For complete program information, application forms, and placement opportunities, click here.
The John Marshall Law School is closely connected to Chicago's legal community; located just blocks away from the Daley Center, the headquarters of the Cook County Circuit courts, and directly across the street from the Dirksen Federal Building, home of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The John Marshall Law School avails itself of this prime urban location by drawing on distinguished state and federal jurists and respected, experienced practitioners to serve as adjunct faculty members in its trial advocacy program and as guest speakers at many special events hosted by the law school.
The John Marshall Law School offers several programs that allow students to learn essential lawyering skills while working as externs with various agencies and members of the bench and bar. Students participating in the Judicial Externship Program are assigned to assist state and federal judges in a capacity similar to that of a judicial law clerk. The student is exposed to dispute resolution techniques, legal problem solving, legal research and writing, professional responsibility and the legal process through assignments given by the judge during the semester-long externship.
Through the Basic Externship Program, students selected to participate work with supervising attorneys in various public or private sector placements. Through the classroom component, students examine ethics, issues and responsibilities confronting new attorneys as they strive to develop advocacy skills in their chosen field of practice.
Externship opportunities in Immigration law are three-tiered at JMLS. Students have an opportunity to apply for a judicial externship position with the Executive Office for Immigration Review/Immigration Court at the U.S. Department of Justice through the JMLS judicial externship program. These students aid the Immigration judges by conducting legal research and drafting memoranda under the guidance and supervision of permanent judicial law clerks.
Students may also participate in the field of Immigration law through an externship with the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement office under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Students choosing to work at this placement gain experience in the investigation and prosecution of immigration matters, including detention and removal, protective services and others. Students participate in this placement under the guidance of attorneys in the Office of the Chief Counsel and through the Basic Externship Program’s Prosecution Clinic.
The final area of participation involves Heartland Alliance-National Immigrant Justice Center. This agency offers numerous externship opportunities to JMLS students. Professor Michael Heyman’s Refugee and Asylum Law Externship Program involves asylum issues and is a spring semester practical training course. Other placements with Heartland, through the Center for Advocacy, have included general immigration issues, unaccompanied minors, deportation defense and immigrant victims of domestic violence. The Center offers placement at Heartland Alliance NIJC for academic credit.
If the student participates in the asylum cases, the Heartland staff provides a course for the student and oversees the student’s work. If the students are working in any of the other areas at Heartland, they will attend a classroom component that is provided through the Center for Advocacy.
