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
- Student externs must be closely supervised by a licensed attorney or other qualified person.
- Externs must be assigned substantive legal work, commensurate with the type of tasks an entry-level attorney performs. (Administrative tasks may not exceed 10 percent of extern workload.)
- Externs must be given consistent, and regularly-scheduled feedback.
- 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.
Students earn one academic unit for every 50 hours of legal work completed with their sponsoring organization during the academic semester. Students also take a companion, online academic course during the term.
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.
Supervisor’s Final Evaluation Form:
- Supervisors are asked to complete a brief evaluation of their extern near the conclusion of the semester.
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
We are happy to have repeat sponsors return to the program.
- If you are interested in hosting an extern for additional semesters, we 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 two weeks before the start of the semester.
Questions? Let’s connect at expro@scu.edu or (408) 551-3266