Aaron Sohaski is a third-year law student at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.

It is no secret that many law students graduate with massive debt, often in the six-figures. While in school, these students have to decide whether to accept an unpaid externship and receive law school credit — which could allow them to graduate and find a paying job more quickly — or take a paid legal position, without school credit, which might extend their time in law school.

Before granting credit, law schools could still evaluate paid externship opportunities on a case-by-case basis to ensure they meet stringent educational requirements.

This decision is not an easy one. When I started law school, I enrolled as a part-time student and continued working full time. My decision helped to ease my debt load but many law students do not have this option. The education system, on principle, should make an effort to ease the burden of juggling survival with expensive schooling.

I am the chairman of the law student division of the American Bar Association, which advocates for the interests of law students. We do not speak for the American Bar Association but did present testimony in opposition to the decision to retain the barrier on pay for accredited work.

We believe that eliminating the barrier on pay for accredited work will not cause major conflicts. Before granting credit, law school administrators would still be required to evaluate the paid externship placement opportunities on a case-by-case basis to ensure that they provide educational value, as they do with all unpaid placements. The standard would still require a faculty member to evaluate each student's "educational achievement" and any paid internship would “be approved in advance and periodically reviewed following the school’s established procedures for approval of the curriculum.”

We believe that law students deserve options in the face of a changing legal job market. Amending the current standard will help students ease their decision-making process when accepting placements for jobs and it will mitigate stress and debt.



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