The premise of the Co-op Program is that legal training gained through supervised work experiences that are integrated with academic course work produces attorneys exceptionally well prepared to practice law. The objectives of the Co-op Program are to:

• Provide students with a broad range of opportunities to develop and refine their practical lawyering skills. Students thus are encouraged to explore different substantive areas of law and practice settings.
• Enhance classroom dialogue by providing a real world context for academic discourse. Prompted by faculty, students can test and critically examine their hypotheses about how the law operates and their roles as agents for change in the legal system.
• Help students gain direction as to their career goals. Students are able to develop credentials that maximize their potential for both post-graduate employment and career satisfaction.

The co-op hiring process takes place approximately 10 weeks before the start of any given quarter. Quarters generally follow the seasons, and students are available to work every quarter because the law school operates yearround. As part of the overall co-op process, employers are sent the resumes of students who have indicated an interest in working for them. Employers select those students they wish to interview, contact them through the Office of Cooperative Legal Education, and then hire by mutual agreement.

Employers customarily compensate students in accordance with their ability to pay. Salaries generally range from minimal compensation for public interest employers to more than $2,500 per week for large private firms. While some funding for government and nonprofit employers is available through the Federal Work-Study program, judicial internships are unfunded. In addition, limited grant money is available from the school to support students with financial need who accept unfunded or minimally funded public interest/public service jobs.

At the conclusion of a co-op, employers are required to evaluate the performance of their co-op interns. These performance evaluations become part of each student's permanent academic record. Likewise, students are required to submit evaluations of their co-op experiences. These "Quality Questionnaires" focus on a variety of workplace issues and are included in the employer files, which students utilize when they make their co-op selections.