Post #2: First Week

Well, for the first week of my internship, I've basically done the same thing--read transcripts and summarized. This gets me caught up on how the case has progressed from the beginning to this point in time and gives my supervisor something she can glance over that summarizes these huge binders worth of information into one o two pages of facts relevant to our case. I have already noticed that some of the allegations against our client are backed up by nothing concrete, and one charge in particular we actually have evidence directly against. In the process of writing all of this I'm also getting acquainted with the office again, which is nice. This form of professional writing I'm hoping to become familiar with as I intern, but what I know from my history in the office is this: your assertions should be directly stated, yet the jargon you use may make it seem the opposite, which makes reading difficult without a legal education background. So naturally I have to ask my supervisor a lot of questions to get a feel for what kind of assertions we are trying to make.

This internship has taught me a lot about how I need to change my way of thinking and reading with legal documents and cases. Over this week, my reading has greatly improved--I know what I am looking for as well as how it is relevant, and when my supervisor asks me how I feel about a certain point or argument, I not only can formulate an opinion, I can back it up with a reference in my summary, which of course is much more persuasive than stating how I feel so far.

Post #1: First Day At McArdle Law Office!

I have worked at McArdle Law Office this past summer and during every period of time I work here I learn about a new case that has sprung up. The cases are always interesting, especially the criminal defense cases. My supervisor also has hired a new paralegal, who is fun to work with. What I pretty much did today was review our biggest case--the discovery on its own filled up an entire plastic storage container! I summarized testimony from a number of defendants as I read. I did this all day; there is no other way for me to become familiar with the case as well as I should without reading through all of it. This may seem like an unproductive activity as far as writing goes, but I have already learned last summer that without comprehensive knowledge of this case, my writing may not meet the goals of the assignments I am given.

I see as I am writing this how accurate my summary has to be--the person we represent will greatly benefit if we can focus solely on his conduct, and the evidence gathered over the years can be confounded by allegations and actions of other people and other defendants. for example, the defendant is being charged with RICO, which he is pleading to. However, if the prosecution cannot link him without a doubt to activities that were happening in another state that they allege he was in charge of, obviously they can not connect him and charge him with that crime, and he could be acquitted on certain charges. Of course, this is why I am going over the evidence and testimony with a fine toothed comb.

I see the importance of making my contributions accurate and "checkable" so that whatever we claim as a result of my writing we can prove by reverting to specific portions of the investigation. Everything I write I must check and double check. I also reference the page number in the investigation so that my supervisor can review my claims should she have any questions or need to qualify anything. My reading is going to take a very long time; there is a lot to soak up and summarize.
In the process of my writing, I am saving her valuable time. I guess the investigation for this case had been going on for years. I'll have my work cut out for me, that's for sure. Either way, from the looks of it so far, the cases seem very interesting!