Student Information

Summer Judicial Extern Clinic- Law 672
Course Instructor: Professor Alice Noble-Allgire

The Judicial Externship Clinic provides a unique opportunity for law students to learn about the American legal system by working
for a sitting judge. While experiences vary from chambers to chambers, most placements allow externs to hone their research and
writing skills while learning how judges make decisions and observing a wide range of courtroom proceedings.
Click here for a story about the experiences students had in Summer 2009.

The SIU School of Law has more than 70 approved judicial extern sites in both the federal and state court systems. See list here.
Students are not limited to those placements, however, and may seek approval for sites that are not currently on the list. As a result,
extern opportunities are available virtually anywhere there is a courthouse or judicial chambers.

Students receive a variety of benefits from judicial externships. Externs working in appellate courts typically receive intensive exposure
to appellate procedure, research and writing. Externs working in trial courts are immersed in the full range of trial procedures and motion
practice. Although some courts have a specialized focus, such as family law courts, others expose externs to a potpourri of legal issues on
both the criminal and civil dockets. In addition to honing research and writing skills, students learn how courts operate, become familiar with
the duties of various court personnel, and observe how judges handle ethical and well as substantive and procedural issues.

The externship course is open to any student who has completed the first year of legal studies and has a cumulative grade point average of at
least 2.8 (or with approval of the externship faculty supervisor if the student’s grade point average is under 2.8). For more information on enrollment
requirements, see the School of Law Rules relating to Clinics.

The externship course is graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory scale. To complete the course for three academic credits, students must
complete 140 extern hours, with at least 20% of those hours from observing court and other proceedings. For six academic credits, students
must complete at least 280 hours of externship work, including 20% as observation hours.

Although the Judicial Extern Clinic has been offered only during the Summer term, a proposal is pending to offer the course in Fall and
Spring semesters as well, starting in Spring 2010. For students who enroll in the summer externship course, the two-day classroom
component of the course is held during the week immediately after the completion of spring semester exams, which allows students
to start their externships early or to divide their summer between a clerkship or summer abroad program.

Students seeking placement in a site that is not currently approved must apply for approval prior to enrolling in the course.
Applications for placement site approvals are available from Professor Noble-Allgire in Room 240 or her assistant, Susan Williams,
in Room 223. For more information about the externship course, contact Professor Noble-Allgire in person or by email (nobleall@law.siu.edu).