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This specialized attorney externship provides a unique opportunity for students to
work on the client-side of corporate law by externing at either private or public
sector general counsel offices. The course focuses on the role and responsibilities
of in-house counsel, the work of a corporate law department, ethics and the development
of legal skills including research, analysis, writing and problem solving. The course
also helps students develop connections and competencies useful in pursuing a corporate
counsel career.
A Corporate Counsel Externship is a specialized attorney externship course.
The course allows students to receive academic credit for legal work completed under
the supervision of an attorney working at a public or private sector general counsel
office.
The course is a total of 3 credits which includes both the fieldwork and the weekly
seminar.
Students must complete at least 130 hours in the field placement and are encouraged
to spread their hours evenly over the semester. Students must work at least 10 weeks.
The seminar will include students in a mix of corporate counsel placements and will
focus on the role of a general counsel.
After you have completed 28 credits towards your JD degree (1L curriculum)
The concurrent weekly seminar and writing requirements are required to receive academic
credit.
The Corporate Counsel Externship course is generally offered in the Spring semester.
A student placed at a corporate counsel office may elect to take the general Attorney
Practice Externship seminar if the Corporate Counsel course is not offered or feasible.
Seminars will be conducted online through a combination of synchronous Zoom sessions
and asynchronous writing and discussion assignments. You must be available to attend
the synchronous Zoom sessions.
All students in the J.D. program must complete at least 6 credits of experiential
learning, at least 3 of which must be a live-client experience (Clinic or Externship
with an attorney)
A Corporate Counsel Externship fulfills the 3 credit, live-client, experiential learning
graduation requirement.
The UBalt Law Externship Program identifies a number of potential host agencies for
the Spring Corporate Counsel program and conducts a resume collect in the fall.
Announcements will be made in September and October regarding available opportunities
and application timelines. There is no guarantee that the placement will offer you
an externship.
You can also look on UBalt Law Connect for posted opportunities, or you can find your
own corporate counsel placement.
Please make an appointment with a Law Career Development Office counselor or Prof.
Lall, Director of Externships, for additional guidance.
Placements may be paid or unpaid. Paid externships are subject to a separate approval process.
You may extern for a current or former employer if you submit an Educational Plan and the Director of Externships approves the placement as a substantively new learning
experience
Field placements may be conducted at both public and private sector general counsel
offices in both the for-profit and non-profit sector
At least one of the field placement supervisors must be an attorney with at least
3 years of experience. In the case of JD Advantage placements, like legal compliance,
the supervisor needs to have completed law school and have three years of relevant
legal experience.
Externships at an office where you have a close relative working are presumptively
inappropriate.
Externships may be fully in-person, fully remote, or a hybrid of in-person and remote
work
Discuss expectations around in-person and remote work when you are interviewing. Make
sure that you and the field placement supervisor have a mutual understanding of what
will be required of you.
Paid externships are subject to a separate approval process and must be submitted
for approval at least 3 weeks before classes begin.
Remote placements require a structured schedule with regular work hours that overlap
with the supervisor’s work schedule. Students may not complete remote externship hours
while they are in class or working at another job.
