2010 Corporate Externship Program: Course Description

3 Credits - 150+ hours

The law school offers a corporate externship to a small number of students during the summer session. This externship is available to students who have completed two years of law school.

Students will be placed with in-house legal departments and will spend approximately 20 hours each week with a mentor supervisor attorney.

These are the additional class requirements:

• Corporate Law Refresher Workshop
• Plain English drafting workshop
• Revision of a corporate document based on Bryan Garner's Legal Writing in Plain English
• Interview of placement supervisors on their experiences with the roles of corporate counsel
• Weekly journal of experiences

This summer opportunity is a great way to experience an in-house corporate law department.

2010 participating companies:

Examples of past projects:

• Review a contractual agreement with a vendor to determine liability and insurance issues
• Make an employee manual more user-friendly
• Attend staff meetings, strategy meeting, and in-house CLEs
• Brainstorm solutions to antitrust questions
• Help prepare for negotiation between a parent and subsidiary
• Create a system for tracking SEC filings
• Revise a licensing agreement
• Craft a list of corporate governance questions that might be asked by shareholders during an annual meeting
• Revise a vendor agreement template for clarity
• Draft a confidentiality agreement for UMN corporate externs

Mary Alton is the faculty member responsible for this program. You can contact her at alton003 [at] umn.edu or by phone at 612-624-5779.