Well, it is official, my first legal experience is over! That's right, my summer judicial internship ended this week. I thought I would take some time to reflect on the experience.
First of all, it was completely amazing, and exceeded every expectation. I went into it sort of on a lark, simply not knowing what I was looking for midway through my first semester when it became time to apply. I just signed up, filled out the necessary forms, and submitted a resume.
At District Court, there are no written opinions, and most of the issues presented are more or less "he said, she said" factual debates. Two people were in a car accident, and they have differing opinions of how it happened. I would estimate upwards of 70% of cases were pro se. So unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of vigorously debated pieces of evidence, closely contested procedural issues, or lengthy, moving, closing statements.
At the same time, there was a lot of "lawyering" going on. What do you do when your star witness shows up visibly drunk for court? How about when your client's own hospital records note that he was too drunk to control his own bladder, but you need to prove that the bartender violently (and negligently) pushed him out the door? At times like these, I got to see some lawyers put on a real show. A great example comes from one case, when the plaintiff had been caught in several lies during cross. She was becoming combative with both defense counsel and the judge. Rather than attempt to address these statements on re-direct, counsel simply rested, and during closing, calmly explained how it was clearly apparent that his witness was untrained, and therefore highly credible. It was effective. And no, they don't teach you that in law school. In law school, you ask for a recess of two weeks, write a memo, and prepare a detailed brief doted with case-law and statutes.
Another great piece of lawyering often came out of bail reviews, during which the public defender had seconds to interview a client and demonstrate their community ties, lack of flight risk, and lack of threat to public safety. On the other side, the state's attorney had only a paragraph statement of probable cause written by an arresting officer to base an argument for a strong and fair bail. Watching these lawyers work is a true thing of beauty. On each side is someone who passed on the opportunity for a huge salary to work instead for the public. The state is only one who can prosecute crimes in order to keep us all safe. And for many, the public defender is the only one protecting the accused's rights. This truly is what our government and society are based on. And worse, these people do this tirelessly, day in and day out. They are never noticed either, unless they mess up and a blogger picks up on it.
So I got to watch some lawyering during my internship, but the other hugely important benefit was the amount of networking. First of all, I am so incredibly lucky to have been placed with a judge who made it a point to introduce me to every single other judge, attorney, or clerk who came through his chambers. He would look the most high powered lawyer straight in the eye, and introduce me with a fancy sounding title.
And with that networking, I think the best networking out there will come from the personal relationship I was able to develop with My Judge. We were able to speak about legal matters as well as personal ones, and he took some serious time to mentor me on both a professional and personal level. We discussed study skills one minute, then discussed facebook, then terrible dates we had been on. I am fairly confident that I will be able to call on him as both a reference and source of advice in the future.
With my internship concluded, I will now sit and update my resume, get ready for school, and spend some time relaxing. But a huge part of me will really miss getting up early a few days a week to make sure my suit was looking right and head to the courthouse.
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