Corporate Counsel Externship Program Celebrates 10 Years

SMU Dedman Law’s Corporate Counsel Externship Program turns 10 this year!

What is now considered the premier corporate counsel externship program was founded in fall 2013 by Marc I Steinberg, the Rupert and Lillian Radford Chair in Law and Professor of Law, and Stephen B. Yeager, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. The academic program combines a corporate counsel course with externships in corporate legal departments. The program began with 30 students in 30 companies and has grown to its current size of approximately 100 students in the same number of companies. Students are placed according to their practice area interest and/or industry focus.

According to Yeager, “The program has become a real draw for prospective students who are interested in corporate practice. Many students are interested in working in-house at some point in their careers, and if they stay in DFW, that is a real possibility. It also provides students with hands-on transactional experience, which can be difficult to obtain in law school, as well as a ‘taste’ of what it is like to work in-house.”

DFW has become a magnet for company headquarters over the past decade, with 140 headquarters relocations to the region from across the U.S. and abroad, including more than 45 companies moving from California. The area has surpassed Chicago as the top headquarters location for Fortune 500 companies: 22 now make DFW their home. This wealth of companies in our own backyard as well as our connections in those companies makes this innovative learning experience possible.

Professor Steinberg and Dean Yeager are planning to make this year’s decade-marking semester a special one for students and companies. If your company is interested in hosting an extern this fall, please complete this short form.