Externship Program: Information for Sponsors

THANK YOU for your interest in Santa Clara Law and our Externship Program.

We are mindful that without great sponsors, mentors, and opportunities, our students and our Program cannot continue to thrive.

SPONSOR REQUIREMENTS

In order to ensure a challenging and rewarding experience for our students while remaining sensitive to supervisor workloads and responsibilities, sponsoring supervisors must:

Have direct supervision over student extern(s)
Assign substantive legal (i.e., not administrative) work; all administrative tasks may not exceed 10% of extern workload
Give meaningful, consistent, and regularly-scheduled feedback on all assignments given
Be licensed attorneys, or individuals otherwise qualified to supervise, with at least five (5) years of practice/industry experience

 

Have dedicated office space and equipment for extern student(s), as students are not allowed to work remotely

Ensure students are consistently engaged in their externship placement for the entire 14-week (fall/spring), or 7-week (summer) semester; students may not front-load or back-load hours

COVID-19 UPDATE: In light of the fact that Santa Clara Law will return to in-person instruction in the fall, ExPro can no longer approve remote externships. However, an exception shall be made for those externship placements which mandate remote instruction because they have not returned to in-office staffing. Students cannot opt-in, request, or otherwise work remotely. 

STUDENTS EARN UNITS

ExPro is a law school class.

  • As such, all externships run as closely to the academic semester as possible.
  • Students must also register for an online class that is taken concurrent to their externship.

Students earn 1 academic units for every 50 hours of legal work completed with their sponsoring organization during the academic semester.

  • The minimum number of units students may receive is 3 (equivalent to approximately 11 hours per week for the fall and spring semesters, and 21.5 hours per week for the summer semester).
  • The maximum number of units is 6 for the fall and spring (equivalent to approximately 21.5 hours per week), and 5 for the summer (approximately 36 hours per week).
  • Students coordinate their schedules directly with their supervisor and must do so prior to registering with ExPro.

REQUIRED FORMS

The BACE Supervisor Manual further outlines our program and also offers best practices and supervisor training tips.
The Manual also contains samples of our required forms at the end, notably:

The Extern Written Agreement Form:
Presented prior to the start of the externship
The Mid-Semester Self-Evaluation:
Geared toward student self-reflection; asks the student to identify and analyze strengths and weaknesses. Asks for the supervising attorney’s comments, recommendations, and signature
The ExPro Final Evaluation Form:
Presented at the conclusion of the externship via an online form

Please note that we are unable to process a final grade for your extern until we receive these forms.
Your extern will present all forms to you at the time the forms are due as a reminder.

HOW TO POST AN EXTERNSHIP

 

New Sponsors

Welcome to ExPro! Thank you for your interest in our Program and working with Santa Clara Law students.

  • Please review the Sponsor Requirements above and contact us with any questions – we’re happy to help! You are welcome to email us at expro@scu.edu, or follow this link and complete our Sponsor Background Form. This form provides us with the information we need to post your externship opportunity. We may contact you for a brief phone call after we review the form.
  • Don’t forget – we’re here and happy to help, so please contact us with any questions.
 
 

Repeat/Returning Sponsors

ExPro is happy to accommodate repeat sponsors and those returning to the Program.

  • If you are interested in hosting an extern for additional semesters, ExPro will add your organization to our email list and will contact you prior to the start of each semester. You only need to provide posting information once. We’ll use the same post every semester, unless you’d like to make any changes.
  • Please contact expro@scu.edu and we will work with you to post your externship.
 

Suggested dates to post:

Click here for our full academic calendar. Posting early in the timeline often yields the greatest number of interested applicants. Many students, however, search for opportunities throughout the year.

Fall Semester

  • Generally runs from the 2nd week of August to the 3rd week of November
  • Suggested posting date: May 1

Spring Semester

  • Generally runs from the 1st week of January to the 3rd week of April
  • Suggested posting date: October 1

Summer Semester

  • Generally runs from the last week of May to the 3rd week of July
  • Suggested posting date: March 1

 

Selecting an extern: All externship postings will expire 2 weeks before the start of the semester. All extern students should be selected and notified no later than the first day of classes, at the latest.

Questions? Contact us at expro@scu.edu or (408) 551-3266