After completing my first year at Boston College Law School, I was thrilled at the opportunity to spend my first legal internship in the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley this summer. I applied for and was placed in the Civil Rights Division, which works to enforce civil rights and liberties, to combat discrimination, and to provide equal opportunities to MA citizens. My main tasks involved legal research and writing and allowed me to employ and strengthen the knowledge and techniques I gained in my first year of law school, specifically in my Constitutional Law and Legal Reasoning, Research & Writing courses. Notably, I drafted a motion for a preliminary injunction and researched alternative enforcement mechanisms for new legislation following the Supreme Court case striking down the Massachusetts buffer zone law. The stipend I received from the Middlesex Alumni Association allowed me to work at this unpaid internship and engage in the type of legal work to seek and promote justice that led me to law school.
Throughout the summer, I was tasked with drafting memoranda of law and conducting legal research on issues such as discrimination, harassment, hate crimes, disability, fair housing, and economic justice. Many cases come to the Civil Rights Division through complaints made by individuals alleging discrimination or other civil rights violations on behalf of themselves or others. Each week, I participated in the division’s “intake meeting,” during which paralegals or interns who had received complaints during the previous week would explain the details of the complaint and attorneys would suggest whether the complaint should be escalated to gain more facts, attempt mediation between to parties, or bring enforcement action. Aside from receiving direct assignments, I could ask to help out on any claim that was escalated, generally by researching and writing a memo on the relevant statutory and case law governing the conduct at issue. Learning to analyze real-world grievances, conduct legal research, apply law to facts, and ultimately synthesize information in legal memoranda, has trained me to efficiently evaluate legal issues and find creative solutions to serve clients, which I’m certain will benefit me throughout my legal career.
My work in civil rights also gave me experience using the law to promote strong ethical standards. As I explore and consider other areas of law in which I might carve out a practice, these values remain important to me. Consequently, I am spending this semester interning at a consumer finance startup in the area of financial regulatory compliance. As new technologies emerge and payment systems migrate online, regulatory compliance seems important for protecting citizens in a different way. My experience as a legal intern at the Attorney General’s Office was interesting and meaningful, and I am certain that it will continue to inform my path as a law student and, ultimately, as a lawyer.