Description

The Business Regulation Externship provides students with a unique clinical opportunity by combining close faculty supervision and instruction with the practical experience of working on-site in the Mississippi State offices responsible for the regulation of corporations, insurance, securities, banking and other areas of business regulation.

Summary

The purpose of the Business Regulation Externship is to provide students who have a strong interest in business law with relevant clinical experience combined with training in legal research and writing. Externs work Mississippi State offices in Jackson that are responsible for the regulation of corporations, insurance, securities and banking, and in the civil division of the attorney general’s office, spending approximately four weeks in each of the Offices. Each Extern will be supervised by a supervising faculty member (“Supervisor”) and the responsible person in each State Office.

Externship Requirements

Qualifications: Externs must have completed Corporations and at least one of the following courses prior to the commencement of the externship: Securities Regulation, Banking Regulation, Corporate Finance, Insurance, White Collar Criminal Law or other course as specifically approved by the Committee. Externs must be in academic good standing. Under current course requirements, only students who completed three terms generally will be able to qualify for the Externship.

Requirements: Externs will complete 16 weeks of full-time work in three or four State Offices. The Offices are: the Division of Business Services (corporate regulation), Division of Business Regulation/Enforcement (securities regulation), Department of Insurance, Department of Banking and Consumer Finance and Office of the Attorney General. Externs will spend approximately four weeks in each Office.

Additional requirements are as follows:

• Timesheets: Externs must maintain daily timesheets that describe activities for each 1 hour period of the working day. The timesheets must provide substantive descriptions of the content of the Extern’s work, consistent with attorney-client privilege and confidentiality requirements.
• Journal: Externs must maintain a daily journal of their work experiences (in addition to their timesheets). The journal is expected to supplement, not duplicate, the content of the timesheets. The journal should describe what the Extern has learned, questions that the work has raised, and potential lines for future inquiry, and provide other reflections on the Extern’s work experience. Externs may use their timesheets to take notes for purposes of their journals, but the journals must be separately compiled after each business day (i.e., outside of regular business hours). Journal entries may not be written more than one day after the date they cover (i.e., Monday’s journal entry must be completed no later than Tuesday evening).
• Paper: Externs must write a 10-page paper on a topic relating to corporate, securities, insurance, banking or other area of business regulation. The paper is expected to reflect a minimum of 50 hours of work outside of regular business hours. The paper cannot be an abridged or expanded version of work completed for a State Office.
• Discussion Sessions: Externs must prepare for and actively participate in two discussion sessions that will be led by law school faculty. Readings will be assigned. The discussion sessions and the assigned reading will address current issues in corporate, securities, insurance, banking or other area of business regulation.

Supervision: The Business Regulation Externship Committee will oversee the Externship. Each Externship applicant must be sponsored by a full-time faculty member who has agreed to act as the Supervisor. The Supervisor must complete and submit to the Committee a Supervisor Acknowledgment no later than the submission deadline. The Supervisor will regularly review and provide feedback on the Extern’s timesheets and journal; provide guidance on and evaluate the paper; meet with the Extern at least once during the term in Jackson; and conduct at least one of the discussion sessions.

Required Texts and Reading: The required texts and reading will be those assigned in connection with the discussion sessions, as described above.

Credit: Externs will be awarded a total of 12 credits. Eleven credits will be awarded for the Externship and assigned Z grades. The Extern will receive one credit for the paper. The Extern will choose, at the start of the term, between receiving a Z grade or letter grade for the paper.

Housing, travel and other expenses: Externs will be responsible for their own housing, travel and other expenses and arrangements in connection with the Externship.

Application: Students must submit an application to the Business Regulation Externship Committee no later than April 15 for the fall term and November 15 for the spring term. The application must include a copy of the student’s law school transcript, identify at least two references from among the law school faculty, identify the Supervisor (who may be a reference), and include a typed essay not to exceed 200 words that explains why the student wishes to participate in the Externship. The Supervisor Acknowledgment and faculty references must be submitted by the application deadline (there is no prescribed form for the faculty references). Applicants will be notified of the Committee’s decisions by May 1 and December 1.

Business Regulation Externship Application (pdf)

Business Regulation Externship Supervisor Acknowledgment (pdf)