Real World Experience

Since its inception, Appalachian School of Law has distinguished itself from other law schools by providing our students with significant real-world experience before graduation.

This focus on real-world experiences begins with our community service requirement. Students have to spend 25 hours per semester serving the local community to touch base with the constituencies that need services from lawyers. Some of the projects our students support are described here.

After the first year, as students begin to develop enough legal knowledge to begin working in law-related capacities, they complete externships under the supervision of experienced attorneys where they provide at least 200 hours of service.

ASL also created live client clinics for third-year law students seeking to further enhance their experiential learning opportunities. Students enrolled in this track of the externships program must enroll in a corresponding seminar or practicum. The corresponding seminar or practicum is taught by ASL’s faculty in partnership with an attorney at the clinic who instructs the student in the relevant area of the law.

A prospective lawyer who completes his or her education at ASL will provide many hours of service to the local community and the prospective lawyer’s community of interest. These requirements provide invaluable experience to ASL grads as they decide how to be lawyers serving different communities.