ASU Law students working together in our Clinics.

Experiences

Our approach

Here at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, we understand career success is a journey, not a destination. We provide students and alumni with professional development programing, guidance and resources that will enable them to effectively compete in the legal job market and achieve their career and employment goals. We strive to create meaningful employment and networking opportunities for students and alumni, and along with these resources, we also provide career counseling and coaching.

Explore some of our experential learning opportunities

Banner outside of BCLS during Fall 2023 orientation that reads Welcome to ASU Law.

Career development tools

Paramount to post-graduation success is career development. We recognize that a student’s legal career begins on the first day of law school. To that end, prior to arriving on campus, admitted students are provided with a couple of career development tools:

Online Career Assessment Tool

Admitted students receive access to LawFit. The Lawfit® Career Assessment is an online assessment that helps law students make better career decisions by answering three questions:

  • What are my motivations, values and interests?
  • Which legal practice areas best fit my interests and values?
  • Which general (non-legal) career fields best fit my interests and values?

Admitted students also receive resume templates and a one-page resume guide.

LawFit Logo

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law Externship Program is designed to enhance the educational experience of second and third year law students by providing opportunities, in the government, public interest, and private sectors, for them to do substantive legal work. 

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Work with municipal, state, and federal judges, state agencies, city and county attorneys, public defenders, and government affairs organizations within and outside of Arizona.

Earn academic credit and get paid! Students can extern for private firms and companies’ in-house legal departments in Arizona and other states.

Firms across the Valley interview students for paid externships spanning their entire 3L academic year. Selected students work on real, ongoing cases and transactions and learn to navigate office dynamics in a private firm setting.

Develop an informed insider perspective on policy developments on Capitol Hill and in federal agencies. Acquire expertise in timely legal issues by externing with federal agencies, Congress, or nonprofit organizations in the heart of the city. Your hands-on experience will be complemented by classes taught by Professor Orde Kittrie focused on legislation, advocacy, and the executive branch.

This program covers global topics ranging from counterterrorism to human rights law. You will live, study, and extern in Washington, D.C., and have opportunities to contribute to ASU’s international development projects in countries like Pakistan and Mexico. Learn from professors with deep experience in the field who have led major initiatives with the United Nations, European Union, Department of State, and International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.

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Live and work in Los Angeles, California for a spring semester while earning academic credit through an externship at a government, public interest, or non-profit organization or with a local judge. Use this opportunity to sharpen your legal skills and make connections.

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Clinic Students pose for shot on balcony stairs

Clinical programs

Since 1969, the Clinical Program at the Sandra Day O’Conner College of Law at Arizona State University has helped students develop the legal expertise and professional judgment they need to bridge the gap between a law degree and practicing law. In the clinics, students engage in challenging and rewarding legal cases for real clients, and many students find their clinical experience to be the high point of their law school education. For these reasons, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has cited clinical experience as one of the most important aspects of legal education.

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