SDNY is the oldest United States Attorney's office in the United States. Its Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) are charged with prosecuting all federal crimes reported in New York County (Manhattan), Bronx County, and Westchester County. Because of New York City’s special history as the nation’s economic capital and major eastern seaport, it has also long been the nation’s center of organized crime, narcotics trafficking, firearms smuggling, money laundering, insider trading, and a host of other depredations.

Under the guidance of several AUSAs, students placed at SDNY will get a first-hand look at the whole federal criminal process, including interviews with criminals, witnesses, hearings, and trials. Federal regulations limit this placement to United States citizens only.

Linsday Parham:
Law often has a way of leading societal norms. The court systems special attention to discrete minorities has allowed them to act outside or above majority and popular opinion, thus acting as a vessel for societal progression and change. Examples of this can be seen in Brown v Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, and Lawrence v. Texas. It is not only on large scale, high profile cases that the court makes a difference in the progression of societal tolerance of minority groups; even the smallest of private practices can be advocates of legal change for the underrepresented.

The law and the legal community perplex me. The United States court system seems remarkably undemocratic in our society. In large part the courts cater to the minority, at times coming at the expense of the majority. I have learned legal theory, history and structure from the several legal studies classes I have taken at Williams but working with the US Attorney’s office will allow me to see the inner workings of the court system and its place in modern society and hopefully lead me to answers to the paradoxes of the legal system.

During my internship at the US Attorney’s office I will work side by side with federal court lawyers. By sitting in on court cases, briefings, and witness preparations I will be able to experience first hand the role and reputation of the federal court within a political, public and legal context. I hope to answer the questions I have about how the US court systems have become one of the most expansive and powerful entities in our government and how they are able to sustain themselves.

Website:

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys

Students:

Walden Maurissaint ‘07, Hannah Wong ‘08, Nichole Beiner ‘09, Lindsey Parham ‘