EXT: Federal Defender - Capital Habeas Unit (Quaglia)
Meeting Times/Location
TBA
TBA
Category
Clinics/Externships
Credits
7.0
*THE APPLICATION PERIOD FOR APPLYING TO THIS EXTERNSHIP HAS NOW CLOSED*
Field Placement Description: The Office of the Federal Community Defender for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is pleased to accept applications for the Habeas Corpus Unit Externship. The Federal Community Defender represents indigent defendants charged with federal crimes.
Roles and Responsibilities: The Death Penalty Externship will provide law students with hands-on training in most areas of post-conviction capital case litigation. Students will participate in a thorough orientation on capital work and responsibilities at the Capital Habeas Corpus Unit, Federal Court Division of the Defender Association. They will also attend informal seminars instructed by staff attorneys on specific aspects of capital post-conviction litigation including habeas corpus evaluation hearings and appellate litigation. Most of the students' time will be spent researching and writing claims for inclusion in habeas petitions as well as investigating cases, including interviewing clients, witnesses, and jurors.
Seminar Requirements: To receive academic credit, students will be automatically enrolled in an in-person, semester-long Criminal Externship Seminar that meets at the Law School during the same semester as the field placement. Students will meet as a group for one hour every other week during the semester for a total of six meetings and will meet individually with the professor mid-semester and at the end of the semester. Shortly after course schedules are released, students will receive a Qualtrics Survey to choose one of two seminar times and should plan their course and work schedules accordingly. The Criminal Externship Seminar begins the first week of classes and students will choose either Tuesdays from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. or Wednesdays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Students may not change their seminar time once the semester has started. Students who previously completed a criminal externship and are doing another criminal externship will be placed in an Advanced Criminal Externship Seminar. Those students must notify Professor Kathryn Quaglia at kquaglia@law.upenn.edu for a Qualtrics survey after course schedules have been released to arrange a convenient class meeting time.
Grading: The externship seminar and the field placement are combined for one Credit/No Credit grade. To receive credit, students must complete the required field placement credit hours and all externship seminar requirements.
Credit Restrictions: No more than 14 semester hours (of the 22 co-curricular semester hour maximum) can be earned in externships (both Gittis and ad hoc externships). Students are not permitted to enroll in a Clinic and Externship in the same semester, or in two Externships in one semester. International JD students must seek and be approved for CPT (Curricular Practical Training) credit for the externship well before the start of the semester. Students should review important externship registration information: Enrollment Procedures for externships
Skills Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of the individual course skill; Demonstrate the ability to receive and implement feedback; Demonstrate an understanding of how and when the individual course skill is employed in practice.
Courts and the Judicial System Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of both substantive and procedural issues in the operation of our legal system; Perform legal analysis in the context of procedural issues and the judicial process; Communicate effectively on topics related to procedure and the judicial process; Demonstrate an understanding of how procedural issues and the judicial process affect all other area of our legal system.
Criminal Law and Procedure Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of criminal law and procedure; Perform legal analysis in the context of criminal law and procedure; Communicate effectively on topics related to criminal law and procedure; Demonstrate an understanding of the role criminal law and procedure play in society and their impact on other areas of law and society.
Public Interest Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of public interest law; Perform legal analysis in the context of public interest law; Communicate effectively on topics related to public interest law; Demonstrate an understanding of how public interest law is connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.