Externship Demographics Across Two Decades with Lessons for Future Surveys

Abstract

Sudeb Basu (J.D., Catholic University, 2011) and Professor J.P. “Sandy” Ogilvy (Catholic University) report on the results of a 2007-2009 national survey of externship programs at American law schools and compare many of the data points to previous surveys of externship programs, the 2007-2008 CSALE survey, and some ABA/LSAC data, to chart the growth and increasing sophistication and complexity of the pedagogy associated with legal externships. Some of the data discussed include limits on the number of externship credits or externship courses, student involvement in externships, the distribution of credits awarded for externship courses, the average number of hours of fieldwork required for each credit, locale and organization type and subject matter or setting restrictions on field placements, the percentage of courses with a contemporaneous classroom component or seminar, the typical length of class sessions, the nature and percentage of time devoted to discrete topics in the classroom components, the type and percentage of time devoted to specific methods of instruction in the classroom component, the type of materials used, the use of reflective journals, grading practices, faculty status of externship course teachers, administrative support for externship programs, and methods of evaluation of externship placements. The authors recommend clarifications and improvements in data collection and processing for future surveys.

Keywords: legal internships, internships, legal externships, externships, data, survey, pedagogy, curriculum, law school, clinical legal education