REMINDER: Summer Legal Externship Applications Due By May 2, 2022

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SUMMER ACCESS2PRACTICE

LEGAL EXTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Access2Practice (A2P) Legal Externship is a 4-credit-hour non-graded program which enables you to extern with a supervising attorney in a wide variety of legal areas – private or public, civil or criminal. Externships are available in the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters. Some public sector externships enable you to obtain a 711 license and appear in court. 

Why Extern?

To become a good lawyer and to supplement what you learn in the classroom, you need practical experience in real-world legal work. Most students aren’t fortunate enough to receive a paid clerking position — or even a volunteer opportunity — that teaches what they want to learn. LEP presents a unique and important opportunity to gain exposure to an area of the law in which you are interested and helps you significantly broaden your future employment opportunities.

Where Can Students Extern?                                   

You select and obtain your own externship.  This program does not assign you to a particular placement.  To gain access to the many available externship placement possibilities, consult Symplicity. 

Students interested in civil law may extern in a wide variety of public sector or public interest legal places.  For example, some have externed at the City of Chicago Corporation Counsel’s Office, Office of the Illinois Attorney General, Illinois Commerce Commission, Immigration Court of the U.S. Department of Justice, Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies, Legal Aid Bureau, Chicago Board of Education, and Equip for Equality. 

Students interested in criminal law may extern at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Office of the Federal Defender, and at the offices of the State’s Attorney and Public Defender in Cook County as well as the surrounding counties. 

Summer LEP also includes a significant number of private placements in law firms and in-house corporate legal departments, whereas Fall and Spring placements are almost exclusively in the public and not-for-profit areas. These private placements are supervised by designated alums and both the alum teaching supervisors and placements have been screened and approved.

Summer LEP placement opportunities will be posted on Simplicity.  Please scroll to Access2Practice: Private Summer for these special private opportunities. 

How to Apply:           

The Information and Application packet for Summer 2022 LEP is available online.  Summer applications are due on or before Monday, May 2, 2022.

If you have any questions about the Program or the application itself, please contact Professor Vivien Gross (vgross@kentlaw.iit.edu).

The Record