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.

Students will also meet as a class for an average of an hour each week. These are the additional class requirements:

• Weekly class sessions devoted either to discussing a topic relevant to in-house counsel or to debriefing issues they encounter
• Communications workshop (this two hour session will combine the corporate externship students with the transactional lawyering skills students)
• Interview of placement supervisors on their experiences with the roles of corporate counsel
• Weekly journal of experiences
• Read Bryan Garner's Legal Writing in Plain English and revise a corporate legal document from your placement site, following the recommendations in that text

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

The participating companies in 2008 are:

Examples of past projects:

• Review a contractual agreement with a vendor to determine liability and insurance issues
• Make an employee manual more user-friendly
• Compare law among countries regarding independent contractor invention rights
• 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.