EXT: Phila. DA's Office - Conviction Integrity Unit (Quaglia)
Faculty
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| Kathryn Quaglia Curricular Director of Externships and Adjunct Professor of Law kquaglia@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Experiential CourseYes
Skills Training
Oral Presentations
Team Projects
Drafting Legal Documents
Other Professional Skills:
Grading
100% Other (The field placement and seminar are combined for credit/no credit grade. )
No
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- If you are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can make PowerPoint slides or other class materials available to you.
- If you must miss for an illness or emergency, please contact me for a mandatory make-up assignment.
Meeting Times/Location
TBA
TBA
Category
Clinics/Externships
Credits
4.0
*THE APPLICATION PERIOD FOR APPLYING TO THIS EXTERNSHIP CLOSED ON MAY 13, 2026*
The Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) of the District Attorney’s Office (DAO) reviews and investigates claims of actual innocence, wrongful conviction, and cases with substantial disparities in sentencing. The CIU also develops and implements office-wide policies to prevent future wrongful convictions and ensure a higher level of integrity and fairness in the criminal justice system.
The Penn Law/CIU externship program is designed to immerse students in the Conviction Integrity Unit’s work and expose them to each critical stage of CIU case review. In this hands-on program, the students will receive their own case assignments and, in the course of their investigations, will review the Commonwealth’s trial files and police files, gather documentation and archival evidence, collaborate with investigators and attorneys, and assist in preparation for witness interviews. Apart from case assignments, students may also assist the CIU with research and policy development.
The externship program will allow for traditional lawyering skills development such as witness interviewing, fact gathering, legal research and analysis, and writing which are transferable to any lawyering context. However, this program is also uniquely designed to help develop investigative and case assessment skills and the student’s understanding of the workings of the criminal justice legal system as a whole.
Prior Experience: Preference will be given to students with a demonstrated interest in criminal law and procedure or criminal justice reform.
Externship Seminar Requirements: To receive academic credit, students will be automatically enrolled in an in-person, semester-long Criminal Externship Seminar that meets 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 five 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 an externship and are doing another externship will be placed in an Advanced 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 complete 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.
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.