LLB397/3397: Legal Internship Program - University of Wollongong

Legal internship program

Clinical education programs for law students have been available for many years in some Australian law schools. The objective of such programs is to provide an understanding of the human, social and policy contexts of law and legal practice. At the University of Wollongong, this objective is met through the subject LLB 397/3397 Legal Internship in which you will complete 20 days of professional experience.

We believe that practical experience is a vital part of legal training. In fact, we are the only law school in Australia that require all students to complete a legal internship as part of their law degree. At UOW, a legal internship is not simply ‘work experience’, it is an important learning tool that gives students an opportunity to observe and reflect on the law in action and apply legal knowledge to real life situations while, at the same time, discern career options and build professional networks.

LIP Winter 2023

Are you thinking of doing your internship for LLB 397/3397 this Year? Are you looking to arrange your own internship or would you like the School of Law to arrange one for you? Are you un-clear how it all works?

Upcoming Winter Zoom Information Session

Dates will be released soon

The Internship is unpaid and will take place in a 4 week block over the dates indicated by the placement dates below and you must be available for ALL specified dates (5 days per week total of 20 days). If School of Law arranged internship placement dates do not suit, we encourage you to organise you own internship around dates that suit you and your provider.

School Arranged Placement Dates (LIP Summer 2022/2023)

Session 1: 21 November 2022 – 16 December 2022
Session 2: 30 January 2023 – 24 February 2023

Program dates

Session name	Start of Session	End of Session
LIP 1	27 February 2023	2 June 2023
LIP 2	5 June 2023	27 October 2023
LIP Summer	31 October 2022	24 February 2023

Organising your own internship
School arranged internship
Resources
Forms
Career Development Learning resources
Contacts

A student arranged internship may take place anytime within the instance (within dates above) in which you will be enrolled and are subject to enrolment deadlines and approval requirements set out in the Student Handbook.
Your internship start and finish dates must fall within the one instance.

How to apply

Students organising their own Legal Internship should ensure that they read the Student Handbook prior to submitting an application.

The School of Law now uses SONIA, an online student placement system to manage Student Arranged professional experience internships.

Please follow these procedures to organise your own internship:

Obtain a brief letter from your proposed internship supervisor, on the letterhead of the firm/organisation, confirming that:
1. the internship will be of 20 days duration, indicating the exact dates of the proposed internship period;
2. the nature of the work to be undertaken and,
3. the supervisor has read the Guidelines for Supervisors booklet and agrees to the conditions; and confirms that the internship experience will meet the program requirements as set out in the booklet.
Send an email to the Internship Coordinator via law-internships@uow.edu.au advising that you intend to undertake an internship within a specific instance of LLB 397/3397 (i.e LIP 1). This email should be sent a minimum of 10 working days before you plan start your internship. Do not send application forms or Supervisor letter at this stage.
You will then receive a ‘Welcome’ to the program email providing you with a link to SONIA, asking you to complete a Student Arranged Internship Application Form and other requirements via SONIA.
You are required to complete the Application Form and attach Supervisor Letter for Discipline Leader approval.
1. If your Application Form is declined, you will receive an email to contact the Internship Coordinator to discuss the reasons why and to resubmit form.
2. If the Application Form is approved, you and your Supervisor will receive separate internship CONFIRMATION emails.

SONIA Guidelines for Students

Apply now

The School of Law organises internships for students over the Winter and Summer breaks only.

When an internship has been secured, the School of Law will manually enrol you into LLB397/3397.

For more information regarding LLB 397/3397 please review our Student Handbook.

The School can arrange your internship placement over the following LIP 2023 session dates:

Session Dates: 26 June 2023 – 21 July 2023

Applications dates for LIP 2023 School Arranged Internships:

Open: 27 February 2023
Close: 24 March 2023

How to apply
School of Law arranged internship applications are submitted via SONIA Online (UOW student placement system). If you have any issues please contact
law-internships@uow.edu.au.

SONIA Guidelines for Students

To help you think carefully about the type of internship you want to undertake, how to get the most out of your internship and what to take away from the internship to help you with future career choices, check out the following resources prepared by Careers Central:

Business and Law Internships Officer: Carol Kendall

+61 4221 3618
law-internships@uow.edu.au
Building 40 Room 223

Academic Coordinator: Dr Kate Tubridy

+61 2 4421 5772
ktubridy@uow.edu.au
Building 67 Room 219

Become a professional provider

UOW Law are seeking organisations across private, public and community sectors to partner with UOW’s School of Law to support our students’ learning and to develop Australia’s future workforce. Partners have the opportunity to build long-term, strategic relationships and add value to their organisation by accessing talented upper year students.

Find out more