NYS Office of the Attorney General Social Justice Externship

Course Description

Fieldwork

The fieldwork portion of the externship will consist of placement in one of the Social Justice Division bureaus, where students will work 13-15 hours per week on investigations and enforcement actions brought by the New York State Attorney General’s Office. Students will work directly with site supervisors in their assigned bureaus. Site supervisors will assist students with getting assignments in their areas of interest and balancing workload. Site supervisors will also maintain an active dialogue with externship professors concerning student progress with the goal of providing regular feedback on student performance.

Seminar

The seminar grade will be based on class participation, completion of in-class exercises, submission of writing assignments and final presentations. Classes will also feature guest speakers, including executive staff, bureau chiefs, and staff from the legislative and press offices. Students will be asked to complete short writing assignments relating to assigned readings or reflecting on fieldwork experience.

Application Procedure

Students should submit via CAMS the standard application, resume, transcript, writing sample (preferably not more than five pages long), and three references (include their names and contact information at the bottom of your resume). Each applicant should explain why s/he is interested in this externship in the application, and should rank each Social Justice Division bureau in order of preference. Selected applicants will be contacted for interviews.

Security Background Check

Students selected for the externship will also be required to pass a security background check overseen by the Attorney General’s Legal Recruitment Bureau. Students will be provided with additional paperwork relating to this process upon selection for the externship. A favorable determination from Legal Recruitment is required before an extern may begin working in the Attorney General’s Office. Students accepted for the externship should complete the required paperwork as soon as possible after acceptance into the externship so that final approval from Legal Recruitment can be timely obtained. 

* 10 credits consisting of 3 clinical (fieldwork) credits and 2 academic seminar credits per semester. The fieldwork portion of the externship will be graded on a credit/no-credit basis. The seminar will be letter graded