Is paying a law student for the services he or she renders in an externship so fundamentally inconsistent with the educational objectives of such a program that academic credit should not be awarded to the student? The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar recently answered that question with a resounding “yes.” And the council took that position in the face of its own committee’s recommendation to abandon the pay ban in place for some time.
Not surprisingly, the ABA’s Law Student Division had lobbied hard for elimination of the prohibition against both compensation and credits in the same program, claiming it imposed an undue financial hardship on law students. The council was ultimately persuaded, however, by the argument of the Society of American Law Teachers, who maintained that compensation and academic credit for the same externship “will necessarily undermine the academic focus of field placement experiences.”
