Kings County District Attorney’s Office, Brooklyn, NY
This summer, I interned at the Kings County District Attorney’s Office alongside paralegals and assistant district attorneys and assisted them with past and pending convictions. My responsibilities as an intern ranged from gathering case files for the ADAs to drafting legal documents for pending cases. The DA’s office was a great environment filled with lawyers and professionals who were extremely experienced in the legal field. As an aspiring individual in the legal profession, working with both paralegals and attorneys who have already gone through the “legal track” was an amazing benefit of the internship. In addition, the conversations I shared with these individuals gave me great insight about my next steps and what I should be doing to pursue my goals. Aside from the professional development I received at the office, the environment was very stress-free and educative—each day was exciting because I was able to experience different aspects of the justice system.
This internship allowed me to follow cases, literally, from start to finish—I would log an arrest from a Brooklyn precinct and then had the option of watching the hearing at the Supreme Court of Brooklyn, which was located around the corner from the DA’s office. Oftentimes I would spend hours at the court listening to oral arguments for a case I was working on. It was very interesting to hear the defendant’s side of cases that I thought were extremely one-sided. Not only was the argumentation interesting, but the ways in which the defendant’s lawyers used the law to their benefit was especially intriguing. One of my favorite oral hearings was about a criminal case where the person on trial was charged with homicide. In this case the attorneys for “the people” (this is how the city’s attorneys are addressed at hearings), presented physical evidence that showed the defendant charging the victim with his arm extended, while holding a pistol. The pictures displayed by the people’s attorneys were snapshots from a CCTV footage of the whole incident and showed the defendant approaching the victim as the victim backed away. The interesting part was that the attorneys intentionally showed snapshots instead of the whole video because it supported their argument that the defendant was acting irrationally due to his anger and not in self-defense. Witnessing the usage of evidence to support an argument was very interesting because both sides of the trial had access to the video, but the defendant’s attorneys did not try to use the whole clip to support their client. Instead, the people’s argumentation was so strong that convincing the jury otherwise was not possible by the defense. By this point of the trial, the defense was simply trying to reach the least possible charge for the defendant—a way to enforce reformative justice to help both parties involved. Because of cases like this, I was reminded of why I was so passionate about law; nothing is ever cut-and-dry, and most of the time there are more than just two sides to a story.
The work I did as an intern felt rewarding because I saw my work further past investigations and current cases as well. One example of this was the Brooklyn arson case about Matthew Karelefsky, the defendant, who set fire to the house of a Rabbi. Karelefsky was found with the address of the Rabbi’s son in his pocket and had a tattoo on his forearm stating “MUST KILL RABBI MAX.” The fire spread to three houses but luckily it only resulted in injuries to a dozen people and did no serious bodily harm to any individual. This criminal case was especially important because it was a media case, which meant that the bureau had to act quickly and effectively in order to make progress on the case—every news outlet was reporting on the case. Immediately after receiving the case, I was tasked with conducting background research on the defendant and creating a profile of who he was. The research I put together was used by the deputy chief of the bureau to piece together the relationship between the defendant and the victim. I then drafted subpoenas for three institutions that Karelefsky had attended—this meant that those places may have information that can help the case and that the bureau needs to legally acquire that information. It felt extremely rewarding when, at the end of the day, I submitted seven subpoenas, signed and stamped by a judge from the Supreme Court. I knew that I helped further an investigation for an important case, but furthermore, the community was made safer because of the bureau’s work.
Not only did I learn about many facets of the justice system, I also gained an understanding of what areas of the law I may be interested in. As a result of working at the office, I became more interested in criminal law and realized how rewarding a job in this field may be. At Williams, I hope to take classes in justice and law to further my understanding of the justice system and pursue a career in the legal field. After graduating, I would not be opposed to working as a paralegal or even clerking for a judge while, hopefully, attending law school. This internship allowed me to see the benefits of holding positions in either of those occupations.
Working at the Brooklyn DA’s office was a rewarding and enriching experience. I would like to thank the Estate of George Mead, for his generosity has encouraged me and many others to follow our dreams, and I will be eternally grateful for that.