Student Proposed Internship Guidelines

COVID-19 UPDATE: International SPIs will not be approved this summer (2020) due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current Government of Canada recommendations that all Canadians avoid non-essential travel.

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The Student-Proposed Internship Program offers you an opportunity to gain hands on experience in a practical setting and to explore different legal fields and work environments.  These internships may be completed during the summer, fall, January or winter term after first year. Internships may be undertaken abroad during the summer and the January term.

Be creative!  This is your opportunity to work in a law-related field that is of interest to you.  You can work in a non profit or non-governmental organization, an international organization, a small to medium sized firm, or with a sole practitioner, to name a few.  There are many possibilities out there; however the work must be of legal nature and under the direct supervision of a lawyer or someone who has received legal training (holds a J.D. or an LL.B.).

Network, network, network and use your imagination!  Do you know a lawyer?  Do your parents or friends know a lawyer?  Look in the yellow pages, conduct a Google search, look at the Peer to Peer Survey in The Source, do some research and you will eventually find an organization or firm that will interest you.  Call them or email them and explain the program to them.  Not many people will refuse volunteer work offered by an eager law student.  The experience is mutually beneficial, to both you the student and the organization or firm you will intern with.

The supervisor is either a practicing lawyer or someone who has received legal training (holds a J.D. or an LL.B.) who works at the organization or the firm in which you will be completing your internship and who is responsible for supervising your work. The supervisor must have a minimum of 3 years law-related work experience after graduating law school or 2 years experience as a lawyer after their call to the bar. 

Before starting your internship, it must be approved by the Professional Development Counsellor.  You must submit an application package through Brightspace which consists of these three (3) documents:

1. The Internship Proposal Form – signed by you and your supervisor; as an alternative, your supervisor may send you an email approving your proposal;
2. The Work Placement Agreement Form (also called the Student Declaration of Understanding Form) (for insurance coverage purposes) – signed by you only;
3. The Modification of Registration Form (the “Add/drop” Form) – signed by you only.
4. Confirmation from your SPI supervisor that you will be able to complete your hours and meet your learning objectives remotely (exceptionally for Summer 2020).

Remember!  If a signature is missing or if your application package is incomplete, your internship will not be approved.  Your application will only be processed for approval once it is complete, therefore make sure that the forms are properly filled out and signed before submitting them.  You will not be enrolled in the internship course (therefore it will not appear on uoCampus) until you submit your complete application package including all of the signed and completed forms.

The course code and title of your Student Proposed Internship will appear on your transcript.

The Internship Proposal Form is self-explanatory but you must provide the objectives of the internship, the skills you plan to develop and the tasks you will be accomplishing in order to develop the skills you wish to hone.  If you are still unsure of the tasks you will be completing after having spoken with your supervisor, elaborate on what the organization or firm does (areas of practice) as well as provide an outline as mentioned above.  The Internship Proposal Form must be signed by you and your supervisor.

Students can complete a number of law related tasks such as legal research, legal drafting (such as memoranda, notes to file, etc.), observe lawyers litigate in court or during mediations and negotiations, meet with clients, to name a few.  However, students may not give legal advice or legal opinions as they are not yet called to the bar.

Remember!  This is the only written work (besides the final report) that you will have to submit in order to gain 3 academic units.  Therefore, you must approach these documents with the same level of professionalism and seriousness as when preparing and submitting a class assignment or term paper.  Pay attention to detail and make sure that the final copy is professional-looking and neat.  The Professional Development Counsellor may request modifications in order to improve your Proposal Form or Final Report if she is not satisfied with the quality of your work.

The University of Ottawa Risk Management office has prepared a letter for the internship supervisors which describes changes to the WSIB regime. Your supervisor must keep a copy of the letter for their records. Furthermore, all students participating in internships are required to sign, date and return the Student Declaration of Understanding before they commence an internship. 

Your final report must be 7 pages in length, double spaced, including a cover page.  The final report is a self-reflective piece of writing and brief paper where you describe an experience and how it has changed you or helped you to grow. Self-reflective reports require students to reflect on their growth from specific experiences, projects or assignments, though others might require you to think about the impact of a specific event in your life. By describing your overall experience for readers, discussing your current strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the experience you wrote about and sharing your future plans for using this new information, you can paint a vivid picture of how you have grown and changed.

You might want to address a specific way an experience changed your attitudes or actions, a significant challenge you faced or things you would do differently if given a second chance. You might start by considered what your experience taught you and how it has changed you as a student or person. Specific details and anecdotes from the experience will help to clearly demonstrate your areas of growth.

DO NOT INCLUDE your evaluation form or your timesheet as being part of your final self-reflective report.

The report must be submitted by the deadline, which is indicated on the Student-Proposed Internship web page.

Remember!  This is the only written work (besides your initial proposal) that you will have to submit in order to gain 3 academic units.  Therefore, you must approach this report with the same level of professionalism and seriousness as when preparing and submitting a class assignment or term paper. The Professional Development Counsellor may request modifications in order to improve your report if she is not satisfied with the quality of your work.  

You must submit a completed Evaluation Form with your other required final documents. Your supervisor must complete the Form, and you both have to sign and date the Form.

Please note that the following deadlines are firm and that there is NO POSSIBILITY OF EXTENSION for ANY of the INTERNSHIP TERMS. We thank you in advance for your cooperation in observing these deadlines.

However, the deadlines might be subject to review for the following reasons:

1. a request for an extension on the submission of the internship Application due to equity reasons;
2. a request for adaptive measures during the Student-Proposed Internship; or  
3. a request for an extension on the submission of the Final Report due to equity reasons.

A student that requires any of the above listed extensions or adaptive measures must contact Jessica Simon, Equity and Wellness Counsellor by sending an e-mail to  clawaccess@uottawa.ca. The academic file of the student requesting any of the above listed extensions or adaptive measures will be reviewed in order to evaluate the specific needs of the student and make a final decision regarding granting an extension of time or providing adaptive measures. We strongly recommend that you contact us well in advance of any deadline that would be impossible to comply in order to allow us ample time to have your student file reviewed and implement any extension of time or adaptive measures.

It is the student’s sole responsibility to become familiar with their specific internship requirements. Late submission of documents will be subject to a penalty of 10% per day in line with Academic Regulation 9.4 "Penalty for Late Submission"; after a delay of 6 days students will receive a grade of "Non-Satisfactory".

No, this does not preclude you from having to submit your report, regardless of the work you accomplished during the internship.  Whether you prepared a thorough document such as a memorandum, a research paper or a report for your supervisor, you are required to submit to the Professional Development Counsellor a final report consisting of 7 pages in length, double spaced, including a cover page.  The Career and Professional Development Center cannot assess the type of work you accomplished without this report and the report provides a fair grading system in which all students are evaluated on equal grounds.  Furthermore, your self-assessment portion of the report is an important part of your own learning process.

The internship is graded on a “Satisfactory/Non-Satisfactory” basis. Therefore “Satisfactory” is one of two options and there are no options that go above and beyond “Satisfactory”.  You cannot receive a letter grade for your internship. 

Your grade is determined at the faculty (not by your supervisor), based on the content of your proposal along with your final report, the internship evaluation form, the Peer to Peer Survey, The Course Evaluation, the nature of your work accomplished, and the fact that you have completed 115 hours of supervised unpaid work.

What exactly does this statement mean?  What if they hire me once I’ve started or once I have completed my internship?

This means that you cannot do an internship with an organization or firm that has already offered you full-time or part-time work, a summer position or an articling position prior to you applying for the internship.  If you have accepted a job offer from an organization or firm to work part-time during the academic year, or as a summer student or an articling student, you cannot complete your internship there.  The rationale for not allowing you to do an internship in a work place where you already have a job lined up is to encourage you to gain as much practical law-related experience as possible in a variety of different work settings.  In addition, students cannot receive units for paid work.

An exception may be granted if the student intends to intern in a different department or with a different supervisor and will thus develop skills different from his past, present or future employment or volunteer experience. Please contact the Career and Professional Development Centre if this is your situation.

However, if the organization or firm you are interning at offers you a job during your internship or after you have completed your internship, that’s wonderful!  This is what we support and it is one of the internship program’s objectives.  Students have the opportunity to meet and work alongside lawyers and professionals within the legal community and make connections that may assist them to secure a summer job or articling position.

Is there a maximum number of courses I can take throughout my law degree that are graded on the basis of Satisfactory/Non-Satisfactory (pass/fail)?

Currently, students are permitted to undertake two (2) Student-Proposed Internships in total.  Generally speaking, we encourage students to take no more than 3-4 S/NS courses throughout their law degree (this may include a Student-Proposed Internship or a School-Sponsored Internship).  If a student has too many S/NS courses and not enough courses with letter grades, it makes it difficult for future employers to evaluate the student’s academic strength.  You will want to have a sufficient amount of letter grades on your transcript to enable employers to evaluate your candidacy in applying for a summer job or an articling position.  However on the other hand, it is advantageous to have internships or S/NS courses listed on your transcript as it may help strike up a conversation with future employers during an interview.  Employers might ask you to explain what these courses entailed which would give you the opportunity to elaborate on your internship experience and how it has benefited you and the invaluable contribution it made to your academic development.

If you are a second or third year student and you already have an articling position secured once you graduate, then the 3-4 S/NS course recommendation is less strict.  Your transcript may not be scrutinized as closely anymore; therefore you can afford to accumulate another S/NS course.  However, if you do not have an articling job secured yet, it is recommended that you do not take more than 3-4 S/NS courses as mentioned above. 

No, there is no guarantee that your second internship will be approved.  The second internship will only be approved if you show that you will be learning new skills and competencies in your second internship compared to your first one.  This must be clearly indicated in your Internship Proposal Form.  

Students are encouraged to diversify their experiences and therefore complete internships in different organizations or law firms in order to learn different areas of the law, to obtain constructive feedback from various professionals, and to experience working in new work environments. 

It is not possible for you to complete an internship for only 2 units or 4 units.  The requirement is to complete 115 hours of unpaid law-related work in order to receive 3 units.  There is no flexibility to do a 2 unit or 4 unit internship.

No, students are not permitted to have a family member act as their supervisor or work with a family member in his or her law firm. 

COVID-19 UPDATE: International SPIs will not be approved this summer (2020) due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current Government of Canada recommendations that all Canadians avoid non-essential travel.

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Yes, during the summer and the January term.  You are responsible for meeting any necessary requirements to comply with any relevant labour laws or visa requirements, and for covering any travel-related expenses.

COVID-19 UPDATE: International SPIs will not be approved this summer (2020) due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current Government of Canada recommendations that all Canadians avoid non-essential travel.

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If you choose to do an internship in the U.S. and abroad you may need a visa.  It is your responsibility to determine and obtain any visa you may need. For further information, please contact the uOttawa International Office. Please visit the Global Affairs Canada website and find out if you need an additional visa. It is also the responsibility of the student to obtain travel insurance if traveling abroad especially to a developing country and we strongly recommend obtaining at least the minimum travel insurance listed on our main webpage.

Prior to approving a Student-Proposed Internship (SPI) abroad, we will be reviewing the required five (5) forms and the Government of Canada advice and advisories website. In the event that the region or the country you will be visiting is or becomes subject to a travel advisory, your internship may possibly not be approved.  It is the responsibility of the student when organising their internship abroad to verify this website prior to applying and prior to departure. The student will also be contacted by the uOttawa International Office for a mandatory online or in-person pre-departure training.

The units you accumulate while doing an internship during the summer are applied in either the fall term immediately following the summer or the winter term of that academic year.  The units cannot be allotted to the January term – you must actually undertake your internship during the January term in order for the units to count towards your January term.

Students are allowed to do two (2) separate internships for 3 units each over the summer. If a student chooses to complete two (2) Student-Proposed Internships over the summer, one will be applied to the following Fall term and one will be applied to the following Winter term.

No, not necessarily: students may do an internship in either a Common Law jurisdiction or a Civil Law jurisdiction.

It depends on how many English courses you have taken so far.  As a student enrolled in the French Common Law Program, you can only take 25% of your courses in English and the rest of your courses must be in French.  If you haven’t taken any English courses yet, you may do an internship in English.  Often internships will be conducted in both official languages.  In order to be considered an internship for French units, more than 50% of the work must be done in French while the correspondence and written documents must also be in French.

Students in the National Program must undertake an internship in a Common Law jurisdiction.  As indicated on the National Program website, National Program students are not permitted to enroll in Student-Proposed Internships and School-Sponsored Internships, except where, in the opinion of the Director of the National Program and the Professional Development Counsellor, the student can provide evidence that Common Law content exists in the internship.  The concern is not so much the geographical jurisdiction, but the substance of the internship.  For instance, an internship in Quebec or in a Civil Law country would be acceptable if the internship consists of Common Law content (for example, an internship at the Canada Revenue Agency or an internship in Cameroon, Africa).

The Faculty will allow students to receive a stipend from their host organization or firm so long as it is not a salary and that it only covers costs that would not normally be incurred by a student (due to distance, for instance).  Also, the stipend must be reasonably tied to the internship, ie: you are receiving the amount of money to help pay for your plane ticket or living expenses while living in the city/country you will be living in for the duration of the internship.  Make sure to let the Professional Development Counsellor know in writing (an email will suffice) declaring the amount that you will be receiving and copy your supervisor on the email.

Yes, you can complete an internship if you are a part-time student; you do not have to be enrolled as a full-time student in order to do an internship.

All of the internship requirements will be available in your Brightspace – Virtual Campus account.

Brightspace – Virtual Campus will be the online resource to assist students as they take part in their internship. Log in and review all the important information. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that they respect all deadlines as well as submit all of the required internship components to receive credit.

Please submit all your final internship documents simultaneously by the specified deadline through your Brightspace – Virtual Campus student account.

Yes.

Students must be enrolled in either the 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th year of a JD program and in good academic standing. Please consult the Academic Regulation – Rule 19: PASSING.

All students must have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 5.0 at the time of submitting the application package to the Student-Proposed Internship Program.

If you are considering dropping out of your a Student-Proposed Internship,  you are required to discuss the situation with the Professional Development Counsellor and/or the Common Law Student Centre prior to taking this action.

Once the internship has been confirmed and finalized, the regular add-drop rules no longer apply (the student cannot withdraw from the internship).

Yes.

The importance of preserving your documents for your own personal records.

The Career and Professional Development Centre recommends that you keep a copy of your Student- Proposed Internship documents for the management and preparation of your personal files and recruitment process for your future employers.

Recommended documents:

• your internship proposal
• your Student Declaration of Understanding – Insurance coverage form
• your final report
• your internship evaluation form signed by you and completed and signed by your supervisor
• your official transcript
• organize your letters of reference (if applicable)
• prepare other documents and applications (if applicable)