by Bailey White
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association is set to begin an externship program this fall as a way to give law students hands-on experience in bankruptcy law.
“It’s a way for students to get practical experience,” said Mamie Davis, vice president of the JBBA and a Chapter 13 trustee. “They’ve been in school so they’ve been learning theory in the classroom, but this is a way for them to see what happens in court and what happens in the office.”
The JBBA will choose one or two students to participate in the program. The students will spend two weeks each with the judges’ law clerks, the Chapter 13 trustee, a Chapter 7 trustee, an attorney representing debtors and an attorney representing creditors.
“By rotating between bankruptcy judges’ chambers, attorney offices and others, students will get an understanding about bankruptcy law as a whole,” said attorney Rehan Khawaja, a JBBA board member. “And they’ll receive school credit for their participation in the program.”
The JBBA is also offering a $1,000 scholarship. To be eligible, the student must write a scholarly paper that explores an issue in the field of bankruptcy law and is suitable for publishing in the JBBA newsletter.
With a number of applications already submitted, the selection process is set to begin next week.
For the first semester of the program, the JBBA will choose students from the Florida Coastal School of Law, but will eventually expand the program by accepting students from other law schools, such as the University of Florida.
“We definitely want to expand the program,” said Davis. “We just wanted to get through the first semester or year to give the program exposure and to gauge the level of interest in it.”