Extern Programs

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law's Externship Program permits students to receive academic credit for field placements with courts, government agencies, and non-profit legal organization at which students learn through experience. The Office of Skills and Experiential Learning works with placements to ensure students receive an academically rigorous experience. Externs are required to attend class, maintain a journal based on the experience, produce a final written portfolio, and submit regular time sheets. Loyola offers externships in the fall, spring, and summer. Students in good standing with a GPA of 2.0 or higher may enroll in the externship course for 1, 2, or 3 credits beginning the summer after their 1L year. Enrollment in the course requires an application and selection by  an approved placement. Students must devote 60 hours of time to the externship experience during the semester for each credit hour earned. Students are limited to no more than a total of six credit hours throughout their law school careers for a combination of the Academic Externship Course (LAW L900) and certain Independant Study courses (LAW L898, LAW G898, LAW L899, LAW G899).

To learn more about externships, including application deadlines, pre-approved field placements, and the process for approval of self-created externships, please visit law.loyno.edu/externships.

The Learning Goals for the Externship Program include:

  • Externs will develop knowledge of the substantive law and procedure relevant to their placement's legal practice area.
  • Externs will strengthen their legal analysis and reasoning skills and their ability to construct effective arguments through the identification of relevant facts and their application to correctly articulated legal principles in contexts relevant to the legal practice of their placement.
  • Externs will learn to develop and implement a research plan, to utilize the research and drafting tools common to their area of practice, and to draft the type of legal documents typically produced by attorneys or law clerks at their placement.
  • Externs will develop professional interpersonal and communication skills and learn to work collaboratively with others as part of a legal team.
  • Externs will develop the professional skills and values expected of practicing attorneys and acquire a capacity for self-reflection that will aid in their professional growth throughout their careers.
  • Externs will learn to recognize and resolve ethical dilmmas commonly confronted by attorneys and judges at their placements.
  • Externs will discover more about their own career interests through exposure to issues of work-life balance and other aspects of day-to day practice of attorneys at their placements.
  • Externs will gain exposure to other general lawyering and advocacy skills applicable to the type of legal practice conducted at their placement.
  • Externs will gain deeper insight into the law's real-world impact on vulnerable individuals and populations in society and the many tools available to lawyers to promote fairness within the legal system and contribute towards the creation of a more just society.

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