About the Mentor Externship Program

Quality Control	Curriculum	Our Mentors
Reflective Lawyering	Professionalism

 

The award-winning Mentor Externship Program is one of the most distinctive and innovative components of the School of Law. It combines hands-on experience with thoughtful reflection and gives each student a truly personal view of the legal profession.

Each year of law study, students are paired with a respected lawyer or judge in the community. Mentors introduce students to a range of legal tasks and activities such as depositions, client meetings or appellate arguments. Beyond introducing students to
foundational lawyering responsibilities, mentors share the traditions, ideals and skills necessary for a successful law career. Mentors also help students understand professionalism in ways that traditional classroom lecture cannot capture.

Over the course of three years, you will build meaningful relationships with members of the bench and bar. More than 500 lawyers and judges currently volunteer as mentors in the program, and as a group they reflect the diversity of the profession in all its forms, including age, gender, ethnicity, practice area, geographic location and religion. Mentors also represent all sectors of the profession: private practice (solo to large firm), all levels of government, nonprofit and public interest organizations, in-house counsel, prosecutors, public defenders, and nearly all levels of the judiciary.

In addition to time spent with your mentor, upper level students participate in a classroom component designed to integrate students’ mentor experiences and better prepare students for the practice of law by introducing them to topics that include marketing, networking, leadership skills, understanding the economic realities of practice, work/life balance, time management skills and client service.

The program’s excellence has twice been recognized by the American Bar Association. In 2005, the program received the coveted E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award, which recognizes projects contributing to the understanding of professionalism among lawyers. Also in 2005, the Mentor Externship Program was one of three national finalists for an American Bar Association award on innovations in teaching professionalism