Under Pressure: Rethinking Externships in a Bleak Economy

Abstract

This article examines how the economic downturn that began in the fall of 2008 has impacted externship pedagogy and practices through the lenses of the key participants in any legal externship ex- perience: students, placements, and law schools. Using findings and empirical data from a survey conducted in February of 2010, the arti- cle explores how the economy's impact on externships is creating cur- ricular, pedagogical, and logistical changes. The article also places identified pressures into context by surveying the other, continuing, and non-economic pressures on externships, such as those en- couraged by Best Practices, imposed by the American Bar Associa- tion, and created by existing curricular structures within law schools. All of these pressures, if not managed, could lead to a diminution of a high quality externship program or a stanching of the growth of more externship opportunities within a legal community. The article sug- gests that changes to externship programs and placements must be a function of pedagogical purpose and the new economic realities fac- ing our law students, our law schools, and the legal profession. It suggests ways in which to approach the rapidly changing legal extern- ship landscape in these economic times and proposes that a consid- ered understanding of these very real changes impacting externship programs could also open doors to a more dynamic, satisfying ex- ternship experience for all involved.