DC Externship

SLN #: 13093
Course Prefix: LAW-785
Course Section: 002
Credit Hours: 9
Instructor(s): Barnes
Course Books: View List of Books

Course Description:
There are two dozen students in our Washington, DC Legal Externship Program this semester. They are doing fascinating and exceptionally substantive work at externship placement sites including the Departments of Justice, Defense, Transportation, and State, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission's Deceptive Advertising Division, the Federal Communications Commission's International Bureau, and the Securities & Exchange Commission -- plus several Congressional offices and exciting non-profit organizations including Break the Cycle. Additional student placements last semester included the Embassy of Canada, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Transparency International (the leading anti-corruption organization), a leading environmental law organization, and the anti-trafficking division of the Organization of American States. Special programs this semester include a meeting at the Supreme Court with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Pentagon visit and briefing, numerous guest speakers, and more.

Through the DC Program, you too can spend a semester in an exciting, career-building externship with a government or nonprofit legal office in Washington, DC. The Program helps you find an externship placement that fits with your particular interests, includes special programming and academic courses designed to help you learn and succeed in your externship, and offers optional but guaranteed apartment-style housing in Washington, DC. In addition to the placement sites mentioned above, many other exciting placement sites have also expressed enthusiasm for receiving applications from Program participants, including the general counsel's offices at the U.S. departments of Homeland Security, Health & Human Services, Education, and many more.

We have found that many of the happiest and most successful ASU law school alumni in the nation’s capital got their start in Washington, DC -- their first foot in the door -- with externships while in law school, and that the DC externship experience, credential, and connections has provided other students with an invaluable boost when they apply for federal, state, local, and law firm jobs in Arizona and elsewhere.

While law firm jobs have grown scarcer nationwide (including in Arizona), the federal government and other employers are continuing to hire attorneys in Washington, DC. This Program can provide you with an invaluable foot in the door to Washington, DC employers, and an important credential when you apply for federal, state, local, and law firm jobs in Arizona and elsewhere. More information about the Program is available on the Program web site at https://www.law.asu.edu/WLEP and in the FAQs at https://www.law.asu.edu/programs/Programs/TheWashingtonDCLegalExternshipProgram/WLEPOConnor.aspx.

We look forward to your application, and hopefully to your participation in the DC Program this spring!

Students will be required to attend a class on Thursday, January 5th from 1 - 4 pm in room 105.

Additional Information:
Credit Hours: 9
Grading Option: Pass/Fail Only
Graduation Writing Requirement: No
Flexible/Upper-Level Writing Requirement: No
Skills Requirement: No
Simulation Course: No
Experiential Learning: No
Seminar: No
Special Withdrawal Course: No
Final Exam Given: No
Attendance Policy: Per Statement Of Student Policies

* The law school has a policy that is used to calculate credit hours. Please see the Statement of Student Policies.