and any other requirements established by the Externship Program. Failure to do so may result in removal of a placement site from participation in the Externship Program at the discretion of the Law School. 

G. Externs

1. Pre-Requisites. Externs must have completed thirty law school credits, with passing grades in all first-year courses for which grades have been assigned, be in good academic standing, and have a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher (2.33 for J.D. students who have not yet received thirty credits of grades, 3.0 for LL.M. students). Professional Responsibility and the Legal Profession (LEX 6800) is a pre- or co-requisite for all externships. Corporations (LEX 7156) is a recommended course for corporate counsel externships. Advanced Externship requires the extern to be in good academic standing and to have successfully completed a Corporate Counsel, Holistic Defense, Judicial, or Public Service Externship Colloquia. 
2. Applying for Externships.
   • (a) Corporate Counsel and Holistic Defense Externships. The Law School facilitates the application process for externs seeking corporate counsel placements. The Director of Externships will provide information each semester regarding the process. 
   • (b) Public Service, Judicial, and Advanced Externships. The Law School does not “place” externs with field placements or field supervisors. Students interested in externships should apply directly to field supervisors by sending a cover letter, résumé, and writing sample. A list of approved field placements and field supervisors is provided to students.
   • (c) Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital Externships. The Director of Externships will facilitate the application process for externs seeking to participate in the Washington D.C. externship program. The Director of Externships will provide information each semester regarding the process.
   • (d) Advanced Externship. A student who wishes to enroll in the Advanced Externship course should submit a written memo to the Director Externships explaining: (1) what his/her learning objectives are, and how they differ from those for the first externship; and (2) why these learning objectives cannot be met by existing clinical or experiential learning course opportunities.
   • (e) Enrollment. Enrollment in an externship colloquia typically is limited to sixteen externs per section. Enrollment limits in the Advanced Externship will be set by the Director of Externships on a semester-by-semester basis. Registration requires prior approval from the Director. Students enrolled in an externship colloquium or advanced externship may not take another externship course or a clinic in the same semester.
   • (f) Evaluation. Each extern is required to complete a detailed self-evaluation, course evaluation, and evaluation of his or her field placement and field supervisor at the end of the semester, using forms provided by the Law School.
   • (g) Credits and Grading. All students must register for the appropriate externship colloquium, which is letter graded. Students in the Corporate Counsel, Holistic Defense, Judicial, and Public Service Externship programs must also register for the corresponding externship practicum, a course graded on an Honors-Pass-Low Pass-No Credit basis. To receive credit for the Colloquium, students must enroll in and successfully complete the Practicum, and vice versa.  Students enrolled in the Lawyering in Washington, D.C. Program must register for both the colloquium and practicum. Students in the Holistic Defense Externship must also register for the Holistic Defense Seminar through the School of Social Work during the same term during which they complete their externship. Students enrolled in the J.D. program may earn up to eight credits total through externships practica and externship colloquia, up to fourteen credits total through externship practica, externship colloquia, and clinics. Students enrolled in the Lawyering in the Nation’s Capital program may complete more than eight credits of externships. Students enrolled in LL.M. programs may only earn four credits through externship practica and externship colloquia. Advanced Externship is a two-credit, letter-graded experience. It is open to both J.D. and L.L.M. students. 

H. Non-Discrimination Policy – Field placements and field supervisors shall not discriminate in the selection, training, or treatment of externs on the basis of race, color, sex (including gender identity), national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, familial status, marital status, height, weight, disability, or veteran status.