Externships
Step into legal practice.
Work alongside attorneys in courtrooms, government agencies, and international tribunals across the country and around the world—launching your legal career.
Build your career through hands-on legal experience.
Our externships place students in law offices, government agencies, and organizations from St. Louis to Washington, D.C. to international tribunals worldwide. Under the guidance of field supervisors and WashU Law faculty, you’ll gain firsthand experience in areas like federal prosecution, business regulation, and judicial chambers while exploring your legal interests and building essential professional skills.
Congressional & Administrative Law Externship
Spend the fall or spring semester in Washington, D.C. working with attorneys in government offices and nonprofits. We help each student secure a placement in a Congressional office, administrative agency, or NGO, where you’ll gain hands-on experience with the legislative and agency process.
Government Lawyering Externship
Work directly with federal prosecutors in either the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri or the Southern District of Illinois. Work in the Criminal Division, Civil Division, or a combination of both, gaining exposure to all facets of federal legal practice.
Merce’de Savala
Assistant Director of Career Center/Director of Government Lawyering Externships; Lecturer in Law
International Justice & Conflict Resolution Externship
Learn international law and practice, conflict resolution theory, and advocacy while working with lawyers practicing before international courts and tribunals. Gain placement with international organizations and governmental and non-governmental offices worldwide.
Karen Tokarz
Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Policy; Director, Negotiation & Dispute Resolution Program and Director, Community Justice & Mediation Clinic
Judicial Clerkship Externship
Work as a part-time law clerk under the supervision of state or federal judges, gaining hands-on exposure to civil and criminal litigation from the judicial perspective while developing advanced legal research and writing skills.
Mahrya Fulfer Page
Senior Director of Judicial Clerkships and Public Interest; Lecturer in Law; Co-Director of the Judicial Clerkship Externship
Lawyering Practice Externship
Develop transaction, advocacy, and litigation skills in criminal or civil law while working under the supervision of field supervisors in government law offices or legal departments of nonprofits or corporations. You have the choice of a school-arranged placement or finding your own in this program.
Alison Smith
Assistant Dean for Admissions; Lecturer in Law; Director of the New York Business and Regulatory Externship
New York Regulatory and Business Externship
Learn firsthand about the practice of business entities and their regulation in this semester-long externship in New York City. Available to third-year and qualified second-year students, you’ll work under the direction of attorneys in nonprofit, government, and in-house counsel offices with an emphasis on business associations and regulation.
Alison Smith
Assistant Dean for Admissions; Lecturer in Law; Director of the New York Business and Regulatory Externship
Semester-In-Practice Externship
Gain hands-on professional experience anywhere outside the St. Louis area through this program for second and third-year students. Spend a semester working full time for a nonprofit, government, or in-house corporate law office in the location of your choice, working directly with an attorney supervisor at their placement site.
Laura Bannish
Assistant Director of the Career Center; Lecturer in Law; Director of the Semester–In–Practice Externship
