Summer Law Intern Position

Summer law intern positions were open to second and third year law school students attending an American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law school (see ABA, 2010). For the 2010 summer (commencing May and ending in August), internships were a ten week opportunity for selected law students to gain field-based practical experience whilst working within an indigent criminal defence quasi-governmental organisation. Fourteen internships were available and were located in the following Judicial Circuit Corporations (and cities):

First (Wheeling); Fifth (Ripley); Sixth/Twenty-Fourth (Huntington/Wayne); Seventh (Logan);

Eighth (Welch); Ninth (Princeton); Tenth (Beckley); Twelfth (Fayetteville); Thirteenth (Charleston); Fifteenth (Clarksburg); Eighteenth (Kingwood); Twenty-Third (Martinsburg);

Twenty-Fifth (Madison); and Twenty-Eight (Summersville).

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Internships require incumbents to perform at least 400 hours of work. Compensation was based upon the same rates as the Public Interest Advocate fellowship programme at WVU (see WVU-PIA, 2010): $480.00 [£320] per week or $12.00 [£8] per hour with medical benefits and paid leave not being in the compensation scheme. However, an additional benefit provided to selected interns was the reimbursement of expenses associated with attending the Annual West Virginia Public Defender Conference.

The primary purpose of internships was to expose students to indigent criminal defence processes through work experience. This serves as a primary recruiting tool by the Research Centre to identify potential future employees. In West Virginia, Rule 10 of the Rules for Admission to the Practice of Law allows law students to operate under fully licenses and good standing attorneys to represent indigent defendants in legal proceedings provided that certain criteria and provisions are met (see SCA, 2010). This primary criterion is that legal representation is limited to students that have completed four semesters in an approved programme and recent (i.e. within six months) graduates of approved law programmes (SCA, 2010). For representation, interns were not limited by the severity of the charge(s) or the number of charges, but by the constant supervision from a West Virginia licensed practitioner in good standing. By providing interns with field-based experiences within this criminal defence environment, individuals are more likely to consider full-time work as public criminal defence attorneys after completing law school. According to the Research Centre, students perceived the actual practise of legal representation a critical hedonic benefit to intern compensation.

In addition to legal representation, interns conduct legal research and provide feedback on cases handled by the Corporations. Interns may prepare reports, draft legal briefs and motions, interpret legal opinions and various documents and provide legal advice.

An intern might interview clients and investigate crime scenes. As these are high level professional interns, specific job duties and responsibilities will vary amongst offices;

however, the core duties and responsibilities will remain similar.

For internships to have been available, several events must have coincided. The Chief Defender (i.e. managing attorney) of a Corporation must have requested an intern.

Each May under a comprehensive budget review process, Chief Defenders are polled on the number of interns desired. Provided financial constraints are not deterrents, Chief Defenders have until the following May to make decisions since interns start between end of May and early June.

-112- 4.5.2 Recruitment

Recruiting is the process of motivating external job-seekers to apply for positions within an organisation. Sometimes recruitment efforts were short of targeted job-seekers and requirements were modified.

“Do you ever have a problem with getting enough applications?” (Researcher).

“Yes. We use first years then” (S2).

“Law schools don’t let you work your first year. But because they have finished their first year, technically it’s OK” (S1).

On very rare occasions when qualified candidates were not available, first year law students have been recruited after consultations with the respective law schools. Since first year law students could be provisionally accepted as the academic term has concluded and the internships occurred after the first academic year. Adjusting these personnel specifications from second and third year students to first year students has been done on two occasions and was always made by S1 without any basis in a formal process. An example of a provision for the student would be a requirement to maintain good academic standing.

Between October and November, S1 and S2 visit ASL, ONU, and WVU to interview individuals seeking internships. Résumés are received from interested law students prior to visiting these schools with some résumés being presented during interviews. In rare instances, when job-seekers outside the three primary law schools enquire about intern opportunities, they are directed to submit a résumé and are subsequently interviewed by phone. During this research, one student enquired about internships.

4.5.3 Placement

Selection decisions to place interns occurred in January. Sometimes candidates having accepted internships fail to report for work at which time they are contacted to enquire reasons for not reporting to work. Past reasons provided include: Accepted another employment offer, family emergency, and decided not to accept an intern offer. The Research Centre notes that individuals failing to report to work did not appear to fit into any specific demographic group.

Most interns had not met with individuals from Corporations that they would eventually employ them prior to the first day of employment. Thus, intern expectations and perceptions most likely resulted from interactions with screeners. On rare occasions, a Chief Defender may request specific students for internships. When this occurs, the requested

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student, provided (s)he has met the minimum eligibility requirements, was offered the internship with the requesting Corporation prior to the Research Centre considering other applicants. Usually when a Chief Defender made a request, the request stemmed from having previously supervised an individual or otherwise having met with the individual seeking an internship.