Externships

The Gittis Center offers valuable experience-based opportunities at unique public law settings in the Philadelphia area for students interested in deepening their lawyering skills and building upon their courses and in-house clinical work as they prepare for entry into the profession. The externship placements work closely with the Penn Law Clinical Faculty to ensure that students receive close supervision and meet regularly with their externship supervisors to receive feedback on their placement work. Biweekly tutorials with clinical faculty provide an opportunity to discuss broader lawyering themes involving professional responsibility, delivery of services, legal institutions, lawyering competence, client relations, and other related issues that arise in each setting.

Placements are one semester in length and generally are offered for either four or seven academic credits. Most externships are open to second and third year students; third year students are given enrollment priority. All externships continue through the end of the examination period of each semester and benefit from flexibility in student schedules.

Recent externship placements have included:

Community Legal Services		Philadelphia Legal Assistance
Death Penalty Litigation at the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Defenders Office	Equality Advocates Pennsylvania (formerly the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights)	Federal Appellate Litigation (in partnership with Dechert, LLP)	General Counsel's Office of the University of Pennsylvania
National Labor Relations Board	Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission	Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office	Montgomery County District Attorney's Office
The Delaware Riverkeeper	U.S. Attorney's Office	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	Women's Law Project

In addition, students who have a demonstrated professional interest and commitment to a subject that they would like to study experientially and which is not covered by course or seminar offerings, including clinical courses, may propose an “ad-hoc externship” for approval by the faculty in accordance with published guidelines.