Monday at the Advanced Law & Justice Reform Internship

Music played throughout the hallways of New South as our staff went door to door in fun costumes to wake the interns up for the day. The interns headed towards the lounges to choose from a yummy breakfast spread of toast, bagels, coffee, cereal, apple juice, orange juice, bananas, and oranges. After everyone was fueled for the day, they headed downstairs to start walking towards their first lecture from Rebecca Bloch, the lawyer they will be working with throughout the week.

To start the day off, Rebecca spoke about the New Youth Rehabilitation Act for D.C. Code Sentences. She defined the law and discussed how this new law applies to the cases that the interns were assigned and the significance of having the ability to seal a record from an offense committed before the brain was fully developed.

The interns then had the opportunity to begin looking into the cases that they were assigned to, viewing the case files, arrest records, and biographies of their clients. Everyone was very eager to dig into the cases and they began to write questions they had for their clients into their notes that they would be able to ask later in the night to fill in the holes they had within the case files. The interns were able to think strategically and critically about what types of questions were relevant to the cases and how to structure their interviews with their clients.

After reviewing their cases and discussing what they wanted to know from their clients in their groups, the interns headed to lunch to dig into cuisine from local restaurants around Georgetown. Lots of laughter filled the room as the interns were able to chat with their new friends and meet new people from other programs. 

The interns then heard from David Karpf as he gave the interns an introduction to advocacy and lobbying, highlighting the ways in which individuals structure arguments and how to make your own thoughts stand out amongst all of the noise. He even discussed his own experience of changing the structure of a conversation to communicate more effectively, sharing his story of what was known as “bedbug gate,” involving Twitter, himself, a comment he made, and Brent Kavenaugh.

After this, the interns had the opportunity to continue working on their cases, many of them beginning to fill in the template for a motion to seal a client’s record under the Youth Rehabilitation Act of 2018 and highlighting any sections where they needed more information that they would find out from their client interviews later that night. Rebecca then discussed the basics of how to write a legal brief and how to form oral arguments in order to aid the interns in their drafting of motions for their clients and prepare them for their oral argument presentation on Friday.

The interns then heard from the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth with a presentation given by Crystal Carpenter and Eddie Ellis, discussing CSFYS’s mission to give children a second chance. Then, the interns heard from Patrice Sulton who works at the D.C. Justice Project which works to research, mobilize, and advocate for large-scale changes to the criminal legal system. 

Everyone enjoyed their dinners after this, with some interns making the finishing touches on the questions they wanted to ask their clients in their interviews. The interns were back in the Intercultural Center after this to meet the clients that they had prepared questions for. Each room was filled with bright smiles and laughter as the groups were able to meet and learn from one another. One of the clients even received a fun birthday gift and song from the interns!

As the end of the day approached, the interns headed back to the dorms, did their nightly routines, and headed to bed, excited for the day ahead.