ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE
Jane Koe*

A junior at Wellesly College in Massachusetts, who speaks Korean and French in addition to English, Jane Koe applied to the Washington Internship Program in mid March in search of a law-related placement. A permanent resident of the United States, Jane also lived in South Korea, England, and Indonesia, and she traveled widely throughout Europe and the America. Jane worked as a student assistant in the Japanese Department at Wellesley College, and she translated for Korean guests visiting the East Asian Music Festival. A reading tutor at Wellesley Words on Wheels who also worked with young people at the Wellesley Child Study Center, Jane wanted wide exposure to the law – possibly in a government context. WIP placed her at the Attorney General’s Office of the District of Columbia where she worked in the Juvenile Department from June 15 through August 31 while living at George Washington University (with which WIP is affiliated) in Crawford Hall. Jane’s succinct description of the internship is reproduced in full: 

“My internship was with the Juvenile Division of the D.C. Attorney General’s Office. I had opportunities to prepare cases for trial, write memos, photocopy, and file documents. I also learned how to conduct legal research on case law to help the attorneys. The most rewarding aspect of the internship was meeting lawyers and observing their daily lives at work. I had the privilege of attending trials that ranged from domestic-violence and theft cases to sexual assault. In the process, I learned a great deal about court procedures. I met many other interns with whom I became close. Although each intern was assigned to a different lawyer, we often had a chance to converse and assist each other with assignments. Interns did the ‘runs’ of delivering important files and forms to the courts and other offices. The work atmosphere was very friendly. It wasn’t too formal, and the attorneys were kind and understanding; they wanted to learn more about the students as individuals. Overall, the internship involved both administrative tasks and more substantive assignments. From answering phones to transcribing tapes that contained confidential information, interns were expected to act maturely and with integrity. For me, every task was valuable because this work would have been done by the lawyers themselves had the students not been there to help, and our contribution was taken seriously. I learned to become a more responsible and prudent person as a result.”

* pseudonym

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