New York State Office of the Attorney General, New York, NY
This summer I spent eight weeks interning remotely at the New York State Office of the Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Unit and the Federal Habeas Corpus Section. Since this section handles appellate work, it exists as part of the larger Appeals and Opinions Bureau under the supervision of the Deputy Solicitor General, still within the larger New York State Attorney General’s Office.
I loved the internship and the work I did this summer. It has been one of my favorite internships that I have done in college so far. I appreciated the opportunity to gain specific knowledge about legal work as I assisted a team of appellate attorneys with writing, editing, fact-finding, and researching. I worked on a variety of projects, ranging from more simple proof-reading, to combing through trial court transcripts in order to write statements of the facts and witness summaries based on what I read in these transcripts. Ultimately, this helped the attorneys write their longer briefs. I also had numerous virtual meetings every week. These included one-on-one conversations with various attorneys in order to discuss the cases that they were working on and how I could assist them. Other meetings that I attended included professional development seminars for all of the summer interns working for the Office of the Attorney General, weekly lunches with the other interns and attorneys in the Appeals and Opinions Bureau, and weekly “coffee-chats” with a few of the attorneys in the bureau and the other interns so that we could learn more about each of their various career paths, the work they were doing at the time, and any advice that they had for us. This allowed me to get to know many different people in the office, despite working remotely, which I valued greatly.
Since I am set to graduate in December, life post-Williams is fast approaching. As I begin to search for and apply to jobs to begin after graduation, I am now looking more towards jobs in the legal field—particularly paralegal jobs—after my internship this summer.
Furthermore, following the work I did concerning criminal appeals during my internship, and after talking to numerous prosecutors who were conducting civil appeals in the Appeals and Opinions Division, I see appellate work as something that would excite me as a long-term career. Thus, I want to gain more experience doing appellate work, particularly work on the civil side. As I continue my foray into the legal profession, I also want to gain more experience in general to find if there might be another type of practice that I enjoy more.
I am incredibly grateful to the Estate of George Mead allowing me to participate in my internship program this summer. I learned so much each day and the experiences I had this summer are ones that will shape the path I take in the future.