There’s more to the legal market than trying to decipher convoluted documents at a desk. The School of Law is giving University students the opportunity to find out exactly what that is in Portland, where classes and externships give them a glimpse of what their futures hold.
Joe Kraus, a second-year law student, is two weeks into his externship at the Energy Trust of Oregon. He works there three days a week and takes classes at the University’s Portland Center downtown. Kraus does “pretty much anything and everything” and said if he had another chance to take Portland classes in the future he would be up for it.
“It’s definitely a good opportunity because it gives you a very practical experience if you’re going to do legal work,” said Kraus. “I get to see what lawyers are doing on a regular basis instead of just reading cases.”
The externships are at companies with their own in-house counsel. A few of the bigger ones are Nike, Fred Meyer and Mentor Graphics.
The Portland program is one example of how law schools nationwide are attempting to modernize education methods by emphasizing practical skills.
Professor Steven Bender, director of the Portland program, also believes these law students are experiencing something advantageous.
“All of the students who are participating in the program would agree that this is their best opportunity of getting a job in the urban market,” Bender said. “They’re right in the thick of the business of legal market where they want to end up.”
Bender estimated roughly 30 to 40 percent of University law school graduates eventually end up in the Portland metro area, so offering students externships there gives them a jump-start in the legal market.
“Portland is the legal and business epicenter of the state, and so the lawyers want to be where the clients are,” Bender said.
This spring the heavily anticipated White Stag Block, which will house offices for University programs including business and journalism, opens in Old Town Portland. The classes law students take in conjunction with the externships will move from the Portland Center to the White Stag Block this summer. The Block comprises four buildings, three of which the University will occupy.
“I think that place is going to pay tremendous dividends because it is a gold certified green building,” said Bender. “And I think that it’s a terrific platform for us to offer courses on sustainable green business.”
Sustainability is one of the Portland program’s main focuses.
“I won’t credit us for ingenuity,” Bender said. “I will credit us more with our observatory skills. Anyone who is only casually observing Oregon business will know that green business is where Oregon is heading.”
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