Academic Internship

In the Summer of my Junior year, I managed to get an internship with one of the Honorary Judges at the Hampton Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. In this internship experience, I got to sit in on many cases. I would go from the beginning of the docket and remain until the end. Based on the day of the week and the time, the types of cases heard varied. Before or after the cases or even during break, the Hon. Judge and I used to sit in his chambers to discuss the cases that were interesting and the laws that applied to them. For some time, I was even sent to the District Court to experience the types of cases heard there. In this experience, I got to meet multiple judges and clerks. With that, I gained a lot of knowledge of the law, legal vocabulary, the courtroom workgroup functions, and skills acquired to be an effective lawyer whether as a prosecutor, defense, or public defender attorney. The skills include effective verbal communication, influencing or selling to others one's side of the story, and working in a team structure. All of these skills will help me in my future career as a lawyer. Although this internship was not worked out through a class offered through LeADERS, it matches the requirements of the category Academic Internship and thus, the credit for it was obtained. Unfortunately, because this internship was at a courthouse, I do not have any documents to share.