Good Essay On Criminal Court Internship

The criminal court internship that I recently completed has been one of the most valuable educational experiences of my entire life. Up to now, most of my knowledge of law and legal matters was theoretical in nature and came from the classroom. I have always known that theoretical knowledge is not merely enough when it comes to law. Although theoretical classes equip one with massive knowledge on the legal discipline, it does not actually prepare one for the real life experience in the judicial field. I was therefore very eager to experience a real life legal scenario to see if the knowledge I had learnt in the classroom was applicable. I was very lucky to get an internship position in one of the local criminal courts. During this period, I was able to observe how legal matters and issues play out in the courts and how cases and offenders are handled. I was also able to observe how decisions are made and how compromises are arrived at in case of disagreements.
I have to admit that during the first days, I was almost overwhelmed. I had attended several court sessions in the course of my lifetime but had never been actively involved in any of the legal proceedings. Therefore, I was taken aback by how hectic the process can be. Court officials and personnel have to engage in a lot of preparation in order to ensure that everything runs smoothly during the court session. I learnt that nothing is left to chance, and almost everything that happens in the courtroom is preplanned. For instance, the prosecutors often spend days and nights creating and going over their opening statements, main points as well as closing remarks. In addition, they have to be adequately prepared for any unseeen scenarios that may arise in the course of a court session. Moreover, other personnel have to construct timetables for the court sessions and ensure that they are adequately followed.
I was very happy to be assigned to the criminal law court as criminal law is the discipline that I see myself in, in the future. I was able to observe in full swing our country’s judicial system in action.
Perhaps, one of the most interesting observations that I made is that a classroom experience is significantly different from the courtroom experience. This is not to mean that there are no similarities at all. There are and, in fact, I found that many of the concepts that I had learnt in class were very applicable in the courtroom. The difference came in how they were exactly applied.
In class, I had learnt of specific ways to approach different legal problems that may be related to things such witnesses, warrants, evidence and so on. However, in the actual court scenario, I learnt that there is no one specific or one right way of doing things or solving problems. One has to be prepared to make an impromptu choice and sometimes even result to unplanned actions since it is impossible to tell what the other party in court proceeding may argue. For example, the defense lawyer of a criminal may bring to the fore the argument of insanity and in such a situation, the prosecutor and his associates (myself included) have to come with a swift reaction or otherwise risk losing the case.
Therefore, I learn that unlike the classroom experience, the courtroom is very intensive, and one always has to be on their toes. In the class, the professor had always given sample cases to try to construct some sample arguments. I also had the same experience during my internship only that in this situation, I was dealing with real cases. Dealing with real cases was no easy task and was in fact not comparable to the hypothetical cases that I had been used to deal with in the classroom. However, the whole experienced introduced me to a whole new world of making criminal arguments. I received a lot of guidance from judges, magistrates, prosecutors and other court officials, and I now hold the belief that I have almost perfected this skill.
I was also lucky in the course of my internship to sit it on many criminal trials. This gave me an opportunity to observe how criminals and their defense lawyers behave in court. I was also lucky to attend several sentencing and pleading hearings where I once again observed some crucial aspects of court proceedings. Once again, I found the experience to be very educational.
These proceedings gave me a deep insight on what it actually means to practice law in a real criminal court. Watching both the prosecution as well as the defense attorneys presenting their arguments was an exhilarating experience. Watching the judges and the magistrates preside over these proceedings and apply the rule of law was also mind stimulating.
In addition, the sentencing and the passing of judgments were simply moments to savor. After sitting through court proceeding, for example, I would make up in my mind or postulate the judgment that the judge or the jury was bound to pass based on the strengths of each side’s argument. I got it right sometimes but on other occasions, some of the verdicts took me by surprise.
There are particularly several cases that I remember quite vividly. Based on the arguments and the evidence presented before the court, I was sure that the court would give a no guilt verdict. However, some of the decisions that was made shocked me very much whereby the offenders were found guilty of all their crimes and given various kinds of punishment.
This internship has been very valuable to me. Not only, have I learnt how the law is applied in a real court, my report writing skills have been significantly improved. One of my duties as an intern was to prepare various kinds of legal reports and analysis. Through this experience, I believe that my analytical and my report writing skills have been improved quite tremendously.
The internship has also removed any doubts I might have about the career field that I want to venture in. My mind is already made up that criminal law is the discipline for me. The various experiences I have had while being an intern the criminal court have exposed me to the beauty of this discipline and I have realized that it espouses almost all the characteristics and features that I hope to encounter as a lawyer. The fact that I have loved the experience so much means that I am ready to venture into their discipline when I am ready. I plan to use this experience to boost my knowledge on criminal law even as I make steps towards becoming a criminal law in future.