Externship Program

About The Program

The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law's externship program is an opportunity for students to gain practical experience. Externships provide a quality educational experience with instruction in professional lawyering skills, legal writing, professional responsibility, the legal process, and a substantive area of law.

The College offers a variety of externships nationwide, with placements in congressional, judicial, governmental, and public interest settings. At the participating organization, students work under the supervision of a lawyer who reviews and evaluates the student's work product and performance. A faculty member supervises the academic component of the externship, which includes either tutorial meetings with the faculty supervisor or a research paper.

Goals and Objectives

The primary goal and objective of the College of Law's externship program is to enhance and supplement the College's educational program. Lawyering work outside the College of Law's regular program of instruction may offer special opportunities to satisfy this goal and objective. Student participation in such a program may supplement legal study and skills development. Externships shall involve an educational experience in advanced law work that is not generally available through the rest of the College of Law curriculum. The educational objectives of an externship may include instruction in professional skills, legal writing, professional responsibility, specific areas of substantive law, and legal process.

Representative Externships
Arizona Attorney General's Office - Civil Division
Child Support Enforcement - Silver
Civil Rights and Conflict Resolution Section
Consumer Protection & Advocacy Section
Education and Health Section, Education Unit
Environmental Enforcement Section
Solicitor General's Office
Arizona Attorney General's Office - Criminal Division
Organized Crime and Fraud Section
Arizona Center for Disability Law
Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest
Arizona Coalition against Domestic Violence
Arizona Corporation Commission
Arizona Court of Appeals - Judge Jon W. Thompson
Staff Attorneys' Office
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Arizona Senior Citizens Law Project
Arizona State University Office of General Counsel
City of Phoenix Public Defender's Office
City of Scottsdale Attorney's Office
City of Surprise Attorney's Office
Department of Veterans Affairs
Federal Public Defender's Office
Capital Habeas Division
Maricopa County Attorney
Maricopa County Office of the Legal Defender
Maricopa County Superior Court
Office of Administrative Hearings
State Bar of Arizona
Supreme Court of Arizona Staff Attorneys' Office
Tempe City Attorney's Office
United States Attorney, District of Arizona
Civil Division
Criminal Division
Indian Affairs Division
United States Bankruptcy Court - Judge Charles Case, II; Judge Randolph J. Haines
U.S. Department of Justice - Immigration Court
U.S. District Court - The Honorable Lawrence O. Anderson
Judge Susan R. Bolton
Judge Robert Broomfield
Judge Stephen M. McNamee
Judge Mary H. Murguia
Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt
Judge Roslyn O. Silver
The Honorable James A. Teilborg

Senate Externships
Office of Senator Jon Kyl
Office of Senator John McCain
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Out-of-State Externships, or Externships Available Only in the Summer
Navajo Nation Supreme Court
Santa Cruz County Attorney
United States Attorney, District of Nevada
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - Judge Arthur L. Alarcon
United States Department of the Interior
United States District Court - The Honorable Roger L. Hunt
The Honorable Philip M. Pro