Volunteer Experiences

Department of the Attorney General (Hawaii), Commerce and Economic Development (CED)

Position: Intern
When: Summer 2006, every weekday afternoon from around 1pm – 4:30pm
How: Went to the AG’s website, filled out the application provided, and handed it in.
Description: This was my first internship after deciding I wanted to go to law school. I did a lot of paralegal-type work—background research in the file rooms, deposition digests, document chronologies, and the like. Luckily(?), there was a fairly big lawsuit going on when I came on board, so there was a lot of work to be done. When I wasn’t doing paperwork, I got to sit in on “war room” meetings (lawyer-to-lawyer talk) and status update conferences with the judge. I also got to know the other lawyers working on the case besides my immediate supervisor; one of the things I learned early on was that everyone was more than happy to talk to a newbie like me about going into law and their own experiences, both the good and the bad.
Favorite memory: The office once took all of the office interns on a tour of the AG’s criminal files building. We got to see some very interesting equipment, such as a program that investigators use to identify fingerprints, and I had a lot of fun asking a bunch of questions about forensics and gathering and analyzing evidence.
Upsides: Networking, realistic intro to the practice of law. You can get a good glimpse into how lawyers interact with each other professionally.
Downsides: A lot of reading. Early on, I had no clue what a lot of the legal jargon meant, and because I did a lot of research independently, this meant finding out what it all meant either from context or on my own. I also didn’t know about Black’s Law Dictionary at that time, so it was harder for me to figure things out. And in general, you will get less drama and more paper in a position like this.
Who is this for?: I would recommend an experience like this to newbies, someone who is thinking of doing government work after law school, or someone who has not had experience with the paperwork side of law. Believe me, after a summer like this, you will definitely appreciate exactly how much paperwork goes into a single lawsuit. But before you apply, make sure you do a little research into the different divisions and consider where you want to get experience.

Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline (Hawaii)

http://www.stoptheviolence.org/public/
Position: Volunteer/advocate
When: Summer 2007, every weekday morning from 8:30am – 12pm
How: I asked around for places to volunteer and a family friend put my résumé in with the DVCLH. I went through several phone conversations and a formal interview with the supervisors before I was accepted as an official volunteer.
Description: This was an amazingly substantial experience, but as the agency name suggests, it’s not about the most cheerful aspects of humanity. The agency is dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence in intimate relationships. I was expecting to work with the agency’s lawyers or to be something like a paralegal, but somehow I wound up on the advocacy side. Even though I was a volunteer, I was basically giving full services as a court outreach advocate. Students in my position are usually in social work school, but the experience translated well for my purposes. I had to go through about a week of training (“DV 101”) and did a couple weeks of shadowing in the field before I started servicing independently. As a court outreach advocate, I went to the courts to directly help victims however I could, whether it meant just giving legal information or referrals to other social services, going into court with them, trial preparation, or helping them get a lawyer or long-term case manager. I had a fairly regular schedule. Mondays in Criminal Court were my least favorite days. It was hard to talk to people because they usually didn’t want to be there. Also, due to the setup of the floor it was on, both defendants and complaining/victim witnesses were waiting in the same hallway, sometimes just a few feet from each other. As you can imagine, things can get intimidating. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I was in Family Court. There, I worked with clients going through Order to Show Cause hearings for Temporary Restraining Orders in the first half and did what was basically information intake from potential clients in the last half. This is where I felt I did real work in helping people. Not only that, but I got to know court staff, and became very familiar with OSC/TRO legal procedure. Before they went into court, we would find the victims and offer our services. If they accepted, we would give information on court procedure, run through their case, and prepare them for what might happen in court, or just talk to keep them from getting too nervous; if they felt uneasy, we could also go into court with them. Advocates are limited by some things—we aren’t attorneys, so we can only give legal information, not advice; also, advocates aren’t allowed to talk in the courtroom except in emergencies, so a lot can depend on preparing the client for what lies ahead. But you don’t stop being an advocate just because you can’t talk. The intakes after OSC could take a lot of time—sometimes up to an hour for a single person. This is where you can hear some really hard things, and you do have to ask some very hard questions. I developed a lot of interpersonal skills just doing this. Of course, there’s no point in getting all that information if you don’t put it somewhere, so on Thursdays and Fridays I would go to the office and enter my notes into the database so that anyone could pull it up if they ran across that person later on. I would also have a two-hour shift on the legal hotline. This was my second least favorite duty, as I dislike phones. Sometimes it would mean only answering simple questions, such as “Where do I go to get a TRO?” or “How do I get a lawyer?” Other times it would mean going through the intake process, or doing an emergency safety plan if the caller was in immediate danger. I went over into my lunch break a lot, but overall this was a great experience. I spent a lot of time volunteering here, and I would encourage that just because it let me see many aspects of being an advocate as well as the court system. Since Family Court doesn’t have the same schedule every day, not volunteering on various days of the week means that you’ll miss out on some things. I would have been singing a very different tune if I had only volunteered on Thursdays or Fridays.
Favorite memory: My first independent case went to trial when I hadn’t expected it would. I didn’t prepare my client as thoroughly as I could have for a trial, but I did spend a lot of time talking to her before we went in. She was a tiny, soft-spoken woman, she cried while in court, and I have to admit that I had my doubts about her ability to speak. But she got what she wanted, and thanked me for being there afterwards. I learned several things from this incident: 1) Always be prepared, 2) don’t underestimate people, and 3) talk, listen, and respect who you’re talking to—it does wonders. I couldn’t talk in the courtroom, but I had already established that I was still there for her, and she knew it. This encouraged her to talk for herself. Once this dawned on me, it shaped how I interacted with later clients.
Upsides: Real experience with real people—a great way to get used to working with “clients.” The close-knit nature of the agency also meant that I had a first class support system full of some of the greatest people I’ve ever had the chance to work with. Several of my fellow advocates had also gone to law school, and were more than happy to offer me pre-law advice.
Downsides: Depressing field. You’ll see and hear some very saddening, sometimes frightening, things here. And because of the heavy caseload at Family Court, it’s usually extremely crowded and frenetic, and tempers can flare very easily.
Who is this for?: Anyone thinking of going into Family Law, public service, and/or someone who doesn’t have much experience in dealing with people and wants it. If you don’t want to work in DV, look for “court outreach” programs in the agencies you are interested in. You will meet plenty of people here and you will deal very closely with one side of law. Just a caveat: This can be very trying. This type of work isn’t for people who get impatient easily. You will need an open mind and you will have to be able to keep your cool, even when things look like they’re going wrong. Be warned, again, that you will encounter some very disheartening and disturbing situations and people here, and you can’t let it get to you too much or else you won’t be able to function. It’s tiring work and I developed a really bad habit of knocking out from exhaustion on the couch at the end of the day. But if you can do this, you will be repaid with an invaluable experience and new awareness.

Circuit Court (Hawaii), Civil calendar

Position: Judge’s Aide
When: Summer 2007, every weekday afternoon from 1:30pm – 4:30pm
How: The standard procedure in Hawaii is to go the State Judiciary website and go through the application process under “volunteer opportunities” with Hawaii’s Volunteers in Public Service to the Courts (VIPS). A family friend also recommended me to the judge I wound up with in particular. After Judge’s office got my application, I had an in-person interview with him alone and then got to know his staff; afterwards, they called me to let me know that I had been accepted. These positions are in high demand—local law students need to do in/externships as part of their school credit, so if you want to do something like this and get what you want, start looking early—in Hawaii, apply by spring break at the very latest; in high traffic areas, I would imagine shooting for the end of the previous year. Also, try to do some research on the type of people the judge and his/her staff are, as it can make or break your summer. You might also want to think about which court (e.g. Drug Court, ICA, Circuit). You’ll get to know very different areas of law, for one thing. And if you’re choosing between Civil and Criminal, Criminal tends to be much busier than Civil and they might have less patience when it comes to training interns—I could usually tell which one was a Criminal judge’s chambers because I couldn’t see the staff behind all of the paper. Description: Judge’s office was small, which helped a lot. The two clerks were also both well-seasoned and had work experience in other areas of law; I could ask them questions about local lawyers, different practices, or court procedure, and they would know what I was talking about and could either answer my question on their own or refer me to someone who did know. If they ran across anything I might be interested in, they gave it to me to look at. Judge himself was also great; he was full of advice and was willing to sit down and talk to me about my future plans, school, his experiences in law, and what it was like to practice, and he was even open to discussing why he handled a case the way he did. He let me make mistakes, warned me about the difficulties of studying and practicing law, and never stopped encouraging me to do what I wanted. He naturally made it easy for me to get to know the person who wore the robes, not just what the robes represent. I was more under the direction of Judge’s law clerk, though, and I owe most of my experience to her. She happened to be both very patient and extremely interested in making sure that I got a helpful experience. I wrote case and motion briefs and ruling recommendations, opened and closed court, observed various proceedings (motions, trials, and jury selection), and sat in on private settlement conferences and status update meetings. If she heard about something happening in a different courtroom that I might be interested in, she let me know so that I could check it out. She introduced me to other law clerks and lawyers, and even pulled up case files for me to look at when I told her about an experiment I was thinking of. And, of course, she was always happy to answer any questions I had or explain something to me. When she got sick near the end of the summer, she had given me so much training that I was able to fill in a little as law clerk and bailiff while she was out. My summer is not representative of what all people experience as an aide. I very rarely had “gofer” duties—for example, I only went down to the file room (where I spent most of my previous summer as an intern in the DAG) to file cases once. I never did anything without someone first asking me what I wanted to do. I got lucky, but it was the best run of luck I’ve ever had.
Favorite memory: One day, Judge’s law clerk asked me if I was interested in learning more about the Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) Program, which was founded by one of the current Circuit judges. I was, so she set up a time for me to talk to that judge’s law clerk. The next thing I knew, she and I were sitting in the judge’s office, and he was personally giving us an introduction and history to the program. He told us how he thought of it, what references he used, the reception and results it has gotten, and then I got to ask him some questions and we talked a little bit about his experiences. He even invited me back to sit in on one of his private meetings with attorneys and probation officers. The judge in question has one of the busiest calendars in the courthouse and the impromptu lecture was a lot more than either me or Judge’s law clerk was expecting, but it was a great (and really fascinating) surprise!
Upsides: In general, this is a good way to learn about the courts. You’ll always have a chance to sit in on motions and trials across calendars, so you’ll get an introductory exposure to court proceedings, too. Just being in the courthouse opens a chance for you to talk to all kinds of people, whether they are lawyers, judges, or in the administration.
Downsides: Black’s Law Dictionary will be your very best friend by the end of the summer, and by that I mean you’ll be bombarded with legal jargon galore, and you still won’t know even a tenth of what it all means.
Who is this for?: Anyone interested in going into law, really. Even if you don’t want to be a lawyer, this is a good way to get a “101” on legal terms, procedure, protocol, and the like. You can get some networking done here, too; at the end of the day, lawyers tend to stick around to chat, and most of them really like helping potential lawyers. Job offers are not unheard of.

-Courtney Sue-Ako, English: Senior