Host an Intern
All Program
students must complete LEGL 416, Internship, during their final
year in the Program. The Internship is a capstone course
that incorporates both a classroom experience and a clinical
experience. For the clinical experience, students must
complete a minimum of 150 contact hours working in a suitable
location, under appropriate supervision, and doing work that is
appropriate for legal assistants. Examples of suitable
locations include, but are not limited to, law offices, courts,
government agencies, community service organizations, and
in-house legal departments.
As an intern host, you would be expected to provide your
intern with work that would typically done by a legal assistant.
We understand, of course, that legal assistants often work in
"nontraditional" roles. Many students seek out such roles.
For example, students often express interest in working for
courts. The job duties in this setting certainly utilize
the student's legal education and training, but would be much
different than what she might expect to do in a "traditional"
law office setting. A few intern hosts pay their interns,
but most Internships are unpaid.
Keep in mind that the Internship is, above all, a learning
experience. You should be prepared to mentor your intern
and to provide candid, constructive performance feedback.
Your input will factor into the student's course grade.
Internship students will have completed most of the Program's
required courses, but they may not have much "real world"
experience. The point of the Internship is to give
students that experience.
LEGL 416, Internship, is offered each Winter term beginning
in early January. Students may not do their
clinical work before they enroll in the course. Most
students do their clinical work over the course of the entire
term, which ends in late April. If enrollment demand is
sufficient, we also offer the Internship course in the Spring
term.
Demand for interns is extremely high. The Program
usually gets more requests for interns than it can fulfill.
Students gravitate towards internships that offer the most
interesting and challenging work. Many students accept
employment with Internship sponsors when they graduate from the
Program. If you would like to host an intern, or if you
want more information about Internships, feel free to contact
the
Program Coordinator.
