Students may earn 2-8 credits and the class is offered Fall, Spring, and Summer. During the Summer session, class entails a full-day orientation class, and an online component, rather than weekly class meetings. During Fall and Spring semesters, class meets on six Mondays from 4:30-6:10 PM via Zoom. In the field, students practice civil litigation or transactional work at private or non-profit law offices, government agencies, or in the legal departments of businesses. In class, students work toward effectiveness in the field by developing skills, engaging in discussion, and reflecting on goals and performance. This course includes both classroom and field work components.
This course counts toward completion of the Experiential Learning Requirement for JD students. JD students seeking to enroll must obtain the approval of the program director. This course is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis and offered through the LLM in Taxation and Estate Planning Programs. Prerequisites for JD students: Wills & Trusts. The field work involves working on active cases in the areas of estate planning, conservatorships, trust and probate administrations. In the field component, each student is placed with an estate planning law firm or with a practitioner in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and shall complete 90 hours (2 units) or 135 hours (3 units) of field work over the span of the 15 week semester. The class culminates with a paper/presentation. Students are required to maintain and share journals, chronicling their weekly experiences, questions, and concerns. The class will meet approximately every other week, to discuss substantive questions and practical hurdles, arising from their field work. The instructors are estate planning attorneys. The course consists of two components: class and field work. The Estate Planning Externship is a course, providing students with the opportunity to assist estate planning law firms and practitioners while obtaining hands-on, practical experience working on estate plans, conservatorships, trust and probate administrations.