AALS Externship Winter 2021

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Message from Co-Chairs

Meg Reuter and Anahid Gharakanian

It's been our pleasure to work with such a supportive externship community over these last (almost) two years – with the depth and breadth of our community becoming so obvious in the last year. Our AALS Externship community has shifted to the virtual world in a remarkable way -- in our programs and in our support of one another. When the pandemic hit, we started weekly zoom meetings to cope. When George Floyd was murdered, we shifted to an anti-racist lens and self-examination of our programs, including how we can be better teachers and colleagues. How did "we" do that? Well, first it was the energy of the externship community across the country that let us know the thirst for reflection, education, and action. Hundreds of our colleagues have gathered at our zoom events and numerous active participants have emerged. And second, the commitment of a stalwart set of colleagues has kept our subcommittees active, conceiving and presenting these many programs, including the creation of a new subcommittee: The Think Tank and Repository for Antiracism Resources Subcommittee. 

As we prepare for the next year of committee planning, we very much want to open our arms to anyone with desire to learn more and participate (at a level that is comfortable to you). To that end, our six subcommittees have organized an event for you to meet the current co-chairs, learn about the subcommittees’ work, and learn how to get involved. Three of our six committee are featured below. Join us on February 12th to learn more about all of them. We are especially looking for colleagues who are new to the externship world. Working closely with veteran committee members is one of the best ways to create your own network of helpful folks.

We hope everyone will join us at the Externship Subcommittees Recruitment Session: Friday, February 12, 9 to 10 a.m. PT. 

https://swlaw-edu.zoom.us/j/7435759328
Meeting ID: 743 575 9328

Also, please be on the lookout for emails via Lextern for our other upcoming spring semester programming, including a continuation of our focus on anti-racism and on cultivating allyship.

Your devoted co-chairs,

Meg and Anahid

International and Semester Away Externships Subcommittee

The Subcommittee on International and Semester Away Externships facilitates the exchange of ideas among externship faculty and staff working with semester in practice and international externships.  The Committee organizes regular zoom calls on topics relevant to faculty and staff running programs where students are away from their law school campuses for the semester.  This mission has been particularly salient over the past year as we are seizing opportunities presented through online teaching and virtual externships, while considering the future of legal practice. Although COVID has interrupted travel, it has also expanded opportunities for virtual collaborations that will enhance all externship programs; we encourage you to join us as we explore and innovate. The calls are led by group members, with frequent guest speakers.  A list of prior topics and materials are available on LEXTERN.  In addition, we will continue to coordinate programming at relevant conferences and to keep raising questions and trying to provide answers about how to run meaningful and responsive semester away externship programs for our students.  This year, the Committee is moving forward on a placement database and in building our relationships with international colleagues.    

All Externship faculty and staff are invited to join for the learning and the sharing.  Even those that don’t have international or semester away programs will find the topics useful as we discuss topics common to all externship programs.  

Scholarship Subcommittee

The scholarship subcommittee is proud to say we launched a writing initiative to help support the scholarship goals within our community.  In the summer, we put out a call for those interested in a writing group.  We were able to organize three writing groups with eleven members total working toward monthly progress on individual goals.  The committee's role was to enthusiastically prompt the writing group to meet and set writing deadlines in hopes to reach the spring publication market.  We have great news to report! Six out of seven of our Externships 10 WIP participants had an offer to publish.   All seven participated in our Externship Faculty Scholarship Workgroups! 

Here is the list of their publications with links to the articles: 

  • Kristen Hulse (Sturm College of Law), The Foundations for (Private) Practice:  Building Professional Identity Through Law Firm Externships, 89 UMKC L. Rev. [ ],  2021.
  • Denise Platfoot Lacey (University of Dayton School of Law), Do All Roads Lead to Rome? Effectively Using Asynchronous Online Reflective Practice in an Externship Course, 89 UMKC L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2021).
  • Spring Miller (Vanderbilt), The Generalist Externship Seminar: A Unique Curricular Opportunity to Study the Legal Profession (forthcoming Clinical Law Review Spring 2021). 

Another project the committee worked toward this past year in conjunction with the committee on Information and Resources was to organize and produce a comprehensive externship scholarship bibliography divided into subtopics so the end-user is able to readily find relevant readings based on an area of interest. For this year, we are interested in recruiting new members interested in helping our community support our scholarship goals. 

Think Tank and Repository for Antiracism Resources Subcommittee

A new subcommittee has been formed to advance work in the externship community on anti-racism. The name of the new committee, Think Tank and Repository for Antiracism Resources, showcases the collaborative work ahead. 

This subcommittee is an open forum for anyone interested in working to move the needle forward on all issues related to anti-racism and anti-oppression within the sphere of externships.  The work includes participating in think tank discussions, organizing, and helping to create a repository of resources for externship professors. The committee will also organize safe spaces within the larger community to have difficult and vulnerable conversations focused on radical candor to analyze how we evolve and learn through our own experiences. 

If you are interested in joining this committee, please complete the following online form: https://forms.gle/G7T6P4F6nRt44V1x5. This is NOT an application for membership in the Think Tank subcommittee.  All who are interested are welcome. This form is only to help us connect you with the things that are especially of interest to you. 

We also have three additional active subcommittees:

  • Teaching methodologies
  • Communications and Lextern content
  • Membership and new member support

Join us on February 12 to meet everyone. 

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