Externship: Children's Law Center

The Externship course provides an invaluable opportunity to enhance students’ legal education through structured and supervised off-campus placements, where students learn through observation as well as hands-on fieldwork. The fieldwork is complemented with a class component.

At the placement, students work on actual legal matters and engage in lawyering tasks. In that capacity, students need to be especially mindful of conducting themselves as professionals, including being mindful of professional responsibility and confidentiality issues. The class component supports and reinforces the students’ learning at the placement.

This is a year-long externship course and exposes students to various issues and learning experiences at the Children’s Law Center of California This program is a year-long commitment, including full-time work for ten weeks during the summer, for which students may choose to receive up to five externship units. During fall and spring, students must register for three units of externship credit each semester for a total of six units (Credit/No-credit) and must perform a minimum of 182 hours of fieldwork per semester. Participating students have the unique opportunity to work in Children’s Court here in Los Angeles as the “voice” for youth in the foster care system. The year-long commitment enables law students to see cases from detention to reunification, to regularly appear in court, and to hone their interviewing and counseling skills with children.

Prerequisites: Please check with the Externship Office and placement descriptions for prerequisites.