EXT: Women's Law Project (Quaglia)
Meeting Times/Location
TBA
TBA
Category
Clinics/Externships
Credits
4.0
PLEASE SEE IMPORTANT ENROLLMENT PROCEDURES FOR EXTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE ON THE REGISTRAR'S WEBSITE.
STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO BE IN PERSON IN WOMEN’S LAW PROJECT OFFICE (WLP) OFFICE AT LEAST HALF A DAY ON TUESDAY'S AND/OR THURSDAY'S. WLP is a public interest legal organization working to defend and advance the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. Using an intersectional analysis, our work centers the needs of people facing multiple forms of oppression based on sex, gender, race, ethnicity, class, disability, incarceration, pregnancy, and immigration status. We leverage impact litigation, policy advocacy, public education, and direct assistance and representation to dismantle discriminatory laws, policies, and practices and advance gender justice. Externs will get hands-on legal experience on cutting-edge issues by assisting our staff attorneys with research, analysis, and writing on legal and policy work related to current cases and legislative efforts, including work related to reproductive rights, equal pay, athletic equity in schools, workplace discrimination, sexual assault in schools, law enforcement and judicial responses to domestic and sexual violence, substance use and pregnancy, and LGBTQ+ rights. Opportunities to participate in collaborative community work, work with clients, and assist with amicus briefs will be provided as available. More information about our past and current work can be found at our website (www.womenslawproject.org), Facebook page, and Twitter @womenslawproj.
Seminar Requirements: To receive academic credit for this externship, students will be enrolled in an in-person, semester-long Civil 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. A few weeks before the semester begins, students will receive a Qualtrics Survey to choose one of two seminar times and should plan their course and work schedules accordingly. The Civil Externship Seminar begins the first week of classes and students will choose either Tuesdays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. or Wednesdays from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Students who previously completed a civil externship and are doing another civil externship at a different placement will be placed in an Advanced Civil Externship Seminar. Those students should 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 satisfy the 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.
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.