Put Into Practice What You Learn
Part of the Law College’s mission is to provide service to its community and instill in its students the desire to use their legal education for the betterment of society. In addition to an extensive public-service Externship Program, MSU Law operates four law clinics – the Rental Housing Clinic, Tax Clinic, Small Business/Nonprofit Law Clinic, and the Chance at Childhood Advocacy Clinic.
Under Michigan Court Rule 8.120, second- and third-year law students can provide legal counsel under the supervision of clinic faculty who are members of the State Bar of Michigan. Internships can be arranged through the Office of Career Services.
Rental Housing Clinic
The Rental Housing Clinic is a cooperative effort between MSU College of Law, the City of East Lansing and Ingham County. The clinic provides legal services to low-income tenants and landlords in the Greater Lansing area who have rental housing concerns.
Tax Clinic
The Tax Clinic serves low-income taxpayers statewide. The clinic handles all aspects of controversy with the Internal Revenue Service including interviewing and counseling clients, preparing cases for appeal conferences, and appearing at the conferences. Also, students prepare federal, state, and local tax returns for non-filers and taxpayers for whom English is a second language.
Small Business/Nonprofit Law Clinic
The unique Small Business/Nonprofit Law Clinic allows students to develop special expertise in transactional business law practice. The students are trained in counseling and advising clients, negotiating and preparing transactional documents. They learn the critical skills of practical application of law to real problems. Using resources available to lawyers in private practice, the students will receive important training and experience. The clinic is housed with the school’s other clinics and the students are supervised by experienced clinical faculty.
Chance at Childhood Advocacy Clinic
MSU College of Law and MSU School of Social Work graduate students who are enrolled in the Child & Family Advocacy certificate program complete an externship in the Chance at Childhood Advocacy Clinic. Both social work students and law students will have the opportunity to collaborate as advocates for children on a variety of cases including abuse/neglect and guardianship issues. The clinic is housed with the school’s other clinics and the students are supervised by experienced clinical faculty.
Externships
- Washington, D.C. Federal Externship Program
- Canadian Summer Externship Program
- Judicial Externships
- Legal Aid Externships
- Government Attorney Externships
- Proposing Your Own Externship
Internships
Internships are an excellent opportunity to expand upon your legal skills and determine whether or not you like a particular practice area of the law. Also, they allow you the chance to develop a mentoring relationship with a practicing attorney and build a professional network, which is essential to career success after law school. The Office of Career Services assists students in identifying and obtaining internship positions.