CGJ Summer Intern Update: So Heon Park

I interned with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office for the first half of my summer. I was assigned to the Criminal Trials Division because I expressed my interest in combatting human trafficking during the interview. I wanted to help the needy, poor, children, and vulnerable group in our society with my legal skills, and the Criminal Trials Division was the perfect fit this.

When I started my internship, there was one human trafficking case that attorneys in my division had been working on. The case involved an attorney and an eighty-three-year-old man, who took advantage of and sexually abused young female victims. Attorneys in my division gave me a permission to review and study the case file. The case file included all valuable information regarding this case.  Reviewing the file and consulting with the attorneys helped me learn how prosecutors plan and study cases. Moreover, I travel the city where the crime has been happening to attend interviews of witnesses and victims. By attending these interviews, I learned how female victims were victimized because of their vulnerable position. The attorney and the old man used their resources to take advantage of young female victims.

Through this case, I learned how prosecutors and investigators work together, question victims and witnesses to build their case, and try to protect vulnerable victims in our society, especially in human trafficking issues. Furthermore, I worked on legal research and writing to support the attorneys for this case.

Getting hands-on experience to protect the needy and vulnerable in our society was certainly valuable experience that I had not yet received in law school. This internship experience motivated me to think of my future career in criminal law, and I am very grateful that I got to know attorneys who seek justice and have hearts for the victims.