Dean Stephen B. Yeager co-founded the program in 2013 along with Professor Marc I. Steinberg. According to Dean Yeager, "These corporate externships are learning experiences. They are not the pathway to a legal job like a summer clerkship is with a law firm, but the skills, substantive experience, broader networks, and stronger résumés students build through the program can make them more attractive to legal employers."
By the time students participate in the externship program, most have litigation experience working with a judge or a law firm. All too often, however, externs have no transactional experience, which can be much more difficult for students to obtain in law school. The program provides a large number of transactional and compliance placements where students can work with contracts, conduct due diligence, and attend negotiations.
The program also provides students with educational experiences they could not obtain in the classroom. For example, students have the opportunity to work in very specialized practice areas such as fashion law, cybersecurity and data privacy, healthcare compliance, aviation taxation and food labeling law.