Law School Summer Programs: U.S. Attorney’s Office
This past summer, I had the fantastic opportunity to spend ten weeks working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Florida. I had tremendous opportunities to gain hands-on experience and take on substantial responsibility even with only one year of law school experience. Further, fighting white collar crime in my hometown community, recently dubbed the nation’s “mortgage fraud capital,” was extremely rewarding.
The Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office have awesome programs each summer that are very popular with students. I chose to go to a smaller office (only seven Assistant U.S. Attorneys) and work in its white-collar division, where I worked on a wide variety of cases including tax evasion, bank fraud, mortgage fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. Additionally, I had the opportunity to work on drug-trafficking, immigration, civil litigation, and human-trafficking cases. Working in a smaller office was very unique as I spent a tremendous amount of one-on-one time with a small group of attorneys and still had the opportunity to work on high-profile cases. Over the course of the summer, I even had three of my very own pre-indictment cases to manage and worked with the federal agencies investigating these cases, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Secret Service.
Another great thing about working at the U.S. Attorney’s Office was the amount of time I spent in courtrooms throughout the summer. The Assistant U.S. Attorneys were great about bringing my fellow-interns and me to court as often as possible, and it was not uncommon for us to be in court four or five times a day. Further, in just ten weeks I had the opportunity to participate in three trials—which can take years in the private sector to do. In one particular trial I even had the opportunity to create jury exhibits for a money laundering trial to show how the money flowed through the scheme, in addition to numerous motions and research memorandums over the course of the internship.
Being a “Fed” for the summer was more valuable in terms of experience and job satisfaction than I can explain; it felt great waking up every morning to go (help) enforce justice and the law. Additionally, I was able to learn valuable trial strategy and the importance of prosecutorial ethics from my field supervisor Doug Molloy—Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney of the Fort Myers Division and legendary prosecutor in South Florida (see the original Miami Vice). Additionally, because of the great SPIF program at HLS, the school subsidizes expenses for students who spend their summer doing public interest work—including working at the Department of Justice or U.S. Attorney’s Office.
For those who have not considered public interest work, it is very rewarding and I highly recommend the program. Whether you want to go into the public or private legal sector, a summer at the U.S. Attorney’s Office can be outstanding training for your career.
[thanks to ktylerconk and hls in focus via cc]
Career Services Office: Truth About How Big Law Firms Hire
During the first few weeks and months of law school, 1Ls are blissfully unaware of the realities of the legal world. All that matters at that point is getting to class and being prepared. There are no worries about improving grades or maintaining grades, because there are no grades to improve upon or maintain. The ugliness that some students can exhibit hasn’t shown itself fully. Jobs are not a concern, because many law schools prohibit full time students from working, and legal employers are not allowed to talk to 1Ls until November of their first year. Except for a select few who have seen through the looking glass, many believe that whatever job they want will be theirs for the taking, and that employers will fight over who gets to hand them $2000 per week in the coming summer.
In light of this naivety, it is no surprise that when the Career Services office hauled my class into school on a Saturday in early November of our first year, attendance was robust. Sure, we were giving up half of a Saturday, but this was the vaunted Career Services office. They were all knowing, all powerful. With just a simple phone call, they could have potential employers in a bidding war over your services. Or so the story went. By sitting through this meeting, we would know just how much we could expect to be earning come May, and just how easy it would be to get those jobs.
Naturally, when so little is known about an entity, stories about it are invented to make up for the lack of real information. How were we supposed to know that Career Services is typically worthless? That we could get better advice from the homeless guy who hangs out around campus? That the only people it can actually help find a job are those people who don’t need help finding jobs in the first place? That spending your Saturday morning counting the number of tiles in your kitchen would be infinitely more productive?
After listening to the Dean of the school and the Dean of Career Services each deliver the exact same fifteen minute long speech, our guest speakers arrived. They included someone from the Prosecutor’s office, a couple of attorneys from small and mid-sized firms around town, and the hiring partner from a large and prestigious firm in a nearby city. The big firm hiring partner stuck out. He wore a $2000 suit, $500 shoes, a $200 tie, and a $100 haircut, while the other collectively looked like the bargain rack at Sears. As the other people took turns speaking, he looked bored, aggravated, annoyed, and eventually, homicidal. I could tell he didn’t belong, and my mind raced as to why he was there. Finally, it was his turn to speak. Most of the students in the room perked up. After all, the big firms, that’s where the money is. This guy is sure to give some insights, right?
I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was brief, harsh, and completely deflated the hopes and dreams of many in that room. His message boiled down to this: “We don’t hire 1Ls, and even if we did, we wouldn’t hire any of you.”
Many people were shocked and appalled by his candor, while I was refreshed. For the first time, I could see law school for what it was. Of all people, a big firm hiring partner gave me a better perspective on life.
[thanks to poeloq and barely legal via cc]
The Law School Difference Between Memos, Briefings, & Briefs
First, a quick disclaimer: This is a suggested guide for a law school memo. In practice, legal memo format vary from firm to firm.
Before drafting a memo, do a quick outline denoting key issue(s) and relevant cases (with cites) that support or weakens the case. Keep in mind that a memo is supposed to take on a neutral tone (as opposed to the advocacy tone attached to a legal brief).
Once you identify the relevant cases, group them together into following:
- Group A: Cases supporting plaintiff’s assertion #1
- Group B: Cases opposing plaintiff’s assertion #1 (and in effect supporting defendant’s contention)
- Group C: Cases supporting plaintiff’s assertion #2 (the “Even if contention #1 fails” argument)
- Group D: Cases opposing plaintiff’s assertion #2 (and in effect supporting defendant’s contention)
Once the cases are grouped, make a decision as to who the Court is likely to favor and explain why. Match the key facts to the prevailing rules of law.
Briefing v. Brief: What’s the Difference?
Do not confuse briefing with a brief. The former is a study method used in law school and the latter is a legal document presented to a court of law.
First year law students are encouraged to “brief” a case, that is, to identify the relevant facts, the legal issue, the rule of law (the holding), the analysis (how the court came to that particular conclusion) and conclusion (is the court siding with the lower court’s decision, reversing the lower court’s decision, or reversing in part and remanding/sending back the case to the lower court?)
The name “briefing” is a misnomer. Often, a professor will spend 15-45 minutes on a case and calling various students to share his/her case briefing with the rest of the class. Briefing is a skill you attain by reading many cases and learning to spot the legal issues and rules. This is particularly challenging because the ease of spotting a rule in a case (a holding) is closely associated with how well the judge writes. Some judges write in a straight-forward manner and organize the opinion in a logical format. Other judges like to meander a bit and inject the opinion with his/her opinion about the policy behind the law.
It may be easier to separate the brief into two aspects: procedural (which court is issuing the opinion, what the lower courts held, and what will happen to the case after the decision made by the issuing court) and the substantive aspect (is the court issuing the opinion changing/making law, upholding precedent, or distinguishing current case from precedent?)
As a first year law student, your goal is to try to figure out the general pattern of an opinion and zero in key words associated with the holding/rules of law. As to whether or not to highlight the brief in different colors, it depends on whether you are a visual learner or not. If coloring does nothing to help you differentiate the sections, then the act of slathering highlighters over printed words merely distract you from focusing on the meaning of the words. From my own experience, I find it easier to simply use a color-coded bracket (or straight line) drawn on the side of the paragraph (to denote which section is the issue, relevant facts, key rules from precedent cases, the holding of the court issuing the opinion, and the procedural posture as well as the final decision. I would circle key words for emphasis when necessary.
