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 are able to 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 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 be an externship site, contact Michelle Condon.
If you are a licensed attorney and would like to be an externship site, please complete the Externship Request Form or contact Michelle Condon.
The 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 externship, corporate externship, 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 two or three credits but can earn up to five credits in the summer or during their last semester of law school. The 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office also offers a summer program in which students can earn up to six credits.
To support their experience at the externship site, students receive seven hours of educational instruction by attending a regularly scheduled externship course and reviewing their progress during one-on-one midterm and final evaluation meetings with the externship professor. The externship course covers legal ethics, best practices in the workplace, professional identity, 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
“Going to law school and being around the practice of law were two different things. What was cool was watching everything that I learned in the classroom really come to life and see how it really worked and it solidified my education.”
“I decided to do an externship because I wanted hands-on practical experience. I was getting a lot of good information from classes and wanted to apply it. It’s a great opportunity to network with attorneys, get valuable feedback and improve your skills.”
