Academics
Coursework at the College of Law combines classroom theory with real-world practice.
Academics
Coursework at the College of Law combines classroom theory with real-world practice.
Externships
Students in a judicial externship work as judicial clerks for state and federal trial and appellate judges. An intensive orientation includes a study of judicial decision-making, judicial ethics, and opinion writing. Students are then assigned to work with the criminal, circuit, and chancery courts in Knox County and neighboring counties, or with the Tennessee appellate courts. Externs assist the judges by conducting research, writing case memoranda, and drafting judicial orders and opinions.
The judicial externship is a four-credit hour course.
Prosecutorial Externship
Students in the prosecutorial externship are placed in either the Knox County District Attorney’s Office or the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The student externs work under the supervision of experienced assistant district attorneys or assistant U.S. attorneys to prosecute actual cases on behalf of the offices.
Public Defender Externship
Students in the Public Defender Externship are placed in either the Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office or the Federal Defender’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The student externs work under the supervision of experienced assistant public defenders and appear regularly in court on behalf of their clients.
Students in the prosecutorial and public defender externships handle all phases of criminal proceedings, including:
- pretrial factual and legal investigation
- case development and strategy
- witness and client interviews
- preliminary hearings
- pretrial motions hearings
- plea negotiations
- trial and sentencing
To participate in the prosecutorial or public defender externships, students must have taken the Evidence course and must have taken or be taking Professional Responsibility. Both externships are six-credit hour courses, offered in both fall and spring semesters.
Field Placements
Students have the opportunity to participate in field placements with local non-profit entities and business ventures on a for-credit basis during the academic year and in the summer. Field placement opportunities are offered in conjunction with the Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law and have included working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and UT Athletics.
Legal Clinic
Students have the opportunity to deepen their legal knowledge, strengthen their lawyering skills, and grow their professional experience through our legal clinics. Our clinical faculty guide, mentor, and challenge students while also assisting them in gaining expertise in clinical scholarship.
As a national leader in clinical education, the UT Legal Clinic ranks 9th in U.S. News and World Report’s top legal clinical programs among public universities and is 20th among all U.S. law schools.
Semester in Residence
The Semester in Residence is designed to provide students with an immersive, capstone educational experience in their area of interest during the final semester of law school. Students are partnered with employers who are uniquely suited to the student’s interest. Students must complete 30 hours of work per week, or a total of 450 hours throughout the semester, under the guidance of an on-site supervisor. Students earn 10 hours of course credit through their placement and two hours of credit in a seminar that is offered in Nashville.
International Study
We understand no lawyer is an island. The College of Law offers students not only a strong base in international law in the classroom, but also the ability to study abroad. These studies lead to a richer legal education and a more well-rounded student experience.
Second- or third-year students who desire to take law courses abroad during the summer for transfer credit at the College of Law may do so, provided the program and courses they plan to take are approved in advance. The summer program must be sponsored by an ABA-approved law school at a location outside of the United States. No more than 8 semester hours may be earned for transfer credit at UT Law for an international summer program. Grades received in summer foreign programs will not be transferred.
Cambridge, England
The Cambridge Study Abroad Program, fully accredited by the American Bar Association, gives students the opportunity to study and live at Downing College of Cambridge University. This program is sponsored by the University of Mississippi School of Law. Professors and students from UT Law, the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville School of Law, and the University of Nebraska College of Law regularly participate in this program.
More information about the program, including expenses, eligibility, curriculum and applications, may be found at the Cambridge Study Abroad Program site.