In addition to law school clinics, internships are another way for students to receive live-client or other real-life practice experience while in law school.

In internships, a student works for an organization or office that is not part of the law school and is supervised by an attorney who does not work for the law school. In many internships a student's main responsibilities include research, writing, and any other tasks that support the legal work of the supervising attorney or office where the intern is employed. Students can secure their own internships, and may receive academic credit for the internship if it meets the school's requirements.

Internships give students the opportunity to receive experience in an area of law that a law school may not otherwise be able to provide its students any experience in. Some schools even allow internships in distant cities and geographic locations that students may not be able to connect with otherwise while in law school. I have even heard of a law student who did an internship in Madagascar .

Many law schools also have judicial internships. Judicial internships allow students to work directly with judges, which are important opportunities. The recommendation letters of judges are very important in securing highly sought after jobs in the legal profession such as becoming a professor.

For most students their first internship occurs in the summer after their first year in law school. For first-year students there are many opportunities to do unpaid internships and fewer opportunities to secure paid internships. First-year students have fewer paid internship opportunities because they are competing with second-year students who have greater legal experience. Second-year students often have had the opportunity to do an internship after their first year and during their second year.

Students applying for unpaid internships can occasionally have their internships paid for by other funding sources. More information about these sources can be found at the following websites:

• http://www.pili-law.org/internships/studint.htm
• http://www.pslawnet.org/about/index.php
• http://www.massbarfoundation.org/grant_programs/legal_intern/

Below are a two law school internship websites.

• http://law.ubalt.edu/clinics/index.html
• http://www.brooklaw.edu/academic/clinics/internships.php

Other related articles on this website include Choosing a Law School and Law School Clinics.

Good luck in law school!

Michael Santana
michael.santana@lawboost.com

If you have any questions or comments about this article, or want to write your own article about the pre-law or law school process, feel free to contact me.