By: Rachael Kroeger
I am nearing the end of my internship, and I can safely say I have learned more about judicial training institutes than I ever thought possible! As I have been conducting research on other judicial training institutes, I have found myself challenged in my organizational skills by having to be professional in how I organized and presented the research I found. This was probably the most challenging part of the internship for me, and it was the goal that revealed to me what I needed to work on even still as I move forward into the oncoming school year. I have found that with this extreme level of depth in research, it can be a challenge for me to properly gather extensive information, process that information, and coherently piece it together in a way that is concise and easy to understand for the Justice receiving my research.
My absolute favorite part of the research process has been when I have had the opportunity to reach out to judicial officers both locally (in the United States) and abroad. I had the honor of interviewing Judge Liliana Ortega from Nogales, Arizona and William Brunson, Director of Special Projects for the National Judicial College of the United States. In interviewing Judge Ortega and Mr. Brunson, I was able to further develop my oral communication skills as the interviews called for me to effectively communicate what I was researching, what I had learned, and how I planned to implement the information gained from them into a new curriculum. Specifically, in speaking with Mr. Brunson, I was fascinated to learn how the United States interacts with other countries in regards to providing legal training and assistance in program growth. Judicial ethics is always a heavy topic internationally, and how that topic is approached depends on each country’s judicial system, how well people are paid there, and if they are at all known for corruption. Depending on the ethical status of a country, the National Judicial College of the United States will work to implement a heavy-handed ethical curriculum to show how a corrupt system cannot be sustainable. The organization also provides workshops on how to manage cases effectively, pretrial procedures, how to analyze statutes, statutory construction, decision making processes, and implicit bias.
Due to the nature of my remote internship, I do not feel as if I have developed legal skills that someone may typically develop in a legal internship. Since I could not physically be at the Ugandan Supreme Court to work and research, my assigned duties shifted towards a greater focus on managerial and system-oriented tasks rather than actual research on legal issues themselves. However, I do feel that I developed in my ability to create and implement systems that directly benefit judicial officers, which directly influences the effectiveness of how people practice law. I have a greater understanding of what judicial officers in different levels of the judicial system are expected to know and the different expectations placed upon them as they interact with the judicial system. I also feel I have grown in my confidence and ability to communicate with lawyers and judges covering a wide range of legal fields and positions, which will directly impact how I interact with colleagues and people of authority in my future legal endeavors.
This post was written by a student at Regent University School of Law. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.