A season of hands-on legal learning

By Eric Townsend, staff

July 19, 2018

Elon Law students are helping to address important and complex legal questions this summer in placements with law firms, judges, government agencies, corporations, and nonprofits around the United States.

Anna Barnes L'19 is working this summer in Baltimore, Maryland, with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
More than two-thirds of Elon Law students are taking their knowledge from the classroom into courtrooms and board rooms this summer through a variety of internships and externships that afford opportunities for practical legal training.

They’re working for law firms large and small. State supreme courts and courts of appeals. Government agencies. Public interest nonprofits. Real estate developers. Leading technology firms. Entertainment companies.

Students are living in New York City. Washington, D.C. Charlotte. Chicago. Indianapolis. Detroit. Orlando. Collectively, they are working in 15 states and the District of Columbia, advocating for children, researching land records for commercial real estate transactions, assisting universities with compliance, interviewing indigent defendants in preparation for criminal trials, and learning about patents and intellectual property.

A partial list of summer employers includes positions in government, private law firms, corporate counsel and nonprofits:

  • North Carolina Supreme Court
  • North Carolina Court of Appeals
  • Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions
  • Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
  • U.S. Department of Justice
  • U.S. Coast Guard
  • U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  • U.S. Attorney Offices
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • Spotify
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Legal Aid of North Carolina
  • Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy
  • XPO Logistics
  • Oxner + Permar, PLLC
  • The Carroll Companies
  • ACLU of North Carolina

Zia Saadat L'18 is working this summer with the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Summer opportunities are providing our students with impactful learning experiences in law offices, courtrooms, non-profit organizations, and businesses,” said Melissa Duncan ‘06 L’09, assistant dean of career and student development at the law school. “Students are not only learning about the legal profession, but they are contributing to the resolution of legal issues and are able to apply what they have learned in a real-world setting. These internships are the building blocks for their future successes in the profession, and they will return to the classroom in the fall eager to move forward in their engaged learning experiences.

“Experiential learning is at the core of an Elon Law education, and summer internships and externships continue to be an integral component of our accelerated curriculum.”

Elon Law is the first and only U.S. law school to integrate in-depth learning by doing into its curriculum through required residencies. In their residency, second-year law students work 32 hours a week over a 10-week trimester. Students work with their judge or attorney supervisor and a faculty member to create a learning plan for their residency.

Visit the Office of Career & Student Development for more information on summer and full-time career opportunities.

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