Week 1

I am doing an internship for the Department of Assigned Counsel, under William Wolf. William works with dependency cases and includes me in every step along the way. I started last Monday and to say that this has been an eye opening experience thus far would be an understatement. Before we get to specifics about what I did last week, I should map out what we do. Everything I do is very hands on, ranging from meeting with clients, reading up on them, contacting clients and going to court. Oh I forgot the occasional paper work. Last week I was thrown right into the fire. It was basically a week of shadowing William and getting familiar with his case loads. He has assigned me certain clients to contact weekly to follow up with their court ordered services. Once I got all these files organized for myself, William and I went to court, for some review hearings. This week being Judiciary Conference week, there was no more than one case a day for William. Court was a big surprise because I thought it would be a whole bunch of people arguing about what kid should go where, but it wasn't. Everyone works very well together and the only drama that happens is from the clients. As mentioned earlier I meet with clients and I have three stories that really opened my eyes not only to the legal world, but what many people deal with everyday. For the sake of privacy I will be using false names or no names at all.
My first client I got to meet with was getting ready to go to court for a hearing about his unborn child. He did not know if it was his, but thought it was because he had been in this situation before. William and I learned through our interview of him that the child would be taken away once it was born because the mother was using drugs while carrying. William has been working with this client on three previous cases and learned for the first time that he has eleven other children. That was shocking to me because he was not much older than myself. We are still waiting on what will happen, but this first case was eye opening for me because these are things someone cannot makeup.
My second client was a first time meeting, where William and I sat down to figure out what his goals are for this case. He was court ordered to got to DV training and he refuses because he was never found guilty of the accusations and he feels like if he goes he is admitting guilt. This is the only thing he has to do to get his kids back and he refuses. After an hour of painfully trying to convince him William asked me to talk to him. I took him to the restroom and told him this is all he needed to do and that we are willing to work with him. I told him William would be willing to work with him if he did this. Once we came back to William's office, the client (we'll call him K) agreed to check into the classes and attend them. This case helped me realize that I can help even if I am not a lawyer.
My final client I worked with was at a pre-court meeting. This is when all parties involved get together and talk about what can be done to get their children back. We were meeting with two parents who lost their children because of drug abuse. During this meeting the mom shared a great story how she has been clean for seven months and is taking the proper steps to get their children back. The father was the opposite. He refused to take the proper steps, however once he heard this story he broke down in tears and realized he can do the same thing. In the matter of 30 minutes I saw a man change because he saw that he had both legal and moral support to become clean.
These are just some of the people I get to work with on a day to day basis. I am excited for the rest of this quarter to learn and to meet these different people. Furthermore, learning the legal ins and outs are helping me shape my mind for the future.