Part-Time Externship: Federal Public Defender

The goal of this field specialization is to provide students with an opportunity to examine the role of habeas corpus proceedings in the criminal legal system and to learn how to provide meaningful and effective representation in habeas corpus cases. Habeas corpus is often the last opportunity for someone convicted of a crime to obtain relief from an unconstitutional conviction or sentence. Students in this externship will work with the Office of the Federal Public Defender’s Noncapital Habeas Unit that handles the habeas cases of individuals convicted in state and federal courts and sentenced to terms up to and including life without parole. The Noncapital Habeas Unit represents clients before state courts, federal district courts, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. As part of their fieldwork, students will be assigned to one federal habeas case that has an important litigation event scheduled during the externship.

Students enrolled in this externship will also participate in a specialized companion seminar taught by one current and one retired, long-time public defender that introduces students to how criminal cases move through state and federal courts and what habeas lawyers do to advocate for clients who are wrongly convicted and sentenced.

Interested students should submit a resume along with a cover letter explaining their interest in the externship addressed to Professors Mark Drozdowski and Raj Shah. Send your application materials to externshipprogram@law.ucla.edu with the subject line FPD Noncapital Habeas Externship Application. Decisions on admission are made on a rolling basis and spaces fill up quickly.