Refer to the Externship Program webpage for additional requirements and information.
- Students may enroll in full-time externships in the offices of government agencies, legal services/non-profit agencies or judicial chambers, under the immediate supervision of:
- licensed lawyers who have two or more years of legal practice experience and are in good standing with the State Bar, or
- judges and/or judicial law clerks in judicial chambers
A student extern must work in the same business location as the supervising attorney and may not receive any monetary or other compensation for services performed during an externship. No full-time externships at corporations are permitted (only part-time). Externships for academic credit at any type of private law firms are prohibited.
- All full-time externships must be approved by the Director of Extern & Field Placement Programs. Full-time externships are available to students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth semesters of legal study provided the student meets all of the externship program eligibility criteria. Students must be enrolled in UCLA School of Law the semester preceding the semester they wish to participate in the externship.
- Full-time externships yield 13 semester units (no more, no less). In most cases, eleven units are graded on a Pass/Unsatisfactory/No Credit (P/U/NC) basis and two units are awarded a letter grade on the basis of a required research paper for an agency externship, or for enrollment in Law 850A & B (Advanced Judicial Process) for a judicial externship. For the UCDC program, ten units are graded “pass/fail” and three units are letter-graded. Students must comply with all program requirements and expectations to receive the full credit for the externship.
- Students who have previously participated in a part-time externship are not eligible for a full-time externship.
- Full-time Externship Academic Eligibility Rule
- Students who earned a cumulative grade point average in their first year below 2.699 are ineligible for a full-time externship in their fourth semester. Students who earned a grade point average below 2.699 during their third and fourth semesters are ineligible for a full-time externship in their fifth and sixth semesters. Students who are accepted for an externship for their fifth semester and whose letter grades for their third and fourth semesters fall below 2.699 must withdraw from the externship. See Rules V.C, E, and H generally, for grade requirements for extern program eligibility.
- In the event a student completes an externship with a Pass during his/her fourth semester of studies, his/her academic status shall be determined by treating the third, fourth, and fifth semesters as the third and fourth semesters for purposes of Rules V.D and E. If a Pass grade is not received in such fourth semester extern program, the student's academic status shall be determined as of the end of such fourth semester.
- Students may not enroll in any additional courses for law school credit at UCLA or any other institution while enrolled in a full-time externship. Students who wish to participate in a full-time externship while enrolled in courses extending two semesters are advised that residency credit may be forfeited for the semester(s) the course segment is dropped if dropping the course leaves the student with a course load of less than twelve units for that previous semester. Notwithstanding the provision above, independent research papers under the yearlong Law 341A/B category and yearlong “Perspectives” courses may continue during an externship. With permission of the instructor and the Director of Extern & Field Placement Programs, students may audit courses relevant to their externship.
- Credit is awarded after all program requirements have been fulfilled. Students may not receive academic credit retroactively for previously completed opportunities.