My internship through the Attorney General’s Office at Kent County with the Victim Services Unit provided me the opportunity to apply and expand upon my knowledge of the legal field through observations and hands on experience at a courthouse.
When working with victims in a courthouse there were specific terms of the field often being used by the staff members, which needed to be properly explained to the victims who lacked in-depth knowledge about the legal process. My ultimate goal was to create a brochure that could explain how a case travels though the court and accompanying brochures that could explain different phases of the process extensively. In order to complete this objective I reviewed old notes I took during my political science law classes. Then I added to these lessons by observing my supervisor during conferences with the victims as she clarified the legal system for them during those meetings. I also shadowed the lawyers while in court and asked my supervisor any questions I had about terminology and victim’s rights. Lastly, I did my own research by reading all the pamphlets the AG’s office gives to victims and going on-line to search for victim’s rights. By familiarizing myself with the proper terminology I found that an explanation of such a complex topic required total specificity, since no detail was too small to a victims understanding of the system as a whole.
Also, a key component to the victim advocates job is effectively communicating with a victim. Such a delicate conversation involved many factors, which lead me to become interested in exactly what strategies should be used when talking to each victim. Therefore, my ultimate goal was to learn how to professionally communicate with victims of a felony crime over the phone. I completed this objective by observing my supervisor during conferences and telephone conversations to see what methods she used with a victim. Then I did my own research to understand what techniques should be used during effective communication and discussed with my supervisor why certain techniques were the best and worst to use. Lastly, I participated in phone conversations with victims to learn first-hand what I should and should not do. Through the completion of this goal I found out that the wrong retort could literally determine how responsive a victim was to your help, so I had to choose my words carefully.
In-order to receive a well rounded experience at the court house I also worked with a paralegal, to learn more about the behind the scenes aspect of the court system. The paralegal there seemed most interested in explaining to me the discovery process, which is the exchange of evidence between lawyers before a trial. So my ultimate goal was to be able to answer the discovery questions for the defendant’s lawyer. I completed this objective by creating a tutor-mentor relationship with the office paralegal, who agreed to meet with me a couple extra times during the week to thoroughly teach me what was involved in the discovery process and to provide mock discovery cases for me to summarize while she was present to answer any of my questions. Also, during my usual internship hours I reviewed the discovery answers in the case files to have a model in mind to answer the discover questions properly. Such tasks made me understand how important attention to detail is within the legal system and how every task has its place in the larger picture of achieving justice.
Learning how cases travel through the court system, calling victims, observing conferences and court proceedings, studying case files, and answering discovery questions were some of the duties required of me during this valuable learning experience. My participation in each of these activities provided me with skills needed to understand how the legal system works on both a large and small scale and how to properly conduct myself within the legal system. Overall, this great experience has reaffirmed my desire to pursue a career in the legal field.
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