How has this experience made you consider your college path that will ultimately lead to your career?
This experience has validated that I have my heart set on pursuing a career in Law and becoming an attorney. I have learned a lot about potential college paths and I want to get a bachelors degree in philosophy or business and pre law and then go to Law school right after. After Law School I want to work in a small civil law firm exactly like the Laura J. Farris Firm and if I stay nearby for Law School I could possibly intern here again in the future. I am interested by many topics in Law and have to decide what type of Law will suit me best in my career. I know for a fact that I am not interested in Criminal law or Family Law but am very open minded to all other types including employment Law. Being a lawyer for a non profit organization is still something I believe would be very rewarding for me as well. I believe that I am on the right track and will continue to work hard in school, focus on academics and getting good grades and no matter where I end up going to college I will work my hardest and strive towards meeting my goals and making my dreams a reality. I have taken the SAT twice and ACT once already and plan on taking the SAT at least one more time in the future to help me get the best score possible. All of my top choice universities I want to attend are common app schools and I have already written many common app prompts and starting asking for letters of recommendation as well. The schools I want to attend will help support me with pre-law career development, preparing for the LSAT and other things I will need to prepare for in order to get into law school and succeed. This internship has really helped me pin point what I like to do and what fits to my skills and interests. Everything that I have learned and observed from my mentor and other employees has been the most valuable advice I have ever received. During this internship I have worked on the most meaningful work I have ever done in my life so far. My mentor and employees have given me a lot of college and career advice by telling me about there college experiences, where they went to school, law school advice and career advice. I am extremely excited that I have found something that I love to do so much, perfectly lines up with my skills and that is achievable with hard work. I know that I want to continue pursuing the career and I am 100% certain that this would be an amazing career path for me. I am very excited and motivated for senior year, college and everything else the future will hold.
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Since my project is very confidential I am not able to show photos of my actual work. I have been working on a huge variety of exciting work and have gotten to shadow exciting events. I have been taking Intakes and going through notes with attorneys and Filing and organizing trial binders but my project has been revolved around one client and getting to write a Complaint and a Chronology. I've been gathering information from many years with this client, going through 1200 emails and putting together a formal written complaint for the court. Getting watch Luiza get sworn in to be an attorney and going to court have been very memorable experiences that have helped me realized how much I want to be an attorney. This project was important for the client, the firm and very meaningful to my education. Getting to challenge my writing skills and work on very professional legal written documents has taught me extremely valuable writing skills for my future. My project took me a week of gathering information in order to form the Complaint and the vocabulary and wording of causes for damages was something I learned a lot from as well. The process I went through to complete the project was a huge learning experience. Going through client documents and emails to form a timeline and then write the complaint took me a lot of focused time and energy. Presentation slides from your on-site POL I have learned so much from this internship and am extremely grateful for the opportunity. Working with everyone at the firm has taught me so much and validated my passion towards pursuing a career in Law. Law excites me beyond words and I have loved getting to intern here everyday , hopefully I can come back next year as well.
How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education? This internship has been extremely meaningful to my education. It has made me want to pursue a career in Law even more. I couldn't be more grateful for this amazing opportunity and I am so blessed to have learned so much from this internship and will continue to learn more. The attorney's have trusted me to work on very important work for clients such as writing a complaint, taking intake calls, organizing files for trail and many other tasks. Getting to go to court and be apart of big events such as watching someone get sworn in to be an attorney has inspired me even more to strive to become an attorney myself. Working in a small firm has been incredible and I hope that one day I can work in a firm exactly like the Laura J Farris Firm. How was your work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school and your specific internship site? The work that I have been doing is extremely significant and meaningful to the firm and clients. Helping them with such important work has taught me so many new things and I have gotten to be apart of so many amazing steps in the legal processes with different cases. I know that the work I am doing is helping not only the attorneys but the clients in a humongous way. The attorneys thank me a lot for the work I am helping them with and that they are proud of my work. It means so much to me feel appreciated in this way because I love helping and learning so much. It is very rewarding to know that the world beyond school will be impacted by my work because I am calling people from FindLaw messages, helping pre-interview people with potential cases and working on writing for clients. What did you learn about your own work from your internship project? I have gained more confidence in my writing abilities and have challenged myself to really step out of my comfort zone with my work. I have learned where my strong abilities are and how a career in Law would suit me very well. I find working in Law to be extremely satisfying, enjoyable and very rewarding. I have also learned that skills such as public speaking and my outgoing personality has helped me with connecting to not only other attorneys but also the clients I speak with on the phone and in person. Learning about Law and depositions, mediation, litigation and getting to help be apart of these things has taught me so much. I did not know that much about Law coming into this internship but I know that I am leaving with skills and memories that will last forever. I hope to intern with the firm next year as well because I love all everyone who who works here and the work I get to do. How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern? My view of life beyond high school has changed and developed during your time as an intern beyond words. I have learned so much in these 4 weeks and I have learned more about my passion even more and have achievable it is for me. I believe that I can achieve my goals and this internship has given me a lot of exposure in Law that I am very thankful for. I still have a very long ways to go but it is exciting knowing what I want to do and how I can help others through Law. I feel very confident that I will be happy with any of my possible outcomes after high school when it comes to college and career. I have a lot of options which is great and lots of time to figure out the details. How might internship influence the direction of your life? This internship has influenced the direction of your life immensely. I am 100% sure that I want to become an attorney and that I am on the right track to achieve my goals. This internship has taught me so many valuable skills and challenged me to go out of my comfort zone. My plan is to have many more internships in law and find what kind of Law I am most passionate about. Their are certain parts of employment law that I really like and some aspects I don't like that much. For example, I love standing up against injustice and it id very rewarding to see clients that are happy after being treated unfairly at work. I have been learning new things about legal work and have been working on writing assignments, organizational work, talking to clients, going to the courthouse and have made many new and different experiences. How did interpersonal relationships and/or collaboration at work influence your understanding of life outside of high school? Interpersonal relationships and collaboration at work have influenced my understanding of life outside of high school immensely. I believe that I have a great understanding of life outside of high school by understanding what is really important in life. This internship has shown me so much more about Law and how enjoyable I find the work to be. I love going to internship everyday and it being over soon is extremely bitter sweet. I have loved collaborating making interpersonal relationships at internship. They have told me about their lives now and past college and law experiences that are inspiring to me. Everyone who works at the firm is so positive and truly happy, I want my life to model certain aspects of theirs. So far I have had to advocate for myself everyday during internship because the attorneys can get very busy with work. When I need support or am confused about a certain task I am not afraid to ask when the time is appropriate. I have been following the advice on "How to be an intern everyone remembers"and it has been working out great. I especially use a notebook a lot everyday and taking good notes has helped me and the attorneys with work. Being on time, dressing professionally and getting to know my colleagues has been something I do everyday as well. I am always doing something because there is so much work that needs to be done. If I am not working on a client's case I am usually filing and helping organize trial binders.
For my project because I am working on a case preparing for mediation that is very confidential. I am writing a complaint for damages currently and have also been taking intakes and following up with clients and attorneys. I have a lot of work and am being challenged with my writing skills for this complaint. Being organized and taking good notes has been the most important skill so far. I have been putting together timelines for clients and learning a lot about law. I have a lot of support from my mentor and I am not afraid of self advocating and asking questions during this project. The writing aspect has been extremely exciting for me and I am very excited for my work to help others in a powerful way. I am getting to go to court and watch some very exciting cases with the attorneys at the firm. This project will be out of my comfort zone but I am extremely excited that the attorneys at the firm are trusting me with such meaning work for clients.
Questions with my mentor. Why did you choose to work here? She chose to work at a small law firm because she wanted to have a work and personal life balance. At a big law firm it is almost impossible to have that balance. She also knew she wanted to go into employment law and having all women working at the firm is a bonus too. Do you consider a career in this area satisfying? In what ways? It is extremely satisfying to see your clients happy and your happy with the outcome. Nothing is more exciting than winning and standing up against injustice. There are many highs and lows but the highs outweigh the lows. It can be incredibly frustrating at times but every job has those elements and there are much more good times than bad. What does it take to be successful in this organization? -You have to be a fast learner -Be ready for anything -Be a self starter because no will will hold your hand -Work hard and challenge yourself everyday -Be incredibly organized -Be very thorough Journal
So far after my third day interning with the Laura J Farris Law Firm I am feeling extremely grateful and very excited. They are an amazing team of hardworking, kind and compassionate women and I feel very inspired by them. So far what strikes me the most is how many people call, email and walk into the office everyday. I did not realize how busy employment law would be and I have really enjoyed taking intake calls and writing notes for the attorneys. My colleagues are under a lot of pressure sometimes with deadlines and it amazes me how positive, relaxed and kind they are under stress. There are always constant smiles everyday in the office even when there is a lot going on. I love getting to know everyone and they inspire me to achieve my goals of becoming an attorney too. What strikes me about the work that I am doing is that I was not expecting to get such exciting and confidential work. My expectation was that I would be doing just a lot of file-ling but they have given me some amazing projects to work on where I am learning so much about law. I got to go to the Vista court house for a little bit today and they have been teaching me so much about law by allowing me to work on real projects. I am extremely excited to keep learning more from them and continuing to work on my projects on real cases. All of the attorneys are very supportive of me and are letting me tag along on some exciting events such as hearings. I have no worries with this internship and I am extremely grateful and excited for this internship to continue until June 8th.
On Career Day 5/1/2018 I went and shadowed employees at the City of Oceanside and went to a lunch meeting with IAMPO. IAMPO is a non profit organization and I got to listen to the board members discuss upcoming events and business. My goal is to be a lawyer for a non profit organization and help others through non profit business and law. I met many city attorneys and got advice from over 10 adults. I arrived at the City of Oceanside at 7:00 am because they open for business at 9:00 am. They have costumers come in to get permits for building construction projects. They check there plans to make sure that they are compliant with the California building codes. After they get a permit they send out an inspector to make sure that work is being done correctly and then they retain the documents as permanent records so that future home owners know. Some people work in groups but most work individually on each task that they are assigned to. They work in offices and cubicles and one of the first things that they do everyday is check there calendars for there tasks. The general work policy is strict especially regarding tardiness, absence and dress code. It is not uncommon for someone to call in sick during bad times but it is not okay to be late or miss work. With IAMPO and the City of Oceanside they dress very professional. They wear blazers, button down shirts, business pants, belts, fancy shoes, professional dresses and it is important that they look professional because it is a government job and IAMPO is non profit business work. Career day was very insightful and speaking to lawyers and others who work in non profits I gained a lot of new knowledge and advice. Many gave me advice from personal experiences but also some people gave me advice from their college and career experiences with their children. I believe that all of my classes this semester will help me in this profession and that I can apply skills such as speaking Spanish, public speaking, collaboration, communication, reading, writing, organization and math in the future. Public speaking, collaboration and communication are essential in business and Law and I know that these skills will benefit me long term. Math is used in the City of Oceanside a lot because the inspectors and plans examiners use geometry for construction almost everyday regarding permits, plans and building codes. Every building code has requirements that use measurements to determine if they fit standards. At the city they also read an abundance of books because the California building code books are something that they rely on at work everyday. Spanish speaking is great because they work with the public and they need to be able to help others and communicate well. You also get paid more for bi-lingual pay if you pass the tests in a government job. Writing is very important because they write emails and letters to people everyday as well. The 3 notices are used in the building department after an inspector has seen a building. These can be used after disasters, floods, fires, car accidents, earthquakes, trees falling on buildings and many others to determine if a structure is a safety hazard or if it is safe for people. The building inspectors get called to work like firemen a lot in the middle of the night where they need to immediately put a sign up to determine if the building is safe for people to go inside right away. IAMPO also makes building codes and helps keep people safe with their building standards and volunteers who are also passionate about keeping people safe in construction. |
Gillian GansI am so grateful for this amazing opportunity to intern with the Laura J. Farris Law Firm. I have a huge passion for helping others, being an advocate for others and standing up against injustice. This internship in Law is fueling my passion even more towards following a career in Law. ArchivesCategories |