Tackling Assignments at a Summer Law Internship
May 21 2012Contributor Eugene Y. Kim is a Professor of Legal Research and Writing at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Follow him on Twitter at @lrwprof.
In many ways, the research and writing projects that you take on during your summer legal internship will be similar to the assignments you worked on in your legal research and writing course in law school. But they won’t be the same.
Handling research and writing assignments in the workplace requires more than just solid research and IRAC skills. For starters, your assigning attorney will want you to approach your work as a lawyer, not as a law student. That means that after identifying the issues, researching the relevant law, and applying the law to the facts, you will also be expected to think critically about the ultimate impact on your client’s case. Based on your analysis, how is the court likely to resolve the pending issue? And how should the client proceed? If you’re not asking (and answering) those questions, you are still thinking like a law student and not like a lawyer.
You will also need to take a more active role in handling your summer legal projects than you did for your research and writing assignments in law school. Here are some tips for doing that well.
Know what you are being asked to do. What is an assigning attorney looking for if she asks you to research an issue and “write up” your findings? Some lawyers like traditional memos while others prefer less formal email reports. Still others may just want printouts of the relevant cases along with a copy of your notes on them. Find out exactly what your assigning attorney wants. No matter how well written your final product is, it isn’t likely to thrill the assigning attorney if it’s not what she wanted.
Know how long your final product should be and how much time you should spend on it. A target number of pages will give you a clue to the breadth and depth of research and analysis that is expected, and a time estimate will help keep you on track. You want to know if you’re going down the wrong path, and if you’ve spent two days researching a question that the assigning attorney said should take you two hours, you probably are. Keep in mind that an experienced practitioner may underestimate the time required to do a project because she has forgotten how long it used to take her to do the work when she was a new attorney. But if you find yourself going way over the estimated time, check in with her to make sure you haven’t misunderstood the assignment.
Know your deadline. “As soon as possible” means different things to different people. Actually knowing the deadline goes a long way in helping you meet it. Be sure you are clear on when the assigning attorney wants your work, and assume that the deadline is a hard one unless she specifically tells you otherwise.
Find examples. Almost certainly, someone in your office has already done work similar to what you are now being asked to do. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Find out where and how your employer archives past work product, then search for templates or samples that you can use as a starting point for your own work. Just be sure that you always do your own research to make sure that any authorities cited are still good law.
Know where to turn for help. Try to identify the junior- and mid-level attorneys in the office to whom you can turn for advice if you get stuck or lost on an assignment. They’ve been in your situation before and will likely be able to help you find your way faster than if you tried to find it on your own. If they have experience working with your specific assigning attorney, ask for inside information on the assigning attorney’s likes, dislikes, and overall working style. That kind of information can guide you in your interactions with the assigning attorney and help you better tailor your ultimate work product. Even if they haven’t worked directly with your assigning attorney before, they may be able to suggest good research leads, recommend secondary sources that you weren’t aware of, or otherwise offer tips on how to approach your assignment. Research librarians can also be very helpful along these lines, especially when you are researching an area of law that is new to you. Get to know your librarian and learn how to work with him effectively. Getting to know the attorneys in your office isn’t just a good way to help you successfully complete your summer assignments; it’s also a great way to develop your network and find mentors who can help you even after your summer internship ends.
Keep the lines of communication open. One of the most common criticisms of summer interns is lack of communication on the status of work for an assignment. Check in regularly with your assigning attorney to keep her apprised of your progress, even if just to report that all is well and you are keeping on top of things. Let her know immediately if you encounter any problems or unexpected developments, especially if they raise new questions or are likely to impact your ability to deliver your work on time. Besides managing the assigning attorney’s expectations, regular status updates are helpful because they invite her to offer suggestions on how best to proceed—suggestions that she might not have thought to make at the outset of the project.
Don’t forget the “little things.” Even if you have only been asked to submit a draft, your assigning attorney will expect your work to be formatted properly, free of spelling and grammatical errors, and edited for organization and clarity. She will also expect that all citations conform to the appropriate citation form rules, and that they have been Shepardized or KeyCited. Your attention to detail on these “little things” will seriously affect your credibility and the assigning attorney’s opinion of the quality of your work, so budget ample time to thoroughly proofread and edit everything that you submit.