Chapter 1: Externship Foundations
This Chapter begins by shedding light on some of the roots of an externship placement. What concepts and approaches set the right conditions for growth? How might other potentially adverse conditions should be avoided? What adaptations are helpful for this new environment? What are the essential definitions and concepts relevant to this environment?
To begin this journey, we begin with the foundational elements of an externship. Although this text uses the term “externship”, many of these concepts are equally helpful in a co-op or internship.
This Chapter sets the stage for students new to an externship or other placement context. It starts with the most obvious question: what is an “externship?”. Although each school will have its own nuanced approach to their program, there are many shared elements that are introduced here.
The Chapter then addresses the unique aspects of learning in an externship – how do students go about learning in this context, and how is this different from other law school courses? What are some specific techniques or approaches to learning that are helpful in an externship?
The Chapter also addresses the people and communities from whom students will learn. Rather than the more typical “sage on a stage” model in which students learn from an instructor and perhaps their peers, an externship widens the number and types of people from who a student learns. This Chapter sets out the roles and responsibilities of these people, as well as the ethical context of learning from and with clients and communities. In this Chapter, students are introduced to the “ecological context” of practice – the full panoply of people and environments that impact a learning and practice experience. In this way, students are situated as one part of a larger ecosystem working together toward justice goals in different environments.
The Chapter also takes a deeper look at the role and comparative place of an externship program as related to other law curriculum, as well as law school clinical programs.
