LEGAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM: FORMAL REQUIREMENTS

The requirements for the program are:

1.   Nature of work

Student performs legal work under the supervision of a lawyer in an approved field placement.

2.   Faculty supervision

A Faculty Supervisor oversees the field work and serves as a professional guide.

3.   Journal and final paper requirement

The student submits biweekly journals cataloguing his or her activities for the placement and biweekly time logs reviewed and signed by the supervisor. The journals also include student observations concerning the role of the lawyer, the dynamics of the legal system, and his or her own experience.

4.   Field Placement

Students may earn from 2-5 credits per semester for their field placement work. One credit is earned for each 45 hours of legal work in the field. Credit is received on a pass/fail basis. Students may distribute the hours to be worked as they choose during the semester with the approval of the Field Supervisor. The Director must approve the number of credits appropriate for the student and the given placement in order to guarantee that the program's educational objectives are met.

5.   Classroom Component

Legal Process and Practice

2 credits day; 2 credits evening

Spring 2010 (Professor Feeley)

This course is required for all students registered for a legal internship placement for the Spring 2010 semester. The two credits granted for this course are in addition to and independent of any credits awarded for that field placement experience. This classroom component will cover topics including ethical issues relating to internships; economic, social and moral issues in the legal profession; workplace skills; and discussion of field experiences. For their internship placement, students are required to keep regular journals which also will be discussed in this class. Readings and class participation are essential components of the course. An in-class oral presentation on a topic related to the student's fieldwork experience is required. An extended journal on an ethical issue is required. The paper will not satisfy the writing requirement. Student work is graded on a letter grade system. This course does not fulfill the academic requirement for internships through Suffolk University Law School and the Center for International Legal Studies.

As an alternative to the Legal Process and Practice course, students can be supervised individually by a full-time faculty member only if the student has taken, or is in the process of taking, a substantive course elective with that faculty member and that course relates to the field placement experience. Decisions about what courses and which placements qualify will be made by the Clinical Professor for Internships in consultation with the Director of Clinical Programs. The faculty member must agree to supervise the student under the guidelines of the Internship Program.

Transactional Law and Practice

2 credits day; 2 credits evening.

Spring 2010 (Todd Krieger)

This course is available to two groups of students: (1) Those students who are registered, during the Spring 2010 semester, in a legal internship placement focusing on transactional practice, and (2) Those students, not enrolled in such a legal internship placement during the Spring 2010 semester, but interested in studying transactional law and practice. (This is a limited enrollment course. Priority is available to those students who will be registered contemporaneously in the previously-described legal internship placement.) (See detailed information below.)

1) This course is a focused section of the two-credit, contemporaneous course requirement for students registered in a legal internship placement in the Spring, 2010 semester. The two credits granted for this course are in addition to and independent of any credits awarded for field placement experience. This specialized section of the internship classroom requirement will focus on transactional law practice subjects including contract analysis and drafting; entity formation; intellectual property; client counseling; business planning, and other related topics. Guest lecturers, including practitioners from major local law firms, will lend their experienced insight and examples to further enhance the students’ learning experience. This course is graded on an High Pass, Pass, Low Pass/Fail (no credit) basis and a student’s grade will be based on his or her journal entries, class participation, individual presentations, research and drafting assignments, and other assigned projects. Students placed at corporate in-house legal departments, selected local law firms with a transactional practice, and other in-house counsel and IP firms will be eligible for participation in this section. Any student interested in registering in the legal internship placement must see Prof. Bernadette Feeley for approval before registering for the classroom component.

2) This course will focus on transactional law practice subjects including contract analysis and drafting; entity formation; intellectual property; client counseling; business planning, and other related topics. Guest lecturers, including practitioners from major local law firms, will lend their experienced insight and examples to further enhance the students’ learning experience. This course is graded on a on an High Pass/Pass/Low Pass/Fail (no credit) basis and a student’s grades will be based on class participation, individual presentations, research and drafting assignments, and other assigned projects.

6.   Eligibility

Any day student who fails to achieve a GPA of 2.33 after his or her first year is barred from enrolling in the Legal Internship Program for one year/two semesters.  Any evening student who fails to achieve a GPA of 2.33 after his or her second year is barred from enrolling in the Legal Internship Program for one year/two semesters.  Thereafter, the student may enroll in the Legal Internship Program but the student’s participation is limited to 3 placement credits during his or her law school career. 

7. Contact Professor Feeley

Students interested in an internship for the Spring 2010 semester should contact Professor Feeley no later than November 15, 2009.  Students interested in an internship for the Summer 2010 semester should contact Professor Feeley no later than April 1, 2010. Students interested in an internship for the Fall 2010 semester should contact Professor Feeley no later than May 15, 2010.

8. Student Guide

For a complete list of program requirements, see the Student Guide, Spring 2010 available in Room 165