Jump start your career! Combining Syracuse Law’s first-rate online classes and far-reaching Externship Program, Orange Flex gives residential J.D. students a head-start on their careers.
Orange Flex allows students in good standing to satisfy graduation requirements with a supervised externship and by taking up to 12 credits of online courses via JDinteractive, our fully interactive, online law degree program.
JDinteractive offers an array of online courses consisting of live and self-paced class sessions taught by College of Law faculty. The College’s long-established Externship Program features placements in New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and elsewhere. Additionally, skills-focused seminars are offered either in-person in some markets or online.
As externs, students gain valuable applied learning experience in judicial settings, law firms, corporate legal departments, government agencies, and non-profits.
Advantages to this 3L option:
- Accelerate your career by being “on the ground” and developing practical skills in the city of your choice one year from graduation.
- Strengthen your professional networks in the community in which you wish to work, particularly among Orange Law alumni who assist the Externship Program as placement hosts and seminar guests.
- Take advantage of the College’s online courses, developed and taught by Syracuse Law faculty who are national leaders in providing high-quality online education.
Apply Here
Frequently Asked Questions
The program is open to third-year residential J.D. students in good academic standing who have earned at least 61 credits in the residential program and have not already earned more than six credits of externship. Students who are following the structured curriculum are ineligible.
Students take up to 12 credits of JDinteractive classes online and 14 credits of externship and seminar in a location of their choosing for their final year of law school. Students will work with the Director of Externships to confirm an appropriate externship placement, which must be at least 100 miles outside of Syracuse.
Orange Flex students enroll in a sponsored externship outside of the Central New York region, defined as a market more than 100 miles from Syracuse. Students will work with the Director of Externships to confirm an appropriate externship placement.
Students in the Orange Flex program typically take online courses and complete an externship placement and seminar in both fall and spring semesters. Externship hours are typically scheduled during the regular workday. Online course schedules vary. Some are offered on weekends, some during the evening hours, and some are offered weekday mornings.
Eligibility for the Orange Flex program is limited to students in good standing who have completed at least 61 credits toward their J.D. degree.
Yes. Orange Flex students can take up to 12 credits of online courses, but students who earn more than 62 credits in their first two years of law school can take fewer online credits to reach the 87 credits required for graduation.
Applications for Orange Flex must be submitted by the last day of February: apply here.
Eligibility is limited to students who have not already earned more than six externship credits. This rule allows a student to do a summer externship in another city or a Central New York externship during a semester in which the student is also enrolled in residential courses.
Students can take upper-division online courses alongside students in the JDinteractive program. Course availability varies based on semester and JDi enrollment.
Current students should direct questions to the Office of Online Education. Prospective students, please contact lawadmissions@syr.edu.