The School of Law offers
students the opportunity to receive academic
credit while gaining valuable experiential
education through the Public Interest
and Judicial Externship Programs.
Students in the Public
Interest Externship Program work two
full days each week throughout the semester
at a not-for-profit legal services
organization or a government agency, and
participate in a co-requisite seminar on
“Public Interest Lawyering and Ethics.”
Students can be certified through the R.I.
Supreme Court to represent indigent clients
under the supervision of licensed
attorneys.
The Externship Program works
with a variety of public interest placements
in Rhode Island, Southeastern Massachusetts,
and Boston. Students are also encouraged to
design their own placements, but these must
be pre-approved by Feinstein Institute
Director Laurie Barron before any work can
begin.
Students may also choose to
participate in the Rhode Island
Medical-Legal Partnership for Children.
RIMLPC is a medical-legal collaborative
program in which medical professionals work
together with lawyers to improve the health
and well-being of low-income children by
offering their families legal assistance in
the areas of housing, public benefits,
family law, and special education. Students
work under the supervision of an attorney at
R.I. Legal Services to conduct legal intakes
at Hasbro Children’s Hospital and other
health clinics, assist with casework, and
help with legal education workshops for
medical providers. Students who participate
in the RIMLPC externship take the
co-requisite course, “Poverty, Health, and
Law.”
The Judicial Externship
Program offers students the opportunity
to work for state and federal judges two
days each week throughout the semester. The
School of Law has placements with both state
and federal judges, and at both the trial
and appellate level. The co-requisite
seminar on “Judicial Process and Ethics” is
taught by a former justice of the R.I.
Supreme Court. Many students find this
experience opens them to the possibility of
clerking after law school and introduces
them to an experience they might not have
considered.
Students receive a total of
five credits for the Externship
Program—three ungraded credits for the field
work and two graded credits for the
seminar.
An informational session (for both the
externship programs and the clinics) will
be held in advance of the application time
period for the Spring 2008 semester. Attendance
is not mandatory, but it is highly
recommended.
Students will be alerted to the date, time, and location
of the informational session.
