Externship Placements
We offer externship placements with judicial, governmental and other agencies and organizations that serve the public interest. Our current placements are described below under three categories: Judicial, Government/Public Interest and Independent. Some externships require background clearances that may take six weeks or longer. For these you need to apply well in advance of the term in which you wish to extern because you cannot begin your externship until you are cleared. Be sure to check the Current Year Schedule for posting of brand new externships!
For every externship, a student must commit to work a certain number of hours and participate in the Externship Seminar. The number of credits you may receive depends on the semester and the externship placement. During the fall or spring semester, as student must commit to work 16 hours a week to receive 4 credits and 24 hours a week to receive 6 credits. In the summer, students must commit 24 hours a week to receive 3 credits and 40 hours a week to receive 5 credits.
For more information about the Externship Program, please contact Inga Laurent, Manager of Student Affairs.
Judicial
Students may work for a federal district court judge or magistrate, a federal appellate court judge, or a state appellate court judge. Externs are integrated into the work of the chambers: writing bench memos, drafting opinions, researching issues during trials, observing settlement conferences and mediations. Students also have the opportunity to observe proceedings in the courthouse which may include trials, sentencing hearings or oral arguments. We also have externships with specialized courts: the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration Court and The Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals.
Government/Public Interest
These externships are placements with public interest, governmental, nonprofit or for-profit (but not a law firm engaged in the private practice of law) entities. They are in numerous subject areas: civil, criminal, education, health, immigration, labor/employment, and tax and types of legal practices: litigation, in-house counsel, court). During an externship a student may have the opportunity to delve into substantive areas of law, investigate claims, research and write motions or briefs, draft contracts, and participate in hearings, observe trails, hearings, settlement conferences, and negotiations. Our current externship placements are listed below:
- Cleveland Metropolitan School District
- Cleveland State University, Office of Legal Affairs
- Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office
- Cuyahoga County Public Defender's Office
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Cleveland Hearings Unit
- Federal Public Defender
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Chief Counsel's Office
- Internal Revenue Service
- John Carroll Univeristy, Office of General Counsel
- Legal Aid Society of Cleveland - Family Law Unit
- The Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals
- Office of the U.S. Trustee (Bankruptcy)
- National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
- U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
- U.S. Attorney's Office
Additionally, other public interest placements may become available depending on need. For example, we recently formed an externship for the Spring 2009 term with the City of Cleveland Department of Law.
Externship – Independent
The Independent Externship allows a student to propose externing in an office where we previously have not had an externship. The student is responsible for the following: (1) finding a placement in public interest, nonprofit or for-profit (but not a law firm engaged in the private practice of law) legal environment; (2) arranging for an attorney at the site to supervise directly his or her work; and (3) submitting a written proposal for the course to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Generally, students are not permitted to arrange an externship with a judge with whom we do not have an existing relationship. There have been some exceptions made for this rule, for instance where a student wants to extern with a judge outside the greater Northeastern Ohio area. The decision as to whether a proposed placement meets the goals, objectives and requirements of a Cleveland-Marshall externship shall be within the discretion of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Applications consist of a proposal conforming to established Independent Externship Proposal Guide and must be submitted 30 days prior to the initial registration date for the term in which the student wishes to enroll for the externship.