Externship Opportunities

Creighton University Athletic Compliance Department

Details: Your responsibilities may include:

• Monitoring student-athletes’ countable athletically related activities
• Drafting educational material regarding new legislation and NCAA official interpretations and positions
• Evaluating prospective student-athletes’ applications and transcripts to ensure initial academic eligibility is intact
• Monitoring student-athletes’ academic progress as it relates to NCAA eligibility and progress-toward-degree requirements
• Drafting waiver requests, rules violation reports and institutional position statements
• Ensuring camps and clinics meet NCAA and internal requirements
• Educating student-athletes and staff on legal implications of behavior governed by NCAA rules and regulations
• Redrafting internal policies and procedures manual and the student-athlete handbook
• Updating compliance related forms
• Researching recently enacted legislation and case precedent involving academic, recruiting, eligibility, and financial aid issues

Douglas County Attorney’s Office

Details: Under the supervision of one of the Assistant County Attorneys, you’ll work on a variety of civil and criminal matters, including:

• Attending or participating in preliminary hearings, trials, and sentencing
• Conducting research in the areas of securities fraud
• Consumer protection
• Reviewing police reports and evidence
• Attending coroners’ investigations
• Attending juvenile court proceedings in the areas of custody, delinquency and placement
• Drafting legal documents

Prerequisite: Completion of at least four full-time semesters of law school (or the equivalent hours).  

Douglas County Court

Details: You’ll work as a law clerk for the Judges of the Douglas County Court, observing courtroom activity and researching special projects and issues before the court.

Douglas County District Court

Details: You’ll work as a law clerk for the Judges of the Douglas County Court, observing court proceedings in civil and criminal cases and researching special projects and issues before the court and helping the judges prepare for cases.

Douglas County Juvenile Court

Details: Under the supervision of Judges of the Douglas County Separate Juvenile Court, you’ll observe courtroom activity and research special projects and issues before the Court.

Douglas County Public Defender’s Office

Details: You’ll be involved in representing individuals in criminal and juvenile proceedings. You’ll gain experience in criminal practice and procedure, evidence, trial advocacy, constitutional law, juvenile law and procedure. Your responsibilities may involve:

• Researching and drafting motions, briefs, and appeals
• Interviewing witnesses and clients
• Participating in court hearings

Prerequisite: Completion of at least four full-time semesters of law school (or the equivalent hours). 

Immigration Customs Enforcement

Details: You’ll be exposed to substantive areas of immigration law and regulations regarding removal, asylum, waivers, citizenship and family-based petitions, and how those are applied in actual cases. You’ll also:

• Gain insight into the structure and functions of a federal government law enforcement agency
• Interact with immigration officers, attorneys, and judges and their staffs
• Learn removal proceedings from the investigative, to the hearing phases, and through the appellate phases
• Learn and apply advocacy skills before immigration judges in bond and removal proceedings
• Conduct legal research and draft legal documents including memos and briefs

Prerequisite: Student must be a United States citizen and successfully pass a background check.

STRATCOM, Offutt Air Force Base

Details: Externs work in various aspects of the legal office for U.S.  Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), including administrative law, government ethics, fiscal law, civilian personnel law, intelligence law, international and operational law, and laws applicable to space and cyber operations. Through collaborative research and writing efforts, a team of active duty and civilian attorneys will train and work with the student extern in performing Command level legal reviews, forming legal recommendations, and providing tailored legal advice to USSTRATCOM officials. 
Prerequisite: Must possess a current security clearance of SECRET of higher.

Justice For Our Neighbors

Details: You’ll work for this outreach ministry of the United Methodist Committee on Relief that provides high-quality, accessible, free, immigration legal services to non-citizens. You’ll work primarily on removal defense cases, asylum applications, waiver applications and/or applications for immigration protection under the Violence Against Women Act. Your responsibilities may involve:

• Client intakes
• Research
• Completing immigration forms
• Composing letters for filings
• Attending court with the attorney
• Drafting briefs and motions

Prerequisite: Preference will be given to students who have taken Immigration Law and who speak Spanish.

Legal Aid of Nebraska

Details: Under the supervision of Nebraska attorneys, you’ll represent low-income persons in civil legal matters. Representative cases include consumer law; landlord/tenant law; administrative law (including hearings in unemployment compensation, social security disability, Medicare, Medicaid, and other governmental benefit cases); family law; torts; and a wide range of other civil legal issues. Your responsibilities may involve:

• Interviewing clients
• Investigating case facts
• Settlement negotiation
• Drafting pleadings, motions and briefs
• Attending or representing clients in court appearances

Prerequisite: Preference is given to students who have completed at least three full-time semesters of law school (or the equivalent hours).

Methodist Health System, Omaha

Details: Under the supervision of the Vice President of Administrative Affairs/Corporate Compliance, you’ll attend a variety of operational meetings on legal compliance issues and be exposed to diverse legal issues in the healthcare setting, including:

• Medicare/Medicaid antitrust
• Labor/employment
• Federal and state regulation

Prerequisite: You’ll get the most benefit from this externship if you’ve had Administrative Law and/or Healthcare Law or prior work experience in healthcare.

Nebraska Foster Care Review Board   

Details: The Foster Care Review Office (FCRO) independently track children in out-of-home care, review children’s cases, collect and analyze data related to the children, and make recommendations on conditions of outcomes for Nebraska’s children in out-of-home care, including any needed corrective actions. The FCRO conducts extensive independent case reviews for children placed out-of-home by the juvenile system. The externship would include:    

• Extensive work with FCRO’s review specialist as they complete these case reviews
• Courtroom work on those cases
• National research in assisting senators in making appropriate policy decisions affecting the lives of Nebraska children and families

Prerequisite: Completion of Family Law highly recommended.

Nebraska Innocence Project, Omaha

Details: The Nebraska Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization whose primary purpose is to provide pro bono legal assistance to incarcerated individuals who have been wrongly convicted of crimes in Nebraska and who no longer have a right to court-appointed counsel. Externs will investigate cases by reading trial transcripts, attending witness interviews, interviewing the applicant, preparing legal memorandums suggesting a strategy for the case and researching and preparing legal pleadings if necessary. You may have opportunities to visit clients in prison, to visit the forensic lab, and to prepare and present legal arguments to the court.
Prerequisite: Priority is given to students who have completed the Wrongful Convictions course.  Prerequisites for the externship includes Evidence, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure. 

Nebraska State Legislature

Details: Under the supervision of a state senator, you’ll examine legal precedent, case law, and the statutes of other states for use in the development of legislation and public policy. You will also observe the Unicameral in session.
Note: This externship is available only in the spring semester.

Omaha City Prosecutor’s Office

Details: You’ll assist the City Prosecutor in the preparation and presentation of misdemeanor criminal cases in County Court. Your responsibilities may include:

• Conducting research on police work and all aspects of criminal procedure
• Observing various court proceedings, such as bond settings, arraignments and trials
• If senior-certified, representing the City in misdemeanor trails and hearings

Note: Ideal candidates will have blocks of free time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and have completed four full-time semesters in law school.

Sarpy County Attorney’s Office

Details: You’ll work on a variety of civil and criminal matters. Your responsibilities may include:

• Observing, or for those that become senior-certified, participating in court assignments, such as arraignments, preliminary hearings, trials, and sentencing
• Writing briefs, memoranda, motions and pleadings
• Preparing cases
• Researching topics related to securities fraud, consumer protection, zoning, land use planning, civil litigation support, and coroner investigations

Prerequisite: Completion of at least four full-time semesters of law school (or the equivalent hours) or “Senior Certified.”

Sarpy County Court

Details: You’ll work as a law clerk for Sarpy County Court judges. You’ll observe courtroom activity and do research on special projects and issues before the court. You’ll visit Sarpy County District Court and Juvenile Court as well as administrative agencies within the Sarpy County Court System.

United States Attorney’s Office, Omaha

Details: Under the supervision of the Assistant U.S. Attorney, if senior-certified, you’ll be allowed to represent the U.S. in civil or criminal matters. Your responsibilities may involve:

• Holding consultations
• Preparing documents for filing, hearings or trails and attending court proceedings
• Where authorized, making appearances in court

Prerequisite: You must be a U.S. citizen, have FBI clearance, and have completed at least three full-time semesters of law school (or the equivalent hours).

United States Bankruptcy Trustee

Details: Under the supervision of the United States Bankruptcy Trustee for the District of Nebraska, you’ll be:

• Doing research and preparing memoranda on selected questions of bankruptcy-related law
• Reviewing potential criminal referrals
• Reviewing financial information of debtors to determine compliance with the Bankruptcy Code
• Observing courtroom proceedings

Prerequisite: Secured Transactions in Personal Property; Bankruptcy I.

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Details: You’ll work in the office of the Honorable William J. Riley of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit as follows:

• Researching issues before the court
• Preparing bench memoranda
• Indexing opinions
• Observing oral argument

Note: This externship is limited to one law student each semester in the spring semester. The court selects the externs from all applicants.

United States District Court, District of Nebraska (Omaha and Lincoln)

Details: You’ll work in the offices of judges of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska as follows:

• Researching issues before the Court
• Writing memoranda for the Court
• Observing courtroom procedures, including civil and criminal hearings and trials

United States Immigration Court, Omaha

Details: You’ll have extensive exposure to asylum and removal law and courtroom procedure. You’ll assist immigration judges by:

• Writing legal memoranda
• Conducting in-depth legal research and analysis on issues raised by parties before the court
• Drafting judicial decisions

Prerequisites: United States citizenship is required. Coursework and/or experience in immigration law preferred. The externship site is solely responsible for selecting the extern.

United States Magistrate’s Court

Details: You’ll work in the offices of the Honorable Thomas D. Thalken as follows:

• Researching criminal and civil issues
• Discussing procedural issues with the magistrates on the full range of civil and criminal cases

United States Public Defender

Details: You’ll gain practical knowledge of the legal work performed by attorneys in the Federal Public Defender’s Office on behalf of indigent persons accused of federal crimes. Your responsibilities may involve:

• Meeting with clients and witnesses
• Investigating crimes and possible defenses
• Researching and writing motions and briefs
• Drafting correspondence
• Reviewing discovery
• Preparing for and observing court proceedings

Prerequisites: Preference will be given to students who have completed at least four full-time semesters of law school (or the equivalent hours); and taken Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure.

University of Nebraska Omaha Athletic Compliance Department

Details: Under the supervision of the Director of NCAA Compliance, you’ll receive practical experience in the area of sports law and intercollegiate athletic administration. You’ll be involved with issues concerning ethical conduct, amateurism, recruiting, student-athlete eligibility, athletic scholarship awards, sport playing and practice seasons, the NCAA legislative process, and NCAA division classification requirements. You’ll address these issues by interpreting NCAA and conference bylaws, drafting and presenting educational material, investigating rules violations, as well as monitoring the day-to-day activities of the athletic department.

Prerequisites: Successful completion of 1L year; Strong academic record and research and writing skills. Successful completion of Contracts, Administrative Law, Sports Law, Entertainment Law, Labor Law, and/or Employment Law. Former student-athlete or students with athletic backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.