A new addition to the list of externship opportunities Workplace Law (WPL) program students may participate in is the “Semester In Practice” program (SIP) an intensive fieldwork experience in the offices of a local employment law attorney. “It has been the most rewarding experience I’ve had in law school,” reports third-year student Alex Smith. “I find it similar to learning a language, where one only truly becomes fluent when one is immersed in the language.”

The Semester-In-Practice was developed by Director of Externships Professor Ann Vessels and Professor Lindsey Webb, who served as faculty supervisors. “It’s an outstanding program,” says Ann Vessels. “It gives students the opportunity to develop their practice skills by participating in a full time externship, working forty hours per week, and also taking a weekly seminar. The student gets significant exposure to the substantive law in the externship. In the seminar he or she focuses on skills and professional identity.”

The WPL position placed Alex Smith with Doris Truhlar, JD’80, and Robert Truhlar, JD’81, of Truhlar and Truhlar, LLP. “We were incredibly honored to be included as the ‘beta tester’ for this program,” says Doris Truhlar. “Having Alex Smith with us every day was an extremely positive experience, both for us and for Alex. One of the big benefits to the student is that it permits her or him to have much more in-depth contact with clients. The student is part of forming a bond with the client, and also gets to see how attorneys advise clients.”

“The program offers students a wonderful opportunity to witness, first hand, how attorneys in practice do their jobs, and how law firm operate,” adds Bob Truhlar. “The student gets to know the attorneys well, and at the end of the externship should be prepared to start her or his career, with many of the tools necessary for a first-year attorney.”

For Alex Smith, the first Denver Law student to participate in a workplace law Semester In Practice, the on-the-ground learning had tangible benefits. “The amount of information I retained through a practical learning experience added tremendously to what I learned in the classroom setting,“ he reports. “After working at Truhlar & Truhlar, I have a much greater understanding of everything from unemployment benefits and severance agreements to retaliation claims under Sarbanes-Oxley.”

Dan Mauk, who graduates from Denver Law in May, 2012, values his participation in the Civil Litigation Clinic during his last semester in law school. “I had the chance to participate in two federal employment discrimination cases,” he observes. “I was able to use all the theory and law I have learned in my employment law classes and apply it to a real life case.”

Assistant Professor Raja Raghunath supervises the Clinic’s student lawyers in cases involving employment discrimination and wage theft. He reports that the Clinic is currently litigating two Title VII/Section 1981 actions on behalf of a total of seven clients in the District of Colorado for discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, and religion. The Clinic also takes on the cases of workers seeking their unpaid wages in state court actions. The results are impressive. “One student team in the Spring 2012 semester secured approximately $30,000 in unpaid wages for eleven workers without having to proceed to trial on their claims,” according to Professor Raghunath. “The clinic also continues to work on long-term solutions to the rampant wage theft in the state, alongside interested community partners in the private bar and state and federal agencies.”

“It was the best experience I received in all of law school,” says Dan Mauk. “The supervising professor allows the students to have a significant amount of control over the cases and the direction they proceed.” Dan drafted letters to opposing counsel, drafted briefs to the court, conducted and defended depositions, participated in mediation and settlement, was involved in all stages of discovery, and he appeared in Federal Court. “The most rewarding experience for me was conducting a deposition,” he relates. “This is something that most attorneys do not get a chance to do until they have been practicing for a couple years. It is a very valuable experience to have under my belt before I even graduate.”