Graduate Externship Program

The Graduate Externship Program gives LLM and MSL students the opportunity to engage in for-credit externships with a wide variety of host organizations, including non-profit organizations, corporate legal and compliance departments, government organizations, and law firms. Such placement experiences are intended to enrich the educational experience students receive in the Law School’s doctrinal courses and to promote students’ professional development by assisting them in integrating legal theory with skills and professional values.

The educational goals of Fordham’s Graduate Externship Program are as follows:

Training students in lawyering skills

Placements should offer opportunities for students to appreciate some of the competencies required for legal practice in the U.S. (for international students) and/or to learn and explore competencies required in a particular practice, setting, or industry. Placements also frequently offer exposure to skills such as time management and law office operations.

Development of professional identity

Placements should offer a platform from which students will consider their professional role and the responsibilities that accompany that role. This includes not only analysis of and compliance with relevant ethical rules, but also identification of professional values that extend beyond the codified rules.

Growth of students’ self-evaluative skills

Placements should provide opportunities for active learning through experience, feedback, and reflection. Therefore, placements should stimulate the development of self-evaluative skills and the ability to learn from experience.