Externships

Eligibility

Students

Second- and third-year law students and master's degree candidates are eligible to participate in an externship. Registration is contingent upon an overall GPA of 2.3 and approval from Professor Hamilton, Director of Externships. Externship placements are available across government, criminal law, entertainment, public interest, and judicial sectors, as well as in dispute resolution.

Placements

Prospective externs must secure their own placements. Current openings are available through Symplicity or the Career Development Office. New placements are eligible for approval if they meet the clinical program's educational objectives and afford adequate field supervision.

Private law firms will be approved if they are either (1) nonprofit public interest entities (cf. section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code), regardless of whether the student is paid or unpaid, or (2) a for-profit entity where the student is paid.

In order to build relationships, gather information, and provide support to placements during the course of the semester, someone from the Externship Program may conduct a site visit to field placements to discuss details about the placement, externs' progress, as well as other questions or concerns. Externship program staff will contact field supervisors directly and will schedule such visits at the convenience of the field supervisor.

Credit

Each unit of externship credit requires 50 hours of completed field work. Hours spent in on-site work or with lawyers in the field placement count toward externship credit, while travel time, breaks, and most off-site work do not count toward externship credit. Students can earn up to 22 units of out-of-classroom credit toward graduation; these units include credit earned for externships, journals, and advocacy teams. Following the add/drop deadline, changes cannot be made to the number of registered units. Students are expected to register for the number of units that properly reflects the number of hours to be worked. If extenuating circumstances arise, students should contact Professor Hamilton as soon as possible to request an exception.

Registration

Once students complete the Externship Checklist, the Clinical Program Manager will register them for the course. Students can register for 1 to 10 units per term and are expected to work with their field supervisors and the Clinical Education Program to determine the appropriate number of units.

Start Registration

Forms

Course Requirements

Orientation

All externs are required to attend (first-time and returning externs). One hour may be used toward work hours.

See the Surf Report Calendar for the date (typically in the first or second week of term) or email the Clinical Program Manager.

Summer Externs: as many externs are not on campus during the summer term, orientation may be conducted online.

Field Work & Timesheets

Students must document their time in the field using Tick Timekeeping. See instructions on how to enter time and submit timesheets. Students will receive an email directly from Tick Support to facilitate setting up their account.

Approved timesheets are due periodically throughout the semester (see syllabus for dates). Students may either (1) upload signed timesheets to Courses, (2) email a PDF of their timesheets to their field supervisors for approval, copying clinicallaw@pepperdine.edu or (3) seek approval via e-signature. Note that students will not receive credit unless their field supervisor confirms approval of the timesheet via signature or email.

For an explanatory video about how to enter time and seek approval, visit Externship Timekeeping Overview.

Reflective Memos

Reflective Memos are a forum for comments on progress towards the student's goals, the student's performance or the performance of other attorneys, any problems or frustrations in the work, the culture and function of their office, questions about the work or the profession and the people it serves, and issues about the law and lawyering. Because reflection and learning from experience are goals of the externship program, students should demonstrate thoughtful, serious consideration of these issues.

Students must complete and submit reflective memos via Courses by the dates specified in the syllabus (students may also find prompts in the syllabus). Students must:

Type their reflective memos
Each entry should be at least one page, double-spaced, and need be no longer than several well-thought out pages

Feedback & Evaluations

Students should actively seek feedback, criticism and guidance from their field supervisors. Good feedback may be the most important component of a successful externship experience.

Share Goals

In order to initiate an environment of welcome feedback and open communication, externs are asked to share their goals for the semester with their Field Supervisor. Student may do so by either (1) sharing their first reflective memo (which concerns the students' goals) or a simplified list of goals derived from their first reflective memo with their Field Supervisor via email, copying clinicallaw@pepperdine.edu, or (2) email clinicallaw@pepperdine.edu a confirmation that they have had a conversation with their Field Supervisor about their goals.

Evaluations

Three evaluations are required throughout the term and will be accessed via Google Form shared by the Clinical Program Manager:

Mid-Semester Performance Evaluation: This is completed by the Field Supervisor and should facilitate a discussion between the extern and Field Supervisor about the extern's work.
Final Performance Evaluation: This is completed by the Field Supervisor and should facilitate a discussion between the extern and Field Supervisor about the extern's growth since the previous evaluation.
Student Externship Evaluation: Externs are required to provide their own feedback by submitting a confidential student evaluation regarding the field placement and externship experience.

Summer Externs: due to the limited length of the summer term, the Field Supervisor is only required to complete one performance evaluation.

Workshops

Students enrolled in externship courses must be engaged in ongoing, contemporaneous, faculty-guided reflection. Depending on the students' experience with externships and/or the discretion of the Director of Externships, this takes one of three forms:

Bi-weekly workshop. Concurrent enrollment in one of the bi-weekly workshops is required for first time externs. All workshops begin the second week of the term and meet on alternating weeks. Workshop hours count toward work hours. Workshop days and times are available in the Caruso School of Law Course Schedule.
Faculty Adviser. Faculty Advisers are required for first-time externs who cannot attend a workshop due to schedule conflicts. Externs with a faculty adviser must:
1. Find a faculty adviser who is a full-time Caruso School of Law professor
2. Obtain the approval of the Director of Externships
3. Meet with their approved faculty adviser on a bi-weekly basis (it is the student's responsibility to make sure these meetings are scheduled)
4. Provide their faculty adviser with copies of their reflective memos
Meetings with the Director of Externships. Students who have already completed an externship and the required workshop (or faculty advisement) instead participate in two 15-minute meetings with the Director of Externships at midterm and end of the semester. The Clinical Program Manager will contact all returning externs to schedule these meetings

Summer Externs: first-time externs will participate in an online workshop rather than meet on campus and returning externs will have one meeting with the Director of Externships.