Externships serve a critical role in experiential learning by offering students the opportunity to work in placements off campus. In judicial externships, students perform research and writing assignments for a judge and attend hearings, trials and other proceedings. This enables students to improve their skills, gain knowledge of substantive areas of law, and cultivate their professional identity.
At Mercer Law, William Augustus Bootle Chair in Professionalism and Ethics and Professor of Law Pat Longan teaches the judicial externship course in the spring semester and helps place students with judges in other semesters. Tim Floyd, Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy and professor of law, and Sarah Gerwig, director of experiential education and professor of law, are also involved with the program. The program began in 2001 at the suggestion of Mike Sabbath, then associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law, who asked Longan to plan the course and teach it.
Longan said during most semesters, Mercer Law averages eight to 10 judicial externship students. This spring there are 12 students in his class. The externships usually last one semester but occasionally run longer. In addition to field work, the class meets for two hours once a week with Longan, and students share the experiences they have with their judges. The students are assigned readings and write a weekly reflective journal. All these aspects of the course are designed to help students learn from their fieldwork experience.
Mercer Law alumni play an important role in hosting externship students. Mercer Law Review Editor in Chief (Volume 76) Tyler Kelly, ’25, currently holds an externship with the Hon. Marc T. Treadwell, ’81, of the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia. Two of Treadwell’s three term-clerks are Mercer Law alumni — Sara White, ’23, and Tessa Sizemore, ’24.
Kelly said his participation in the judicial externship program has made him a more confident legal writer and a more meticulous editor.
“I firmly believe that my experience in developing a ‘judicial voice’ through drafting orders and bench memoranda will make me a better advocate,” he said. “Additionally, the mentorship that I have received during my externship is invaluable. The entire chambers staff has invested in me and provided great wisdom that I will be able to draw upon in service to my future clients.”
Upon graduation, Kelly will serve a one-year term as a clerk for the Hon. William “Bill” Grady Hamrick III of the Georgia Statewide Business Court.
“Judicial externships have multiple goals,” Longan said. “The students have the opportunity to observe court proceedings. They see how what they have learned in the classroom is applied in the real world, and they see firsthand the human consequences of what lawyers and judges do. The students also hone skills by performing research and writing projects.
“Most importantly, the students have the chance to learn directly from their judges and the judges’ clerks how lawyers should conduct themselves as advocates and as professionals. Another benefit for the students is that they become more attractive candidates to prospective employers.”
Abigail (Abbey) Letts, ’25, of Marietta earned her undergraduate degree in middle grades education and her graduate education degree in reading education from the University of Georgia. With an interest in transactional work, mergers and acquisitions, and securities regulation, she will be joining the real estate group at Alston & Bird in Atlanta. As part of the judicial externship program, Letts worked for the Hon. David Mincey III, ’03, at Bibb County Superior Court.
“Working with Judge Mincey was a highlight of my law school experience. I looked forward to our time together every week,” she said. “Not only did I learn about the law and functions of a Superior Court, but I also learned about the importance of showing litigants kindness and compassion. In addition, I was grouped with a fantastic cohort of classmates placed in other internships. I loved getting to know my classmates more personally and hearing about their experiences every week.”
Rich Morrison, ’25, a first-generation college student from Braselton, earned his undergraduate degree in political science and psychology at Berry College, with minors in religion and legal studies. While a student at Mercer Law, Morrison held two externships.
He worked at the State Court of Bibb County (the Hon. Sharell Lewis, ’92) and at the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office in the Piedmont Judicial Circuit (the Hon. Andy Crawford, ’11, and James Chafin, ’99). His experience included writing memoranda for judges to summarize cases; giving the opening statement and conducting four direct examinations in a felony family violence jury trial, securing a guilty verdict on all nine counts; presenting 10 cases to grand juries; and arguing bond hearings, among other duties.
“The judicial externship program was one of the best decisions I made in law school. I had never been in court before, so this was a great opportunity,” he said. “The judges would frequently ask me for input and advice on how they should rule following a hearing or trial. My writing skills were refined through multiple assignments where I summarized the facts of a case and the best arguments for both sides in the dispute. It was a great honor, and it gave me additional experience thinking quickly on my feet and formulating thoughtful opinions.”
Morrison has accepted an offer to become an assistant district attorney at the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office after taking the bar exam.
“I am excited to continue working in the Piedmont Judicial Circuit and to work in the county that I live in,” he said. “I look forward to being a fair-minded prosecutor and helping advocate for victims of crime in my community.”
For her first externship, Jordan Mae Savage, ’25, of Covington was placed in Houston County Superior Court, where she could observe and learn more about family law. During her time with the court, she worked primarily in managing the pro se docket to move cases along more smoothly. She communicated with litigants, coordinated hearing days, dealt with child support worksheets, and reviewed submitted petitions to determine if they were legally sufficient. She also spent time writing orders for the judge as well as doing research projects.
Savage’s second placement is with Middle Georgia Justice, which was founded by the Hon. William “Bill” Adams, ’77. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to provide legal services to Middle Georgia residents who fall within 300% of federal poverty guidelines. She said that in her role she has been able to put the family law experience she received from the court to good use because it has allowed her to gain insight from the side of the client in this adversarial process. At Middle Georgia Justice, Savage works with Adams and other Mercer alumni Amy Griffith Dever, ’82, Kimberly Pendragon, ’21, and Shandi Zorbanos, ’20.
“It is hard to describe how much I benefited from the judicial externship class with Professor Longan. I was able to enroll in this class during my 2L spring, at which point I was wondering whether I had chosen the right path. I enrolled thinking that this would give me the opportunity to figure out whether a career in law was for me or not,” Savage said. “Spending that one semester in the court changed my perspective completely. I finally found true joy in the work and confirmed that I had decided on the right career. I was able to put my legal knowledge to the test and watch court proceedings, which allowed me to grasp the importance of legal doctrines and concepts that I struggled to understand before.
“Additionally, watching the different kinds of proceedings, the different approaches to being an attorney, and different styles of being a judge provided me with a great opportunity to reflect on what kind of lawyer I want to be. The perspective gained from watching people from all walks come through the courts was also truly humbling, and I will not forget the lessons learned just by people-watching in the court. The judicial externship was the single most important class I have taken and is one of the most pivotal experiences of my life.”
In September, Savage will begin working as a first-year associate at Smith, Welch, Webb, and White in McDonough.
Longan came to Mercer as the first holder of the William Augustus Bootle Chair in Ethics and Professionalism. Bootle, who graduated from Mercer Law in 1925, was a U.S. district judge in the Middle District of Georgia and noted for deciding numerous civil rights cases in the 1960s and 1970s.
Longan said that during his years of practice, he was surprised and dismayed by the prevalence of unprofessional conduct among his fellow lawyers.
“Once I became a law professor, I resolved to devote my academic career to preparing the next generations of students to practice with a heightened devotion to professionalism,” he said. “My appointment to the Bootle chair has enabled me to spend the last 25 years doing just that. The students want to lead happy, successful and ethical lives, and I want that for them as well. As a law professor, I can help them make their dreams come true. What could be more rewarding than that?”
Morrison said, “Professor Longan became an incredible mentor to me because of the judicial externship program. He always seemed eager to hear about my stories at State Court and made me think about my experience there in ways that I did not see. Professor Longan was and continues to be a supporter in my corner every step of the way. He genuinely cares about his students, and he offered us a great academic experience to complement our working experience.”
