Academic Policies and Procedures

IX. Policy on Field Placement Programs

Section Contents

General
Educational Objectives of Field Placement Programs
Requirements for Field Placement Credit
Administration and Approval of Field Placements
Transfer of Credit for Externships Earned at Another School

Adopted 5/2015; amended 3/2017; 5/2018; 5/2022.

The faculty of the College of Law recognizes the critical importance of experiential learning in creating opportunities for students to exercise and develop judgment, practical knowledge, professional skills and professional identity. An intensive, high-quality educational experience that involves the performance of legal tasks in a professional setting provides a valuable supplement to regular classroom work, simulation courses, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, and legal volunteer placements.

This policy sets forth the conditions under which academic credit may be given for such field placement experiences.

I. General

A field placement, which is also described as an externship, is an academic course in which a significant component of the student’s educational experience includes the actual rendition of legal services or performance of other actual legal activity in a setting outside the College of Law. However, this definition does not include the College’s clinical programs, in which the students are engaged in the rendition of legal services under the direct supervision of a faculty member.

Any academic credit awarded for a field placement is subject to the following limitations:

except in the case of a Summer Legal Placement immediately following completion of a student’s first year, no student is eligible to receive academic credit for a field placement until the student has received a passing grade in all of the required first-year courses identified in paragraph D(1) of the Graduation Requirements for the J.D. Degree;
no student shall be enrolled in a Summer Legal Placement in the summer term immediately following completion of their 1L year without receiving a passing grade in all of the required first-year courses offered in the first semester of their 1L year;
no student may receive more than a total of 9 hours of credit for an academic year field placement, except that a student may, with the approval of the Dean or the field placement program director, count up to 14 such credits toward graduation (including the credit for any associated seminar or tutorial);
additional prerequisites may be specified for individual field placements.

Nothing in this policy may be construed as superseding the policies for enrollment or graduation for the J.D. or other degrees.

II. Educational Objectives of Field Placement Programs

Field placement programs are intended to provide students with in-depth exposure to the practice of law in a real-world setting. In any field placement, the student should be directly involved in activities characteristically performed by attorneys. Merely shadowing attorneys or engaging in passive observation, while an appropriate component of a field placement’s educational experience, should never be the exclusive, nor even the predominant, activity for a student. The specific activities that would fulfill this purpose are manifold, for instance,

research and writing,
drafting, including legal documents, legislation and regulations, and policy proposals,
client interviewing and counseling,
fact investigation, negotiations, and
court appearances or other comparable advocacy activities.

Some placements will by their nature limit the student’s actual performance of lawyering activities to perhaps one or two of this non-exclusive list. For instance, judicial externships will always emphasize almost exclusively the legal research and writing skills practiced by attorneys. In those circumstances, the faculty and site supervisors should make every effort to ensure the students are at least offered the opportunity to observe and/or discuss a broader range of activities.

Externships are also intended to expose students to legal practitioners. Thus, any placement must guarantee that the student will have frequent and close interaction with attorneys. Finally, the placements are intended to expose students to the ethical issues raised in the practice of law. Every placement should offer an opportunity to confront and discuss ethical issues.

III. Requirements for Field Placement Credit

Two components are required of any field placement for which credit will be given. The field work requires a certain number of field work hours consisting of qualifying work under close supervision. The academic and reflective component consists of faculty-led instruction that include assignments that guide students in a disciplined evaluation of context, intention and action that allow the student to build on the experience. The goals of the academic and reflective component will be determined by the faculty member and should include one or more of the following: developing a student’s knowledge of substantive law or procedure related to the placement; enhancing the student’s perspective on the legal system; developing the student’s skills in matters related to the placement or to the practice of law generally; and/or considering ethical issues associated with the experience or with the practice of law generally.

Crediting
During the academic year, placements for up to five credits of field work will have a seminar or tutorial of at least one credit, and placements for six or more credits of field work will have at least a two-credit seminar or tutorial. During the summer, placements may also be taken for three credits, graded pass/fail, inclusive of the academic and reflective component.
Requirements for the field work component
1. Field work hour requirement:
  To receive academic credit for field placement, a student must work a minimum of 50 hours in the field for each hour of academic credit awarded for the field work portion of the field placement. Additional hours may be required for certain placements, at the discretion of the director of the College’s field placement program or the Curriculum Committee. The work that the student performs in the field placement must be consistent with the College’s educational objectives for externships, as stated above.
2. Nature of the field placement:
  Field placements must provide students the opportunity to perform legal work for any of the following: a governmental body (including a court); a non-profit organization; or a corporate counsel office in a for-profit firm.
  Field placements where students work in person in the organization office or judicial chambers away from the Boyd Law Building are strongly encouraged and preferred. Virtual field placements, where students work in a separate location from their supervisors more than 25% of the time, will be considered on a case-by-case basis based on factors that include:
  - Whether in-person work with the proposed placement or a substantially similar placement is possible;
  - Whether the placement can provide quality work, supervision, and a meaningful experience (including participation in meetings, court proceedings, and other lawyering activities) despite separation of the student from the supervisor;
  - The plan the placement has to integrate the student into the life of the office through regular individual meetings or office meetings;
  - The placement has other attorneys working remotely; and
  - Other factors that ensure a quality placement such as time zone differences and opportunities for periodic in-person meetings.
  Absent extenuating circumstances, students may earn up to six credits (academic component and field work component together) through a student-initiated virtual field placement.
3. Compensation:¹
  Students may accept an hourly wage or salary from the field placement, or grants, scholarships, or stipends from the College or sources other than the field placement itself. Students also may be reimbursed from their field placement organization for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses they incur from participating in a field placement. Students must report the sources and amounts of any compensation to the College. The College is not responsible for establishing the terms of any such arrangement or monitoring compliance. Any issues regarding compensation or reimbursement are solely between the student and the field placement. Further, students bear sole responsibility for any tax consequences associated with any form of compensation. If the payment is intended as reimbursement for living expenses, students should consult with the Financial Aid Office, as it may affect their financial aid package.
4. Field work supervision:
  Field Placement organization duties: Any organization hosting a field placement student must commit to the educational possibilities of the placement and to provide the student with opportunities for performance and ongoing feedback on the student’s work. The organization must identify a site supervisor for the student who is committed to these objectives, and the site surpervisor must enter into a written understanding with the student and faculty member expressing this commitment. The site supervisor will also be required to complete written evaluations of the law student extern and to consult with the faculty supervisor.
  Faculty supervisor duties: The faculty supervisor is responsible for guiding the student in a statement of goals for the externship, for conducting a midterm conference among the faculty member, the site supervisor, and the student, and for grading the field work experience on a pass/fail basis.
  Student duties: Among other requirements set by the faculty and site supervisors, all students are required to submit weekly time sheets (redacted of confidential information) or other reports on the tasks they complete, to complete a mid-term assessment, and to complete a field experience final evaluation form.
  Director (if any) duties: The director of the College’s field placement program (if any) is responsible for ensuring that these commitments are met and to provide guidance as necessary regarding the requirements.
Requirements for the academic and reflective component.
Each field placement must be accompanied by a simultaneous academic and reflective component taught by a faculty supervisor, who may be an adjunct faculty member.
All field placement academic components must include opportunities for self-evaluation and ongoing, contemporaneous, faculty-guided reflection. For example, faculty members might require that all students produce, and share for discussion with the faculty member (or a group that includes the faculty member and other students), a series of writings related to various aspects of the student’s placement experience.
While an individual faculty member assigned to teach the academic component may set individual goals for the course, the goals must generally fit within these three categories: 1) enhancing students’ learning from the field placement; 2) giving students models for learning from experience and motivating them to learn from practice experience after law school; 3) helping students use the experience a) to gain knowledge about legal ethics, substantive law, and procedure; b) to improve their perspective on, and understanding of, the legal system and how it operates; or c) to develop skills related to the field placement or to the practice of law generally. In addition, the academic component should always include efforts to encourage students to reflect upon their future careers and how their experience might influence their career choices or professional decisions.²
Sample syllabi, class exercises, ethics problems, textbooks, and other state-of-the-art field placement pedagogy materials will be available to faculty supervisors to assist them in developing the content of the field placement academic component.
Individual instructors may choose varying approaches to satisfying the requirements for the academic and reflective component. Options include, but are not limited to, requiring students to complete a research paper or papers on a subject related to the field placement; participation in skills exercises or simulations; guided reading and in-class discussion; or lectures by the faculty member and/or guest practitioners.
Except for 3-credit summer legal placements, this academic and reflective component will ordinarily consist of a one- or two-credit field placement seminar or tutorial graded numerically by the faculty supervisor. In most cases, the field placement seminar or tutorial will be conducted by the supervising faculty member on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Enrollment in such seminars or tutorials should ordinarily be capped at 12 (as in other College of Law seminars).
Grading
Except for 3-credit summer legal placements, which are graded pass/fail, the academic and reflective component of a field placement experience will be graded numerically under the College’s regular grading policy. The faculty supervisor has the discretion to determine methods of evaluation and grading, consistent with course goals, and may include journaling, short papers, class presentations, class participation, and research papers.
The field work component of the field placement will be graded pass/fail by the faculty supervisor. The faculty supervisor will obtain from the site supervisor a mid-term and final evaluation of the student’s work.

IV. Administration and Approval of Field Placements

Consistent with her responsibilities and authority, the Dean of the College of Law shall determine the administrative structure for the College’s Field Placement Program. The Dean may appoint a director or administrator of the program, who must be a tenure-track, clinical, instructional or adjunct faculty member.

Duties of any appointed field placement program director or administrator
The Dean shall assign duties to the director or administrator of the field placement program. Those duties may include, but are not limited to:
- Accepting and approving applications for field placements, including granting pre-approval for placements at organizations with which the College has had positive experience in the past, subject to the requirements set out in the policy and the approval process described below;
- Identifying opportunities for field placements and cultivating positive relationships with field placement organizations that currently or may offer field placement opportunities to Iowa students;
- In consultation with the Dean and Associate Deans, identifying faculty members to lead field placement seminars and assigning field placement students to those seminars;
- Teaching field placement seminars or tutorials; or
- Informing faculty about research and knowledge concerning best practices in field placement instruction, and assisting faculty in developing materials, syllabi, and instructional plans for field placement seminars or tutorials.
Approval of field placements
Approval of field placements is the joint responsibility of the field placement program director, if any, and the Curriculum Committee. If there is no program director, the Curriculum Committee or its chair shall fulfill the duties assigned to that person.
1. Field placements at locations that have not hosted an Iowa student within the previous three years.
  Applications for a field placement at a location that has not within the prior three-year period hosted an Iowa field placement student must be made on a form prepared by the program director. All information requested on that form must be provided prior to approval of the field placement, unless the director determines that an informed decision about the field placement can be made without the missing information.
  The field placement director has the authority to approve any placements that clearly and directly meet the standards in this policy. The director may consult with the Curriculum Committee or its chair in close cases.
  All first-time international field placements must be approved by the Curriculum Committee. All first-time placements in for-profit, corporate counsel settings must also be approved by the Curriculum Committee. Previously-approved international or private placements must be resubmitted to the Curriculum Committee for approval if no Iowa student has participated in a placement at that location within the prior three years.
  The director may set deadlines for field placement applications and may strictly enforce such deadlines.
  Prior to final approval of a placement, the director must determine the means by which the student will satisfy the reflective and academic components of the placement. The administration must also verfify that the site supervisor has adequate professional credentials, and training or experience, to effectively supervise the student’s work and is willing to comply with the terms of this policy concerning supervision and evaluation of the student.³ Where warranted, the director has the discretion to impose such additional conditions or requirements as are deemed appropriate.
2. Field placements with organizations that have successfully hosted Iowa students within the past three years.
  The director of the field placement program may accept and approve applications for credit for field placements at organizations that have recently hosted Iowa students by any process deemed satisfactory by the director. However, the director may approve subsequent placements at a previously-approved organization only if the director believes that previous placements at the organization have provided students with a high-quality educational experience and that the proposed placement will be consistent with the goals and requirements of this policy.
  If the director has reason to doubt the quality of any placement, the director should follow the approval process for new placements and take any other steps necessary to ensure the quality of the placement opportunity before approving it for credit.
3. Reports
  The director of the program or the Curriculum Committee should prepare annually a brief report for the faculty on the field placement program. That report should identify, at a minimum, the location and sponsoring organization for each credited field placement and the number of credits earned by each student enrolled in a field placement.
  The director should develop an evaluation form for students to use in evaluating the quality of their field placement experience. The director should report to the faculty on the general results of that evaluation. The director should also identify for the faculty any significant problem areas requiring faculty attention or any areas in which significant improvements could be made in this policy or in the field placement program.

V. Transfer of Credit for Externships Earned at Another School

Except in the case of students who bring externship credits with them when they transfer into the College of Law, a student seeking to receive academic credit at this College for a field placement program taken or arranged through another law school must secure the approval of the director and the Curriculum Committee prior to beginning the field placement program. The director may set and enforce appropriate deadlines for applications for approval of such field placements. If a field placement program arranged by another law school has been previously approved, the director may approve subsequent requests for credit through that program by the approval process described in Part IV (b) (ii), supra. This approval process is not meant to discourage students from registering for externship programs at other schools, nor should the approval requirement be taken to suggest that the other school’s program must conform in all respects to our own.

Notes

On May 9, 2024, the faculty approved a two-year pilot of the compensation policy set out in this paragraph, starting in the Fall of 2024.
This paragraph is based loosely on suggestions and ideas contained in the Teacher’s Manual to Ogilvy, Wortham, and Lerman’s Learning from Practice: A Professional Development Text for Legal Externs (2d ed. 2007).
It is expected that a student’s site supervisor will be an attorney with appropriate professional credentials. In some cases, however (e.g., a placement in an agency or organization that provides specialized services to a particular population), the supervisor may not be an attorney. Non-attorney supervision is acceptable only when the supervisor is highly-qualified in a field related to the subject matter of the field placement experience and when the student will have the opportunity to interact with attorneys in a professional setting during the field placement.