We polled various law students to describe their Big Law, Public Service, and RA Summer experiences!
Illinois Prison Project
Kathryn Querner ‘22
Features Editor
This past summer, I interned at the Illinois Prison Project (IPP) based in Chicago, Illinois. IPP dedicates itself to combating racism, excessive sentences, and other forms of human degradation present in our criminal justice system.
I have always been passionate about fighting to counter mass incarceration and increasing the availability of justice, but much of my work prior to this summer focused on the innocence movement. While innocence project work tends to emphasize the importance of exonerating people who have been wrongfully convicted, IPP takes the stance that every person in our justice system deserves compassion, respect, and empathy regardless of innocence or guilt. In other words, a person’s worth is inherent and no person should be treated as less than human because of his or her actions.
This summer, I had the opportunity to pursue executive clemency for one elderly man incarcerated under Illinois’ three-strikes policy and three elderly veterans. Executive clemency in this case refers to the ability of the governor of Illinois to pardon or commute a sentence—for my part, I worked on commutation petitions to achieve clemency. I spoke with each of my clients nearly weekly on the phone, developing connections with them and learning their life stories to try to put them to paper. Their stories unfailingly involved trauma and extreme challenges—including domestic abuse, racism, learning disabilities, gang involvement, and drug and alcohol abuse. Yet, even despite their hardships and the trauma of being incarcerated for years on end, these men never gave up hope and committed themselves to turning their lives around. My clients demonstrated to me first-hand that no person is beyond redemption.
Learn more about the Illinois Prison Project’s work at www.illinoisprisonproject.org, and feel free to reach out to me by email (kmq8vf@virginia.edu) if you are interested in learning more about a summer internship with IPP!
A 1L Summer Internship in Alaska
Mason Pazhwak ‘23
Events Editor
Throughout OGI screeners and callback interviews over the last two weeks I consistently got some form of the question: “I saw on your resume you were working in Alaska this summer, what brought you there?” I had several easy answers to that line of questioning that I could rattle off: that Alaska has always held a mythic place in my imagination with nicknames like “The Last Frontier” or “Land of the Midnight Sun;” that I loved the outdoors and wanted to see national parks like Kenai Fjords or Denali, go hiking, fish salmon runs, and see bears; or that I was looking to experience a different type of legal environment and briefly break from the inexorable draw of a career in the major markets of the Lower 48.[1] These were some of the ideas I had that led me to apply to, interview with, and accept an offer to intern with the Alaska Department of Law.
Reflecting on the experience, I can only sum it up by saying that it was one of those times in life where reality exceeded even the highest expectations. Sometimes it would be the possibilities of a day, like when I would find myself standing in a Walmart parking lot after work at 5:30PM, see the peaks of the enormous Chugach Mountains looming in the distance and think “Hey, I might go hike one of those right now.” Even if I was back by 11:00PM I would have sunlight to spare. Or it would be moments of intense, unexpected excitement, like when I first got to drive down the Seward Highway and found myself surrounded by glaciated peaks that seemed to rise abruptly from the water into the sky, or when I saw a moose impassively assessing me not far off a bike trail in the middle of Anchorage. It was also the legal experiences I had. There are not many places where interns get to spend a week getting tutored by battle-hardened trial and appellate attorneys before appearing in court to do a mock trial before a federal judge. Mainly though, it was the people I met. From a set of adventurous interns to explore with, to the enormously generous Alaskan lawyers who, for example, gave me a free car to use for ten weeks[2] while training me to handle all types of civil and criminal issues, to the regular Alaskan, who would always be up for a friendly conversation, the people I met will always stay with me. So, if you are a 1L and somehow reading this instead of your first cases, drop everything and apply. If you are a 2L, 3L or beyond I’d say check out Alaska at some point. I can guarantee you will come back with some stories to tell.
Research Assistant
Kelli Finnegan ‘22
Guest Writer
This summer, I had the opportunity to work full-time at a law firm and part-time continuing work on a project as a research assistant. The research project is particularly data-heavy, and we have been collecting information for more than a year.
Professor Sarah Shalf ’01 and Professor Kirsten Widner teamed up to research the factors that contribute to whether proposed gun control legislation gets passed in each state. They are primarily focused on red flag laws and domestic violence protection orders, both of which can grant law enforcement officials the authority to remove guns from a person’s home or possession. Data collection for their research requires surveying articles that discuss state-level gun violence legislation from 1996-2019. To do this, we picked one major newspaper from each state and have been coding the relevant articles from each source in Airtable. The coding includes general framing of the proposed legislation, names of parties that support and oppose the legislation, and arguments presented.
I joined the team after I saw a Symplicity posting for the position last September, which was after Maggie Woodward ’22 laid out much of the groundwork for the research process—thank you Maggie! Since then, I have reviewed tens of thousands of articles and coded the necessary information from hundreds of them. I have learned so much about state legislatures, gun violence legislation, and gun-related interest groups in the US, and I am glad to now have some useful background in this area.
As the summer wraps up, I am able to spend more of my time coding the remaining states. We should finish our survey early in the new semester so the professors can begin their analysis of the data. I am grateful for the team’s flexibility with me as I juggled two jobs this summer, and I am eager to see the project through this fall.
Split Big Law Summer
Jack Tucker ‘22
Guest Writer
This summer I split my summer between two law firms headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, working six weeks at each firm. This was my second summer with both of these firms since I spent the summer after my 1L year with them too. Splitting my summer between two firms in a “smaller” market was unique and exciting because of the opportunities I had to become intimately involved in cases while having a ton of fun with the firms outside of the office.
At my first firm, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, a Big Law firm, I went to a five-day bench trial in federal court. The case, which I had worked on during my first summer, was a breach of contract dispute. At trial, I assisted the attorneys by researching legal issues that arose and providing them with responses to give to the court. Following the close of the evidence, the court allowed a few weeks for post-trial briefing before closing arguments. In that period, I drafted sections of the post-trial brief and helped the attorneys prepare for closing arguments.
At my second firm, Lightfoot, Franklin & White, LLC, a litigation boutique, I did legal research on issues ranging from federal regulation of hazardous substances to witness competency under state law. Many of my projects at this firm were time-sensitive as they were needed for pre-trial motions for trials that were imminent. I also assisted a partner in a scholarly pursuit researching the successes and limitations of climate litigation.
I would highly recommend 1Ls consider “smaller” market firms for three reasons. First, you have opportunities to get involved right away like going to trial as a summer associate. Second, you can split your summer and work at two different firms which gives you an excellent feel for what type of firm environment you are most likely to thrive professionally. And third, these firms are so much fun that you might find yourself exploring every brewery in town with attorneys and learning to wake surf off the back of a partner’s boat.
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kmq8vf@virginia.edu
mwp8kk@virginia.edu
kmf6ba@virginia.edu
jwt8rm@virginia.edu
[1] I think after two and a half months there I have become Alaskan enough to call it this, though some might dissent.
[2] The rental car shortage was very real.