By Jocelyn Sharpe
When I first found out that I was going to be interning at The Ward Firm in Sacramento, I was ecstatic. I have always dreamed of interning at a law firm since I could comprehend what the term “law” meant. I had a large passion and fascination with attorneys because I enjoyed how they were really passionate about helping people, and that is what I have always wanted to do.
At the Ward Firm, the attorneys specialize in personal injury and criminal cases. I personally have never thought about being a personal injury or criminal attorney. I felt that as a personal injury attorney, I would get all types of crazy individuals as clients and everything would be chaotic. Thinking about life as criminal attorney, I constantly thought of how one of my clients could potentially harm me or my family in some way, if the Courts did not side with us, so I definitely had no interest in being a criminal attorney at all. Even with an interest for a different law field, I still chose to intern at The Ward Firm because I knew that I would still get firsthand experience in working with a paralegal and an attorney. I would also be able to determine if I should continue to follow on the career path of becoming an attorney.
Being that I wanted to get firsthand knowledge in working in a law office, I was surprised to learn that I would be treated as if I was one of their partners. From day one of the internship, they both explained to me that they did not believe in interns completing tasks that would not teach them anything about becoming an attorney, such as making coffee and filing paperwork.
I am actually conversing with clients and potential clients about their cases. Some of the individuals who I’ve spoken with thus far have opened up to me as if I were their attorney.
It almost makes you wonder if you were a family member, how personal they would get. There are also clients that I have spoken with who will not give me any information at all for fear of them becoming a ‘topic of discussion’, if you know what I mean. Each day that I speak with someone, I try to make the conversation as simple as possible so that no one feels that I am trying to be deep into their personal lives. It has taught me to be precise in asking questions so that I get important information to pass on to the attorneys.
Not only do I have the opportunity to speak with clients, but I also have worked on client files. When dealing with personal injury cases, if the individual has received treatment for their injury, it has to be documented. I review all those documents and formulate a medical records summary, which is a single document that details the injury and how it was treated. It is a tedious process as you have to make sure to include every detail about their medical visits. The point of formulating these medical record summaries is to include the information in a demand letter, which I also write up. These are letters stating what happened to the client, how were they treated for this incident and what compensation is the plaintiff looking to receive from the incident. Writing these letters are pretty exciting because here is where I put my writing skills to use to generate and argument in favor of the plaintiff and it makes you feel as if you are the attorney making the argument in court.
Dreaming of becoming an attorney and defending a client in court is exhilarating, in my opinion. For the short time that I have been at The Ward Firm, I have come to the realization that personal injury and criminal cases are not as bad as I thought they once were. It has also helped me realize that as an attorney, you are to serve and assist your clientele in the best way possible. It has changed my outlook to not focus so much on the practice area but providing for the client. I can say that everything has gone well with the internship and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to become more knowledgeable about an area of law that is interesting to say the least.
Career Resource Center 