Criminal Defense Placement Externship
LW.12995 / LW.12996
Professor Lisa Hoyes
Professor Adam Murphy
Open to 2L, 3L and LLM students
Maximum of 10 students
Spring semester
3 or 4 credits*
Permission of professor is required.
Course Description
This course is open to 10 students who have secured their own in-person externship positions with an organization that provides criminal defense representation to indigent clients (either trial level or appeals) in the New York City area. The course includes a one-credit seminar and two to three fieldwork credits (8-12 hours of placement work weekly). Students who are enrolled in other clinics or externships are not eligible to participate in this placement externship in the same semester.
The seminar portion of the course will largely be skills-based and practical. It will include best practices for client interviewing and counseling; discussions about tailoring legal and factual arguments to the audience; how to preserve objections at the trial level and argue that claims are preserved on appeal; and anonymized case rounds about the work and cases students are handling in their placements. We will also be hearing directly from formerly incarcerated people, who will share their experiences and talk about the qualities of an effective and caring advocate.
Registration
To indicate their interest in this course, students must submit answers to this form by October 31, 2025, at 5:00 PM. We expect students to have secured an externship by December 1, and to inform the professor of their externship placement by that date. If students have not secured an externship by December 1, they should set up a meeting with the PILC office for assistance in securing an externship. The final selection process for the course will be determined based on the number of applications received.
Attendance at the first class is required. Please note that if you have not secured an externship by the time of the first class meeting, you will not be enrolled in the course.
* 3-4 credits include 1 credit for seminar and either 2 or 3 credits for fieldwork, as approved by professor.