Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits

EXTERNSHIP AT DEPARTMENT
OF LABOR CHICAGO OFFICE
OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

DOL Externship Program EB 390 (3 or 4 credit hours)

Professor Kennedy supervises this externship program and thus her pre-approval is required.

PREREQUISITES:

EB 361: Fundamentals I of Retirement Plans;
EB 362: Fundamentals II of Retirement Plans;
Tax 333: Tax Employee Benefits Research;
Must Have completed 10 credit hours in the
LLM program before applying.

Students selected to participate in this program work with the attorneys at the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the US Department of Labor's Chicago Regional Office. The educational objectives of this course include practical experience in employee benefits law, development of research, writing and drafting skill, and preparation of memoranda, discovery documents, and guidelines to assist pension investigators and auditors.

The student must complete 150 hours of work for 3 semester hours of credit or 200 hours of work for 4 semester hours of credit, generally a minimum of 10 hours per week. A minimum of 150 hours of work is required even if the student elects to take the program for 2 semester hours of credit.

Professor Kennedy supervises this externship program and thus her pre-approval is required. Students will be expected to keep Professor Kennedy informed of their assignments during the course of the externship program via email.

Unlike the IRS Externship Program, students do not have to apply for this program at least two months in advance of the semester.

Students must complete the attached Student Application Form (signed by the student) and the Student Volunteer Service Agreement (signed by the student, Professor Kennedy and Steven Haugen (DOL)). The student must forward to the DOL a copy of his/her law school’s transcript and a writing sample. A letter of recommendation from Professor Kennedy is also required as part of this submission. Submissions will then be made to:

Steven Haugen
Regional Director
U.S. Department of Labor
Employee Benefits Security Administration
200 West Adams, Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60606
312.353.0900

Interviews will then be scheduled by Steven Haugen before he selects qualified externs. If the student’s application is accepted, he/she will sign a Student Career Experience Program Working Agreement which outlines the responsibilities and conditions of the program. At the conclusion of this DOL Externship Program, Steven Haugen completes a Law Student Volunteer Extern Program Student Evaluation form (which is also attached). Such evaluation form will alert you to the criteria used to judge your performance.

Application