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Los Angeles Federal District Court Summer Externship Program
The School of Law is delighted to announce that we have secured a place for one law student on the prestigious Los Angeles Federal District Court 2018 Summer Externship Programme. The programme runs for three months from June 1 to August 31 with students spending two weeks in the Los Angeles Superior Courts and the remaining time with the Federal Court where they gain real-world, hands-on, work experience.
The UL student chosen will join with a selected Law student from UCD, TCD, UCC etc on the programme that is supported by the Irish American Bar Association. The successful UL student will also receive a scholarship from the School of Law to the value of €1,000 to meet their expenses in completing the externship.
As usual, entry on to this programme is competitive and is open only to current 3rd and 4th year Law students (Law Plus or Law and Accounting) – or 2nd year Graduate Entry students – with a QCA of 3.3 or higher.
How to apply
In order to be in with a chance of participating on this externship programme this summer, eligible students must send a cover letter (explaining why you should be chosen) and up-to-date CV.
This is an amazing opportunity to gain an international work placement in a competitive and dynamic workplace and the School would strongly encourage all eligible students to apply as soon as possible.
​The School of Law offers a generous scholarship to the winning student who will gain invaluable experience in both the Los Angeles Federal and Superior Courts working in the judge's chambers and participating in the preparation of legal memoranda. A School of Law scholarship is available to the value of €1,000 towards travel expenses.
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North America Study Abroad
The School of Law also has well established links with a number of prominent universities and law schools across North America. There are a limited number of study abroad places available for our undergraduate law students. Scholarships to aid the cost of travel to North America are also available from the School of Law for participating students. The participating universities include the , School of Law (Dartmouth), and the , British Columbia.
Second Year undergrad Law students (Law Plus or Law and Accounting) may apply for travel during third year. You must have a minimum QCA of 2.90. There are limited School of Law scholarships available to help with travel fees. To inquire contact Dr Kathryn O'Sullivan.
The School of Law invites applications from students who are interested in completing a Study Abroad semester in Spring/Summer 2020 in one of our partner Law Schools in North America (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and the University of Victoria, British Columbia).
This opportunity is only open to current 2nd year Law Plus students.
Note: this semester will not count for academic credit and would therefore not contribute towards your QCA. All students must ensure that they receive the consent of their Course Director before undertaking such study abroad, however, it is not necessary to have obtained this consent before applying.
To facilitate students in undertaking such study, the School of Law has a limited number of scholarships to support students’ costs of travel to the partner Law School.
Students must have a minimum QCA of 2.9 in order to be considered for this opportunity and scholarship. If interested, students are required to submit the following:
- Cover letter: This should outline why you want to undertake a study abroad semester and why you should be selected. It should also include your top preference(s) of university to visit as well as the modules you would like to undertake while there.
- CV: This should be up to date and highlight your academic and other achievements to date.
- Full student transcript: This is available online through the student record system.
Applications should be submitted to John.lombard@ul.ie. Students will then be shortlisted for interview to be conducted in the School of Law.
I was extremely lucky to be selected by the School of Law, UL, to take part in the 2015 Summer Externship Programme in the Los Angeles (United States) Federal District Court.
The externship lasted for three months and involved working in the chambers of federal judges based in Los Angeles. The programme is organised by the Irish American Bar Association (IABA) which selects one student from each of five law schools in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Once all five students were selected, we found accommodation in L.A. together and applied for our visas.
The first two weeks were spent in state court where we were given the freedom to observe courtroom proceedings.
This was a great chance to see attorneys and judges in action. The judges were enormously generous with their time and always took us into chambers to talk about what we had just seen and to answer any questions we had. Following these two weeks, we were split up to work in the chambers of different federal judges. We each then spent five weeks working in the chambers of a particular judge before switching to another judge for our final five weeks. Many US law students apply for externships, and in chambers we worked alongside them. I reported to the judge’s clerks and would work with one to four other externs.
The work was quite varied, but the main task I had was to review motions received, perform the necessary research on the legal issues arising and draft a memo to the judge where I would set out my recommendation as to what action should be taken. If the memo was approved, I would then draft the appropriate court order in response to the motion. I learned a great deal about the US legal system, and my legal writing and research skills were dramatically improved.
Aside from the general work assigned to us, there were many other learning opportunities such as attending Court of Appeal arguments, being introduced to the L.A. City Council, tours of the dependency court, the county jail and the L.A. County Coroner’s office, and the option to attend lectures given by state court judges on all areas of law.
While this aspect of the programme was outstanding, being both challenging and informative, the time spent outside of chambers was absolutely fantastic.
The IABA and all of the American people we met were great in terms of keeping us busy. It would be impossible to go into detail on everything, but some of the highlights included the Hollywood Bowl, Disneyland, a weekend at Oxnard beach, a Dodgers game, and several IABA events. For me, a worry had been that I would miss out on the traditional student experience of a summer in the US, especially as I already had plans to spend my summer in San Diego. However, I can say that L.A. was fantastic and I am extremely happy now that I chose to do something different.
Overall, my experience of living in L.A. for three months was extremely positive. It was a great city to spend my summer and it certainly is a place which I hope to return to in the future.
During my final year of Law Plus I was fortunate enough to be chosen to represent UL on the LA Superior and Federal Court summer externship 2019, which is organised by the Irish American Bar Association. I spent two weeks in the Superior Courthouse followed by eight weeks in the Federal Courthouse.
During this externship I was linked up with four other Irish students who represented UCC, UCD, TCD, and QUB. During our time in LA all five of us lived together and got on well making the experience an easy transition. On our arrival we were collected at LAX airport by Mary O’Neill who was our contact for the Irish American Bar Association. Mary was hugely accommodating and helped with the visa process while also providing information regarding accommodation and any other queries.
The Irish American Bar Association is made up of several American lawyers and their families who have Irish ancestral roots. I spent my first two weeks in LA living with these accommodating families before moving into my own housing. The Irish American Bar Association also enhanced the experience culturally and socially by organising events such as dinner parties and bringing us to baseball games along with several other social outings!
I completed orientation in the Superior Stanley Mosk Courthouse and spent the first two weeks observing here under the supervision of Judge Mary Anne Murphy. This gave me a great insight into the intricacies of the American legal system. I was exposed to a wide variety of legal areas in the courtroom. Judge Murphy also organised several visits including, a visit to the coroner’s office, the children’s dependency court, and we got to watch the Supreme Court and District Court Oral Arguments and got a tour of the Metropolitan Detention Centre.
My work throughout the following eight weeks centred on legal research and writing assisting my assigned judge on ongoing cases. I spent half my time with Chief Magistrate Judge Walsh and the other half with Judge Cormac Carney. This was insightful as both judges have different roles, which exposed me to a different work load. I also worked alongside the judge’s clerks and American externs, which made my time there fun and exciting! My work included jurisdictional checks, drafting second amended complaints for prisoners pursuing a case, drafting orders to grant or deny permission to alter judgments, drafting orders to grant or deny permission to file documents under seal, and several other assignments while I was also allowed to sit in on trials and I even witnessed my judge conducting a marriage ceremony between a prisoner and his now wife. Once I had completed an assignment, my judge would go through my work with me highlighting any changes necessary or perhaps where I had done a really good job. A lot of my work in the Federal Courthouse consisted of working with legal databases including Lexis and Westlaw.
This highly coveted experience has given me the required confidence to further my studies at UL by pursing a Master of Laws (General). I will never forget this experience as it has greatly enhanced my legal awareness and made me appreciate the importance of travelling while gaining a new insight on the world by meeting different people and experiencing new cultures and working environments.