University of St. Thomas

LAW 937 Business Law Externship

Course Description and Application Instructions for Fall 2010 Semester

The law school expects to continue to offer the Business Law Externship to a small number of students during the Fall 2010 semester.  The externship placements are with local law firms and corporations.  This Business Law Externship is presumptively available to students who will be third year students during the 2010-11 academic year, although we also will consider applications from students who will be second year students during that year.  We also expect to offer the externship during the Spring 2011 semester.    

The Business Law Externship will involve 150 hours of total work over the semester for three credits.  The 150 hours include time spent in the classroom seminar, on reading and journals, and on the actual work assigned by your supervising attorney.  Students will be placed within “corporate” legal departments and will spend approximately 11 hours each week working under the supervision of a mentor-supervising attorney.  Typically, the supervising attorney will spend 1 hour per week on mentoring and instruction activities, and assign 10 hours of legal assignment work to be completed by the student.  Students will also meet as a class for an average of an hour each week(see the class schedule for meeting time).  These weekly class sessions primarily will be devoted to drafting and contract review exercises and to student debriefing of issues they encounter at their placements.  There will be assigned readings for each week and students will be expected to keep a weekly journal of their experiences.   

Potential Projects may include the following core legal services:

ú         Real Estate Transaction: Research, Contract Drafting & Review, Licenses, Permit & Zoning

ú         Public Company SEC reporting & compliance

ú         Mergers & Acquisition- Due diligence activities, research, etc.

ú         Corporate Social Responsibility: Human Rights, labor & environmental issues

ú         Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright Registration, Confidentiality

ú         Business Contract Preparation & Review: Licensing & Distribution Agreements, General Contractor/Subcontractor Agreements, Commercial Lease Review

ú         Estate Planning: Drafting & Research

ú         Pro-bono “Business” transactions: Choice of entity, entity formation, legal issues confronting charitable foundations, research.

ú         Miscellaneous: To be determined based solely on firm/corporation needs

Adjunct Professor Michael Blaes will continue to teach the course. 

To be eligible for Business Law Externship, a student must meet the following criteria:

1.  completion of three semesters of law school;

2. good academic standing;

3. successful completion of Lawyering Skills I, II and III, Professional Responsibility, and Business Associations; 

4. enrollment at UST School of Law during the semester immediately preceding the one in which the student expects to enroll in the Business Law Externship; and

5. possibly other specific course requirements identified by the supervising attorney at a given placement.

Enrollment is limited to 5-7 students.  Students may not register for this course on the web.  Selection is a two-step process.  Step 1 requires that interested students submit (1) a statement explaining how the student meets each of the four criteria referenced above and describing why participation in the Business Law Externship is important in the student’s legal education and (2) a resume.  Associate Dean Tom Berg and Adjunct Professor Michael Blaes will review the applications and develop a pool of approved applicants from which they will make recommendations to attorneys at each placement.  Step 2 requires the supervising attorneys at a given placement to agree to accept one of the recommended students. 

Students should register for courses on the assumption that they will not be selected for the Business Law Externship.  If a student is selected, the student can then drop a course or courses as necessary to add the Business Law Externship to his or her schedule.

Interested students should submit the required statement and resume by e-mail or in person to Associate Dean Tom Berg, by Friday, May 14, 2010, at 4 p.m.  Successful applicants will be notified in early June or as soon thereafter as possible.  Because dropping the Business Law Externship will present a problem for the supervising attorney with work to be done at a given placement, if a student is selected for the Business Law Externship and accepts the placement, the student will not be allowed to drop the course absent a personal, medical or family crisis.