Legal Externships

About the Course

The Legal Externship Program allows students the opportunity to assume professional roles under the close supervision of practicing attorneys at approved governmental or nonprofit legal services organizations. Students articulate learning objectives that are substantive and skills based and also focus on professionalism. Thus, students learn substantive law, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility in context but also learn to observe, analyze and critique their own abilities and the roles lawyers and institutions play in our legal system.

The intent of the Legal Externship Program is to address the gap between UC Law SF’s in-house and out placement clinical offerings and a student’s desire to obtain supervised direct legal experience in a particular practice area. Field placements will not be duplicative of the placements or experiences already available to students through our extensive clinical offerings. If you have not yet taken a clinical course in a similar practice area, you may be encouraged to do so before an externship for credit will be approved.

Legal Externships are open to 4th, 5th, and 6th-semester students. In the spring, students working at government offices will enroll in the Government Law Clinic.

Classroom Component

The Legal Externship Seminar focuses on developing the ability to learn from critical self-reflection, and draws on the students’ experiences in their placements to advance not only their understanding of basic principles of substantive and procedural law relevant to their placements, but of the role of lawyers and legal institutions in society as well.

  • 1 unit, pass-fail, counts towards experiential requirement.
  • The seminar meets online. Attendance is mandatory.

Fieldwork Component

  • 3 – 5 units, pass-fail, counts towards experiential requirement.
  • Students work a minimum of 12 weeks at an approved government or non-profit legal organization. Enrollment is contingent on approval of the student’s request and of the proposed placement.
  • Students can enroll for 3, 4, or 5 fieldwork units. The hours breakdown is as follows:
    • 3 units = approx. 12 hours/week, minimum of 12 weeks (45 hours per unit)
    • 4 units = approx. 16 hours/week, minimum of 12 weeks (45 hours per unit)
    • 5 units = approx. 20 hours/week, minimum of 12 weeks (45 hours per unit)
  • If your placement indicates that the duration of its externship program is fewer than 12 weeks, please contact Associate Director of Clerkships & Externships, Professor Hanna Wen at wenhanna@uclawsf.edu.
  • Students are required to begin their externship fieldwork the first week, or, if necessary, the second week of classes.
  • Remote, in-person, and hybrid fieldwork will be allowed.

Prerequisites/Recommended Courses

These vary according to placement. Please consult Associate Director of Clerkships & Externships, Professor Hanna Wen at wenhanna@uclawsf.edu for additional information. 

Application & Enrollment

Once you have secured an externship with a government or non-profit law office, you may click here to visit Sharknet and request permission to receive academic credit. Enrollment is contingent on approval of the student’s request and of the proposed placement.

Criminal Practice Clinic Prerequisite

To receive academic credit for an experience at a California state or county-level district attorney or public defender office where the student will be scheduled to engage in pretrial or trial litigation matters, students must first complete the Criminal Practice Clinic (CPC) (i.e., the CPC is a prerequisite for earning academic credit in any other California pretrial or trial criminal litigation fieldwork).

Examples of a district attorney or public defense office that do not require CPC as a prerequisite because students do not engage in pretrial and/or trial litigation matters include:

  • San Francisco Public Defender Integrity Unit
  • Santa Clara District Attorney E-crimes Unit
  • Los Angeles District Attorney Community Violence Reduction Unit working on post-conviction issues
  • Alameda County District Attorney Public Accountability Unit
  • Placements focusing on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions
  • Placements focusing on appellate issues
  • Clean Slate programs

Students who would like to extern in the placements listed above may apply to the Legal Externships Program (fall) or the Government Law Clinic (spring).  Students who would like to extern at a California state or county-level placement, not listed above, where students do not engage in pretrial and/or trial litigation matters should reach out to Professor Prithika Balakrishnan for initial approval before applying to the Legal Externships Program or Government Law Clinic.

Can I enroll in two externships (or two live-client experiences) in the same semester?

UC Law SF Academic Regulations state that students may not enroll in a two live-client experiences—including a clinic, an externship, and the Start-Up Legal Garage—in the same semester. (See AR 2704 & 2808.) This restriction may be waived if a student has consent from both faculty supervisors and can demonstrate that he/she can manage the workload and that conflicts of interest will be clearly identified and will be manageable.

If you would like to pursue concurrent enrollment in an externship and another live-client experiential course, click here for more information.