My Summer Internship

Inspired Read: Becoming by Michelle Obama

This summer I interned at Bexar county’s District Attorney’s office. The DA’s office is located in the heart of San Antonio. It is close to some of the other Justice buildings and other law firms in San Antonio. There are 15 County Courts, I work closely with the prosecutors in County Court 12. In a broader sense, I work under the criminal division. Here we prosecute misdemeanor charges brought across the county. This summer I had the opportunity to work on DWI and assault cases. I also was specially selected to work on a capital murder trial which was a fantastic opportunity. As I assumed, the work environment here is very quick-paced. Everyone is extremely smart and is working very hard to keep up with the volume of cases. There is never a moment where nothing is being done. Most of our time goes to conferring, speaking with witnesses, and doing pretrial research. Luckily, there were days when we got to relax and party. We had a fun luncheon for Fiesta and had a lot of birthday celebrations. Luckily for me, these are environments I tend to thrive in. I thrived here. I learned a lot and had fun while doing so.

I had the opportunity to work with ADAs and the DA. While we did work together I did not have the opportunity to contribute much. I served in more of an assistant role, who would help with any tasks they needed to be done. My supervising ADAs worked as a team to complete their cases and build arguments. Being able to watch that was a great experience. Otherwise, I worked as an individual to complete my daily tasks. They did not require two people to complete them. I did get the chance to meet other interns through lunches and watching other trials. It was fun to speak with them and learn more about their experiences. As an intern, I served a more subservient role. I assisted with anything that needed to be done, even if it was getting copies from the printer. My supervising ADAs were so kind and welcoming, it felt like we were friends.

Because I want to be a lawyer, I do see myself working in an environment like that in the future. There was a feeling of camaraderie and friendship with everyone. It was really fun to know that you can still make friends with your coworkers even as an adult. Besides that, everything was very orderly and hierarchical. I appreciated that everything was clear and easy to follow. There was very little space for misunderstandings and power struggles. Everyone answered to someone which made everyone accountable. Even the location of the building was nice. It was downtown, close to all these shops and nice areas. I liked being able to walk around and try different places for lunch. It made me feel like I belonged in San Antonio instead of feeling like an outsider. In the future, I would like to work somewhere that has these similar elements. Even if it is not in San Antonio, it will still allow me to thrive at work.

Like I mentioned before my expectations were quite low. I did not think I was going to play such an important role. I honestly thought I would work a clerical role in a room with other interns. But I was allowed to branch out and work with almost everyone in a courtroom. I sat with the lawyers at the bench during trials. They often ask for my opinion on cases and allow me to meet the judges and other important people. I had lunch with defense lawyers and got to practice my etiquette and meeting procedures. Overall, a lot of people took this opportunity to speak to me about their experiences and how they navigated their way into their careers.

This internship surprised me. I was not expecting to have gained so much knowledge and experience from this summer. I truly appreciated it although, it took me a while to adapt to this new environment. As aforementioned, the office was very fast-paced and had tons of work. I wanted to have adaptability as a learning outcome but not to the extent that I did. I had to change my entire plans for the summer and adapt to the responsibilities given to me. I had to adapt to the entire work culture. I bought new outfits and shoes for work, I changed my hair up, I adjusted my sleeping schedule. Plus, I had to find time to fit other summer classes within that. I honestly felt like I started a new job and had to go through orientation, training, and an awkward first day. Adaptability is a required trait to have when working as a lawyer and luckily this summer I got to put those skills into practice.

"This summer tested my boundaries and how far I was willing to go to pursue my goals"

When we picture careers that require professionalism we usually think of lawyers or companies. I have never had a hard time with this. I have been to so many training services and in-services regarding this but putting it to the test in the real world was so different. There are so many hidden rules and procedures that can affect your relationship with others. I was knowledgeable about email etiquette, meeting procedures, lunch etiquette but there were so many different aspects. I had to adjust the way I spoke on the phone, how I walked in the halls, and what I did in my free time. Normally, I get many compliments on my professionalism and behavior, but I was just very aware of how I presented. Even the language used in court was extremely professional. So I had to choose my words carefully and ensure that I adapted to the professional standard in the office.

The hardest challenge I had to overcome was keeping up with the demands of the courthouse. There was a lot of work to be done and the sheer volume of work could make someone overwhelmed. I was a little nervous to see what needed to be done every day, but after working out a schedule, I could keep up with other assignments. There were very high demands and expectations to handle, which can be nerve-wracking, but I adjusted to it. When I first started I assumed that this was going to be less work. Meaning I would not have a lot of work to do or it would not be so rigorous. Although, working at the DA’s office was like a job. I was not prepared to take on a job while doing these other classes. However, this did help me practice my adaptability skills. I had to adjust my schedule and put some more work into my other classes. I was very prepared for some aspects but not others. I am happy that I got to experience this and practice adaptability. Although, I think this internship would have been more effective if I spent less time focusing on adapting and more time on meeting more people and doing more work.