How My Internship Does/Does Not Fit My Future

Ever since I read my first book that featured a lawyer as a character, I had been intrigued by this profession. The first book that I read with someone as a lawyer was Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen by Dyan Sheldon, with Carla Santini's father being an entertainment lawyer. Two summers ago, I read The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty, where all of the main characters' parents were lawyers. That book also featured a transcript of a hearing, which really interested me. Finally, this year in English, we read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, where the main characters' father, Atticus, was a lawyer. With these three books, I ended up being so fascinated by law that I decided to research and try it out, which led me to this internship.

As with books, movies with law aspects caught my attention as well. I became fascinated with the legal system because of the movies Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2. I really enjoyed watching both of Elle's testimonies when she figured out a way to stump her opponents and win her cases. Erin Brockovich, which I saw in my Health class, was also a good film about a legal issue, especially since the paralegal, not the attorney, solved the case. And of course, since we

read To Kill a Mockingbird in class, we also saw the movie. Atticus's defense was very appealing, especially his closing statement (in both the book and movie).

Originally, I was thinking of going into entertainment law. As I mentioned above, in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Mr. Santini was an entertainment and media lawyer. By the description of the author, I felt very fascinated with this occupation. However, now that I've had a chance to talk with Matt Pavone about law, I've realized that I might enjoy other branches of law too.

Mr. Pavone told me that no matter what kind of lawyer you are, you're going to see that whatever you explore will help you out one way or another. Because there's a wide variety of legal professions, and many different situations in each branch, you might start to study fish one day and then end up using that information for a criminal case you

have that has to do with something pertaining to fish.

I have learned a lot from this internship, including what it takes to become a lawyer. To start off with, you should have a twelve-year high school degree, plus a four-year college degree, and finally a three-year law degree, otherwise known as a Juris Doctorate. Besides this, it helps to have practice as an associate at a law firm when you're in your second or third year in law school. When going to law school, it's important to choose your location wisely. If you get into

a top five or top fifteen law school, you can go work basically anywhere. Any school in the middle of the scale will most likely have to be based on the location where you want to work after you finish your law studies because you'll want to practice in a law firm while you're in law school, and so therefore would want to live close by.

Of course, to get into law school, you have to pass the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), similar to the SAT in high school for getting into a good college. Also, it's important to have excellent grades and a high GPA to make it to college and beyond.

With the help of Matt and Laura, I've found that this internship has benefitted me tremendously in taking my next step for my future. I'm 95% sure that I want to be an attorney after I finish college, and this experience has caused most of this confidence.