Summer

The summer PLSG externship comprises five basic components:

1. Satisfactory completion of your externship agreement;
2. Satisfactory completion of at least the required number of hours at the externship placement or doing externship activities and related work (45 hours per credit hour sought; therefore, [90 or 135] hours per semester);
3. Attending and participating in at least two of three class discussion meetings or the equivalent;
4. Submitting externship time logs and a mid-semester reports as required; and
5. Submitting a completed supervising attorney evaluation form and externship time logs at the end of the semester. 

 The three main participants in the externship course are: the PLSG externship student, the faculty advisor, and the supervising attorney. Success in reaching the educational objectives of the course depends on all three of these participants and the interrelationships between and among them.

 The PLSG student extern is responsible for:

i.   Spending ninety (90) or one hundred thirty-five (135) hours, fourty-five (45) hours per externship credits sought, during the semester in externship placement activities and related work. Externship placement activities and related work includes, e.g., being present at the assigned field placement and/or addressing the legal assignments from the supervising attorney. 

ii.   Attending two of three class discussion meetings.  These discussion meetings will be scheduled, with input from enrolled externship students, at mutually convenient times for May, June, and July.

iii.   Immediately identifying any potential conflicts of interest between the externship placement and other interests to the supervising lawyer and faculty advisor and resolving the real or potential conflicts of interest as soon as practicable;  

iv.   Understanding that the externship work performed this semester, whether paid or unpaid, is being done for academic credit, which requires direct supervision of the student’s work by an attorney;

v.   Understanding the externship placement’s procedures for receiving and handling confidential information, including that confidential information may not be disclosed except as authorized by the supervising lawyer and that, under Indiana law, penalties may be enforced if he or she knowingly or intentionally discloses confidential information to any person not authorized to receive it;

vi.    Sharing individual development plan (IDP) with faculty advisor and supervising lawyer in the first half of the externship semester;

vii.   Submitting accurate time logs accounting for the student’s time working at the externship placement and working on externship activities and related work. Time logs will be due to the faculty advisor as an occasional online assignment, and at the conclusion of the semester.

viii. Arranging a time to discuss the supervising attorney’s formal written evaluation of your summer externship work with the supervising attorney or attorneys. 

 ix.   Submitting the completed Supervising Attorney Evaluation Form to the faculty advisor upon the conclusion of the semester.  

The Supervising Attorney is responsible for:

i.     Orienting the PLSG extern to the office before or during the first week of the externship semester, including a discussion of office procedures and, specifically, a discussion of office and/or department procedures for receiving and handling confidential information; 

ii.     Immediately communicating any actual or potential conflicts of interest that the student extern may have, develop, or discover with the externship placement with the supervising lawyer and faculty advisor;

iii.     Working with the externship student to establish and implement a work plan in accordance with the extern’s individual development plan (IDP) and that is in alignment with the externship site’s mission and needs;

iv.     Providing skills training opportunities to the extern by assigning legal projects to the student, reviewing the student’s legal work, and providing constructive feedback to the student extern;

v.     Providing a variety of challenging tasks that draw on the student extern’s legal skills throughout the course of the placement;

vi.     Meeting regularly with the student extern to discuss matters pertinent to the student’s work and the student’s understanding of the legal process;   

vii.     Giving specific, meaningful feedback to the student extern during the course of the placement;

viii.     Allowing student, when feasible, to participate in, and not merely observe, legal or strategic decision-making processes;

ix.     Notifying faculty advisor in a timely manner regarding any problems or concerns about the student extern or his or her work at the externship placement; 

x.     Understanding that the externship student is earning academic credit for their externship work, whether paid or unpaid.

xi.     Understanding that the externship placement is under no obligation to pay students for their time as a function of this academic externship.  The law school will not become involved in any negotiations or disputes regarding payment for externships. 

xii.     Conducting a brief assessment of the student extern’s performance at mid-semester and communicating the assessment to the faculty advisor;

xiii.     Evaluating the student’s performance and work product in writing at the end of the externship semester, reviewing the written evaluation with the student extern, and making the written evaluation available to the student extern for final submission to the faculty advisor; and 

xiv.     Complying with all relevant laws and regulations including the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Faculty Advisor is responsible for:

i.     Overall coordination and administration of the externship placement course, including the development, monitoring, and maintenance of the agreement between the law school, the student, and the externship placement;

ii.     Coordinating completion of the externship agreement and development of sound individualized educational objectives for this externship;

iii.     Coordinating reflection and self-evaluation of the student’s externship experience;

iv.     Enhancing the student’s understanding of law, lawyering, and governance within Indiana’s state government; 

v.     Maintaining communication with the law student and the supervising attorney regarding the quality of the externship semester for all involved;

vi.     Giving meaningful feedback to the student on his or her externship experience through Canvas, individual meetings, or as a part of class discussions;

vii.     Assessing whether the student earned a passing or failing grade (based on an assessment of the comments of the supervising attorney throughout the externship semester), an assessment of the student’s work on the externship agreement and individualized educational objectives, an assessment of the student’s externship time logs (based on the quality, accuracy, and professionalism of the assigned time logs, including the time logs’ demonstration of the student’s meeting or failing to meet minimum the number of hours required to be spent at the field office and doing externship and related work), and an assessment of the student’s attendance participation at class discussion meetings (or the equivalent).