Charleston School of Law Externship Program provides students with meaningful hands-on, practical legal experience in a variety of legal practice areas while earning academic credit. Charleston Law students can find the perfect fit to learn and develop skills in the legal field of their interest, including public interest law, corporate law, criminal law, judicial clerkships, general litigation, family law, environmental law, intellectual property, and more.
The experience has really prepared me for the practice of law law when I graduate because it’s given me a lot of in-court experience. It’s also given me an opportunity to expand my legal research. It’s been invaluable, the experience that I’ve gained from the externship. This job has given me the confidence to know that I have the knowledge I’ve harvested here in law school, and that I think I’ll be able to carry it into practice.
That experience is so invaluable. I learned more in my externship than I did from the textbook. You’ll learn a lot about yourself through work experience. I also think it’s prepared me professionally because I was working with a Judge and the court attorney. The experience will prepare me for practice.
I really loved seeing the difference it made in people’s lives. You have no idea what other people are going through. Learning how to adapt your skills to the circumstances, because everybody who walks in has a different story. My externship experience changed my perspective. It’s hard to imagine doing anything else.
I was practicing housing and family law. The externship model is a well-designed training program, and it’s built to take a law student, teach them as much as possible over six weeks, and have them work as well, learning from that experience. I am a better person for having been there and, hopefully, a better lawyer.
At Legal Aid of North Carolina, I assisted with disaster and hurricane relief efforts following Hurricane Helene. At Charleston Pro Bono, I experienced what urban, city-like legal aid would look like.
When you’re at a public interest firm or legal aid, you’re looking for ways to show compassion and help people. That is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned. I also learned that it’s not always about the ending, but about pushing someone forward to a better place than where you found them.
The externship experience:
Additionally, externships provide students with the opportunity to meet and work with members of the legal community, which is invaluable as students pursue employment.
To qualify for an externship, students must have completed at least 27 credit hours and be in good academic standing. Externships are available in the fall, spring, and summer semesters.
If you are a licensed attorney and would like to serve as an externship site, contact Michelle Condon.
Charleston School of Law’s Externship Program allows students who have completed 27 credits and are in good academic standing to gain practical legal experience working with a variety of employers. A licensed attorney at the externship site must supervise the student’s law-related work. Sites can include governmental agencies, courts, nonprofits, corporations, and private law firms. The law school offers general, corporate, and judicial externship courses.
Students earn Pass-Fail academic credit depending on the number of hours they work at the site during the semester. Each credit hour requires 56 hours of work at the externship site. Generally, students earn 2 or 3 credits, but can earn up to 5 credits in the summer or during their last semester of law school. The 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office also offers a summer program that allows students to earn up to 6 credits.
If you are a licensed attorney and would like to be an externship site, please complete the Externship Request Form or contact Michelle Condon.
Students receive seven hours of instruction by attending a regularly scheduled externship course and reviewing their progress in one-on-one midterm and final evaluation meetings with the externship professor. The externship course covers legal ethics, workplace best practices, professional identity, and legal technology. time management, wellness, and related topics.
Externship site supervisors must complete midterm and final evaluations of the extern and ensure that the extern has completed at least 25 pages of legal writing.
Michelle M. Condon
Director of Externships, Public Service and Pro Bono
Phone: (843) 377-2457
