LL.M. Program: Information about the LL.M. Programs

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Externship Opportunities

The Graduate Program at Thomas M. Cooley Law School permits students who are selected as externs to participate in activities or studies away from the law school and receive credit when the educational objectives of the program are met. The LL.M. externship program is an outgrowth of Cooley's J.D. externship program, which has been in place since 1996, and is one of the most successful and largest externship programs in the United States.

Externs are students who perform lawyering tasks in a variety of placements. Their legal work will be supervised by volunteer attorneys who are called field supervisors. Cooley faculty members will oversee the placement, meeting with the students to assist them in reflection that will enhance the learning experience at the workplace. They are designated as faculty supervisors and act as the law school's liaison to the field supervisor.

All three partners in an externship - the extern, the field supervisor, and the faculty supervisor - work together to achieve the goals of the externship program: to develop the student's:

substantive skills;
insight into various aspects of the specialized practice area in which they seek an LL.M. degree;
understanding of special professional responsibility considerations of that practice area; and,
ability to reflect on and learn from the experience.

Planning An Externship

Students planning on participating in the externship program must make their arrangements early. The academic directors of the graduate programs assist students in obtaining externship placements and will have information about any existing externship sites for their programs. Externship sites must be approved.

Externship sites include law firms and governmental entities. In the Graduate Taxation Program, externships will generally be limited to placements with the Internal Revenue Service, the United States or Michigan Departments of Treasury (in revenue or tax policy areas), the Michigan Tax Tribunal, or the United States Tax Court. Other sites may be approved, if at least 75 percent of the student's work will be in the area of federal, state or local taxation.

Students may earn up to four credits in an externship. Generally, externs will arrange to work six hours per credit each week at the placement site for fourteen weeks. Many externs will, in fact, work longer hours. Externs are not allowed to be paid for the same work for which credit is received. There are other requirements of an externship such as keeping a time log and journal, meetings with the faculty supervisor, and, writing a goal memorandum and a substantive paper.

This Page was last updated on: 10/03/2007