This week was the final week of internships. I have felt like I have really connected with the people in the Law Firm. I have talked to the attorneys, paralegals, and secretary. I feel like I helped contribute by helping alleviate some second hand tasks. The paralegals and attorneys have very important deadlines to meet and work to be finished. They don’t have time to be worrying about copying important documents needed and creating forms. I helped them out with this almost on a daily basis meaning they could put more time into the cases that were at hand. When having to create exhibit lists, we need copies of receipts and forms of clients. That in itself takes a very long time to finish. They have to find the documents in the clients folder which could eat up most of their time. Copying them, and then putting them in chronological order is very difficult. In internship my mentor didn’t have to worry about that. I looked for the documents, I set them up and copied them. When forms like G-28’s ( to show USCIS who is representing an applicant) and EOIR-28 (form needed when coming before an immigration judge) were needed, I did them. This way I was doing the secondary work while the paralegals were doing the primary work. I helped the attorney with translating letters and birth certificates from Spanish to English or vice versa. I also think I helped lighten up the mood a little bit. In the office I was in, I was with Vicente, who is a paralegal. With him I broke the ice and began to talk about music. Next thing I knew I was talking to him and asking him questions on a regular basis. I enjoyed my time talking with them and discussing things that they want, a bit relieving from just having to worry about work. Overall, these 4 weeks have been very enjoyable and I think that is because I put in an amount of effort that I am proud of. I’m not regretting putting too little and wishing I put more. I did everything to the best of my ability and did more when I had to.
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Week 3 of my internship was very interesting and fun. I absolutely love my internship as it is so demanding at times. I have felt like it has really shaped me up as a person. The experience so far has been good especially with the people I have been working with. This week had some hard deadlines especially with some documents needed for court. We had to create exhibit lists which are supposed to prove an immigrants presence in the United States for X amount of years. This can be challenging as some people exhibit lists are larger than others. Having to work on them is very time consuming as you have to look at receipts that can prove that an immigrant has been in the United States for so many years. Not only that, but also finding important receipts can also be hard and that is why it took time this week. Luckily my mentor guides me through the process so I’m not alone. The paralegal Vicente also helps out and is always eager to answer my questions. He also makes internship super interesting as I have someone to talk to during internship and I feel excited to work everyday with them! As I said I had to do these exhibit lists and I was not alone. We had to go into crunch time as we needed to turn in the exhibit lists soon. Pretty much that week all hands were on deck. It was super cool seeing how efficient a working environment is when everyone has a task to achieve. My mentor, Miriam, was doing her own things while I was doing the exhibits. If I needed help I got help. If I needed to talk to one of the lawyers I talked to them. This week I feel like I got even closer with the people at the internship as I feel that now I have been doing work that is important. I feel like I have achieved something this week and this one was one for the books.
This second week I had to work on organization a lot more as we received more mail and I had more work on my hand. In my second week of internships, I got very comfortable around my colleagues. I got to interact with them through conversations about who they are and the things that they enjoy to do. I gotta to connect with them as I too share some of the hobbies and interests as them. As we talked more and more I was able to pick up on some of the qualities they have. Vicente is a very hardworking and motivated person. He told me how he pushed through high school and college to be the best. He always had that push to want to achieve greatness. When he interacts with clients whether its through the phone or in person he is always very professional. That is a quality I want to acquire as it will help with interacting with more people in a professional environment. My mentor, Miriam, also shares the same qualities. I notice with her that is she is a very caring person. She is always checking up with me and asking how I am doing. That quality is one that I want to acquire as it will make me a better person all around. It is important as people like her help people progress in life with the support she gives. That is that that I would like to do. I want to help others and I know that by doing so I first have to be able to care and support others. Another quality that I want to acquire is organization. Both Vicente and Miriam are very organized. They have a whole system set up for when it comes to receiving mail, updating a client's case, and receiving clients. In the 2 weeks that I have been working with them I have been able to work on my organization skills by following their example. I know that organization is key in life so acquiring this skill early in life will help me in preparing for school and work.
Rob Riordan is trying to explain that with internships, it will give you a new sense of self worth. If you feel like you can’t do well in school, then you will feel like you can do well in life. To many school makes them lose hope in the future as it is so embedded in our head that without education you are not successful. For my internship, I hope that I get a meaningful internship experience in which I can see how hard it is to be an immigration lawyer. I want to understand how rigorous it is to become a lawyer especially in the immigration department. I am still somewhat unsure of whether or not I myself would like to become a lawyer but I think I am looking into it because I want to help people. I feel that be helping others I am actually doing something well. I don't like looking out for my self interest because I know that there are many problems in the world. That is why I choose to help others. I have a good work ethic that has helped me out in my classroom with project work since freshman year. I have had moments in which I have had all the work load put on me and it was up to me push through. I had to push through because I knew that if I didn’t get the work done, no one else will. I feel like that is what is going to help me in internship.
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AuthorIker Garcia Archives
June 2019
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