As the new academic year commences at GW Law, many students will extend their education beyond the classroom and into the courtroom. Each year, as a part of the Field Placement Program, in excess of one hundred students participate in externships where they earn academic credit for their work with judicial organizations. During the 2023–2024 academic year, GW Law students completed a total of 114 judicial externships, including 32 externships with the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and 30 externships with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. GW Law students pursuing judicial externships have the unique opportunity to build upon what they have learned in their doctrinal courses by further developing their skills in research, writing, and analysis, learning the inner workings of the court, and gaining insights and perspectives that can only be acquired by working closely with judges.
Judicial externs in the Field Placement Program also have the opportunity to concurrently enroll in the Judicial Lawyering corequisite course, which is taught exclusively by sitting judges. The corequisite course, taught as a small seminar, provides judicial externs an opportunity to reflect on what they are experiencing in their respective externships and to get to know the judge teaching their course in a more casual environment. Current Judicial Lawyering professors with the Field Placement Program include Judges Russell Canan and Craig Iscoe of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and GW Law alumnus, Judge Daniel Ortiz, of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
The Field Placement Program is headed by Keri McCoy, Assistant Dean for Field Placement. In discussing judicial externships at GW Law, Dean McCoy shared, “Students participating in judicial externships as a part of the Field Placement Program have the privilege of working closely with some incredible judges both in their externship and the corequisite course. Correspondingly, by the conclusion of the semester, judicial externs have a network that includes not just one, but at least two judges. This combination of exposure to the bench within both the courtroom and the classroom allows students to develop foundational legal skills and gain unique insights into the judicial process that will serve them well throughout their legal careers. Regardless of your ultimate career goals, understanding how judicial decisions are made will make you a better and more effective lawyer.”
For more information about the Field Placement Program, please contact the office at [email protected].