International Center for Law and Religion Studies Externship Program

The J. Reuben Clark Law School’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies is recruiting law students with demonstrated academic excellence to participate in its 2013 Spring/Summer Externship Program. Selected student scholars will spend eight to ten weeks at Brigham Young University working on a range of projects related to the Center’s Mission “to help secure the blessing of freedom of religion and belief for all people.” More information about the mission and activities of the Center is available at www.iclrs.org.
 

Past summer externs have been involved in a number of projects that have permitted them to obtain credit from their own law schools, including assisting in the preparation of Supreme Court briefs, reviewing pending religion-related legislation from many countries, and working on books and articles in progress. In summer 2013, the Center will be heavily involved in producing a legal encyclopedia that will describe church-state systems in all countries on earth. In addition, many externs will assist in the preparation of a new edition of an important ongoing Center project, the four-volume treatise Religious Organization and the Law (available online at Westlaw.com under the database RELORGS).  While the Center’s primary focus is on religious freedom issues, work on the annual treatise updates and revisions permits students to explore the interface between religion and other practice areas, as they make extremely valuable contributions to research and writing on a broad range of subjects, including constitutional law, employment law, litigation, tax law, intellectual property, healthcare, social services, bankruptcy, risk management, corporate choice and organization, fiduciary duties, immigration law, marriage and family law, public and private education, mergers and dissolutions, land use, and charitable grants and fundraising.
 

To apply for an externship, please submit a cover letter and resume to Deborah Wright, Coordinator and Administrative Assistant for the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at wrightde@law.byu.edu by 12 p.m. MST on Monday, January 14, 2013. If you are accepted, you will be notified on Thursday, January 31, 2013. We will need to know of your commitment to the externship by Thursday, February 28, 2012. The Center will work with you to schedule the dates of your time with us, and we will work with your school to explore whether credits for the externship can be arranged.
 

We would also like to notify you that each year the Center, in cooperation with the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, sponsors a writing competition for law students on the subject of religious freedom. Last year’s winner received a cash award of $1,500 and traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive his award at the 2012 International Religious Liberty Award Dinner. The papers, of 9,000-13,300 words, are due each year by August 1. Award recipients have published their papers in journals following the competition. Information about the contest appears on the Center’s website in January.