Grinnell-in-Washington

Public Defender's Office
D.C. is great! My internship is wonderful. I just went through a very intensive training with the Public Defender Service last week, where we learned how to track people down, interview witnesses, take statements, serve subpoenas, and so much more. There are about 30 other interns here this semester. I just got assigned my attorney, who is starting to work on some major murder cases. I spent yesterday shadowing a staff investigator who was trying to track a client down. All of the attorneys I've met here are the most amazing people - passionate and dedicated, clever and funny - they have to be in their line of work. And everyone here is so appreciative of the interns, because we do so much of the investigative work that builds a defense case. Several of the lawyers repeat a maxim that if they had to choose between an ok lawyer and a great investigator, they would go with the best investigator. The amount of respect, work, and responsibility we are given here is great. The atmosphere is also great - people are socially conscious, laid-back (until trial time), and we have staff happy hours every Friday.