DA's Office

I watched a murder trial from jury selection to the verdict. It was an amazing process. This particular trial was a cold case--Bobby Earl Woods murdered his girlfriend 17 years ago. The state's attorneys did a great job presenting the case. It could have gone either way, but I'm glad the jury found the guy guilty. I was convinced that he did it.

I learned a lot about how to conduct myself in the court room. Hopefully if I make a mock trial team again, I'll be able to apply what I learned. It takes practice to be at ease and natural in a court room. It's also a lot of fun to do mock trials because no one's life or money is on the line.

I spend most of my time in the grand jury division. Everything is top secret so I can't say much about it. The basic thing the grand jury does is decide whether to indict a person on the charges from the police, allowing the case to move forward to prosecution. I think there are other ways to prosecute a person because one of the interns mentioned a special prosecution process. Law school teaches the academic side, but internships show you how things really work. After being at the DA's office a few weeks, I think law school should require OneLs to watch trials. I know everyone doesn't want to be a trial attorney, but it's such a great learning experience.

Good Grades and Great Internship

I made good grades generally, and ended up with a pretty good average. I was particularly pleased with my grades in Labor Law and Estates and Trusts. I worked pretty hard all year for those classes. I didn't have much time to study for Bankruptcy so that ended up being my lowest grade. I had a lot of time to study for Family Law and that ended up being my highest grade. It was a good semester.

I'm having a great time at my internship at the DA's office. One of the things we do is watch trials. So far, I've only seen some closing arguments. I've seen some great trial attorneys. I hope to watch a trial from jury selection through the verdict next week. It's amazing how much I've learned from watching attorneys in the court room.