The Corporate Counsel Externship Program is an academic program - i.e., a combination of a substantive course with field placements. Students must pass both the class and externship components in order to receive academic credit.
Students meet weekly in a class where we discuss substantive and practical topics facing inside counsel. Students learn substantive law through classroom instruction as well as observing lawyers dealing with real legal issues and business problems in the context of corporate legal departments. Topics have included intellectual property, cybersecurity and data privacy, real estate, securities laws, and employment law. In‐house practitioners guest‐lecture in certain classes or serve on panel discussions with other attorneys. The personal insights and knowledge these individuals offer students can contribute a great deal to their learning and make the classes more practical.
Some of the classes focus on the unique aspects of working as a lawyer within a corporation. Topics covered include the roles and history of in‐house counsel, how corporate legal departments are structured, client identification, working with outside counsel, conducting an internal investigation, corporate compliance and legal risk management.
Another academic goal is improving students’ professional skills including: legal analysis and reasoning, contract drafting, problem solving, communication, teamwork, negotiation, and fact finding. By virtue of working in a corporate legal department, students also develop an understanding of workplace issues such as time management, workplace culture, and professionalism.
