Off-Campus Learning Experiences
Legal Externships
Legal Externships
Semester-long legal externships are designed to accelerate your professional development and substantive understanding of the law. Choose from the following areas of fieldwork: the judiciary, public interest, the intersection of law and business, compliance and misdemeanor defense. Once a student has completed one of the five externships, they can participate in an advanced externship.
Legal externship course credits qualify toward St. Thomas Law’s required experiential coursework. They are distinct course offerings, different from the law school’s required Mentor Externship Program.
Contact
Admissions Office
Email
lawschool@stthomas.edu
Phone Number
(651) 962-4895
Meet Our Students and Staff
Externship Program Overview
The University of St. Thomas School of Law is committed to providing each student with relevant, practice-ready legal experience.
Fieldwork Options
Judicial Externship
The judicial externship offers students an opportunity, under the supervision of a state or federal judge, to learn about the role of judges and law clerks, and the impact lawyers have on the administration of justice. They study the judicial process and evaluate the legislative, ethical and policy considerations that influence judicial decisions. Externs also provide legal research and analysis for issues and cases before the court.
Fredrikson & Byron Public Interest Externship
The public interest externship offers students an opportunity to engage in hands-on legal work at a public interest organization or government agency. The public interest organization assists poor, vulnerable or marginalized people through the offer of pro bono legal services. Students complete research, interview clients and provide written materials for supervisors. Externs will also examine complex issues of ethics, access to justice and broader public interest policies. This externship is named for Fredrikson & Byron, a top law firm in the Twin Cities, that has a strong commitment to pro bono work and professionalism.
Business Externship
The business externship provides students with a pragmatic, real-world experience in a corporate or organizational environment. Students engage in the basic activities of client service at the intersection of law and business. Each student's fieldwork activities will have a business focus and will be primarily transactional in nature. Both observation and hands-on work projects focus on the experiences of a first-year attorney in a business environment.
Misdemeanor Defense Externship
The misdemeanor externship provides students with a hands-on experience in the criminal justice system, and an understanding of the challenges faced by clients, lawyers, judges and other participants in that system. Students conduct interviews, negotiate cases and represent clients in the courtroom under the supervision of a practicing public defender.
Compliance Externship
An ethics and compliance professional ensures that a company creates and maintains policies and procedures that promote ethical conduct and a commitment to following the law. The compliance externship allows students to see “compliance in action.” Externs evaluate and complete projects under the supervision of a compliance professional to gain an understanding of effective ethics and compliance programming.
Judicial Externship
The judicial externship offers students an opportunity, under the supervision of a state or federal judge, to learn about the role of judges and law clerks, and the impact lawyers have on the administration of justice. They study the judicial process and evaluate the legislative, ethical and policy considerations that influence judicial decisions. Externs also provide legal research and analysis for issues and cases before the court.
Fredrikson & Byron Public Interest Externship
The public interest externship offers students an opportunity to engage in hands-on legal work at a public interest organization or government agency. The public interest organization assists poor, vulnerable or marginalized people through the offer of pro bono legal services. Students complete research, interview clients and provide written materials for supervisors. Externs will also examine complex issues of ethics, access to justice and broader public interest policies. This externship is named for Fredrikson & Byron, a top law firm in the Twin Cities, that has a strong commitment to pro bono work and professionalism.
Business Externship
The business externship provides students with a pragmatic, real-world experience in a corporate or organizational environment. Students engage in the basic activities of client service at the intersection of law and business. Each student's fieldwork activities will have a business focus and will be primarily transactional in nature. Both observation and hands-on work projects focus on the experiences of a first-year attorney in a business environment.
Misdemeanor Defense Externship
The misdemeanor externship provides students with a hands-on experience in the criminal justice system, and an understanding of the challenges faced by clients, lawyers, judges and other participants in that system. Students conduct interviews, negotiate cases and represent clients in the courtroom under the supervision of a practicing public defender.
Compliance Externship
An ethics and compliance professional ensures that a company creates and maintains policies and procedures that promote ethical conduct and a commitment to following the law. The compliance externship allows students to see “compliance in action.” Externs evaluate and complete projects under the supervision of a compliance professional to gain an understanding of effective ethics and compliance programming.
Micayla Bitz
National Public Radio
Micayla Bitz completed an internship with National Public Radio. She was able to work remotely from Minnesota for the majority of the internship, but over spring break she got to visit the NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C.
"This experience has been really great because I have been exposed to many different areas of law, I've expanded my professional network and I've had the opportunity to work on real legal cases and projects," Bitz said.
Plus, she earned credit for the internship through the law school's Legal Externship Program.