UB Law School Expands Public Service With Externships

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo School of Law is expanding its tradition of service to the Western New York community through a new externship course that sends students into the community to work in a variety of assignments.

The idea was first proposed by a distinguished alumna, Erma H. Jaeckle, Class of ‘36, who also has contributed generously to the funding of the program.

Taught by R. Nils Olsen, vice dean for academic affairs and director of clinical studies, and faculty coordinator Wendy Irvine, the course gives second- and third-year students the opportunity to earn academic credit while gaining practical experience for unpaid work performed in conjunction with an office outside of the law school.

The course enables students to study law in context and develop their professional skills and responsibilities, especially their research and writing skills.

The outside agencies, in turn, receive valuable legal help at no cost.

"The externship experience allows the law school and the university to broaden its impact on the community beyond what is currently possible in our clinical-education program," Olsen said.

Some of the placements have included clerkships with federal, state and municipal judges; government attorneys, including district attorneys and corporation counsel; state and county legislators, and such public-interest agencies as Legal Services for the Elderly, Prisoners’ Legal Services, the Volunteer Lawyers Project and Great Lakes United.

Students are supervised by attorneys or responsible professionals from the agencies, who assign students work with an eye toward helping them develop lawyering skills, such as sharpening critical and strategic thinking, predicting case outcomes, and identifying and resolving issues of professional responsibility.

Seventy students were enrolled in the course when it was first offered this spring. Thirty students took the course this summer, while 40 are enrolled for the fall semester.

Olsen and Irvine noted that about 100 agencies initially expressed interest in taking the students and that the number is growing.

"Some of the outside agencies and individuals have asked for more than one student," Olsen added.

The externships are structured, with externs required to keep journals of their activities and tasks, and meet individually and in groups with Irvine and Olsen to share newly acquired knowledge and experiences.

The externship course has been well-received by students, as well as community-based practitioners and agencies.

State Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, whose office was one of the first to receive externs, called the program “mutually beneficial” for both students and the agencies with which they’re placed.

“I’m grateful for the university including such an opportunity in its legal curriculum,” Hoyt said. Having externs in his office “has been a huge bonus, a big, big benefit for my office,” he said, adding that a former UB law extern, Jeremy Toth, now serves as his counsel.