Wednesday July 12, 2017
Today was the first of such a fun experience. Today was day 1 of my law firm internship. At first I was crazy nervous and didn't know what was going to come out of it. I went to Epling Law, which is the law firm where I'll be doing my internship. The lawyer and I sat down and he basically told me everything that goes on at his firm. You see, Epling law is actually an estate law firm so the people that work for it do things that involve filing trusts, wills, guardianships, stuff like that. Aaron had asked me if I knew what estate law was and I thought it had to do with houses … man could I have been more wrong. Ultimately he gave me some homework which was to read his book about estate and probate law so I could get a feel for what he does. After that he allowed me to sit in on 2 meetings with his clients which was awesome and I felt like I was a lawyer too! But before I could do that, I had to sign an NDA(non disclosure agreement) and that's when I knew this was serious and that it was real life. Never in my life did I think I would be sworn to secrecy based on attorney client privilege … wow!! The meetings were so enlightening because I just realized that being a lawyer is real life and I'm doing it! Even though I was super nervous, today turned out to be a super cool day and I can't wait for the next.
Today was the first of such a fun experience. Today was day 1 of my law firm internship. At first I was crazy nervous and didn't know what was going to come out of it. I went to Epling Law, which is the law firm where I'll be doing my internship. The lawyer and I sat down and he basically told me everything that goes on at his firm. You see, Epling law is actually an estate law firm so the people that work for it do things that involve filing trusts, wills, guardianships, stuff like that. Aaron had asked me if I knew what estate law was and I thought it had to do with houses … man could I have been more wrong. Ultimately he gave me some homework which was to read his book about estate and probate law so I could get a feel for what he does. After that he allowed me to sit in on 2 meetings with his clients which was awesome and I felt like I was a lawyer too! But before I could do that, I had to sign an NDA(non disclosure agreement) and that's when I knew this was serious and that it was real life. Never in my life did I think I would be sworn to secrecy based on attorney client privilege … wow!! The meetings were so enlightening because I just realized that being a lawyer is real life and I'm doing it! Even though I was super nervous, today turned out to be a super cool day and I can't wait for the next.
Wednesday July 19, 2017
Another day another lesson to be learned! So was a lot more hands on productive. I was able to actually work with people's trust and assemble them together based upon the client's wishes. It sounds easy but parts were actually kind of difficult. We had to make copies of every section of the wills and or trusts and then file them in a specific order based on the order of the trusts. It was kind of boring but at the same time it was fun because I go to be doing stuff hands on which I never thought I'd be able to do as a highschool student. I also learned a lot about printers because those things have a lot of functions that I didn't even know existed! I worked on filing most of my time spent at the firm that day but we took a lunch break about half way through and we talked about what I wanted to major in college. I had assumed that majoring in pre law in college would be a good choice. Aaron actually told me something very important though today. He said that I actually shouldn't major in pre law. I should major in something that interests me because he said pre law would be a really burning and basic major. It gave me a lot to think about. After that we met with a client and that was it for the day.
Another day another lesson to be learned! So was a lot more hands on productive. I was able to actually work with people's trust and assemble them together based upon the client's wishes. It sounds easy but parts were actually kind of difficult. We had to make copies of every section of the wills and or trusts and then file them in a specific order based on the order of the trusts. It was kind of boring but at the same time it was fun because I go to be doing stuff hands on which I never thought I'd be able to do as a highschool student. I also learned a lot about printers because those things have a lot of functions that I didn't even know existed! I worked on filing most of my time spent at the firm that day but we took a lunch break about half way through and we talked about what I wanted to major in college. I had assumed that majoring in pre law in college would be a good choice. Aaron actually told me something very important though today. He said that I actually shouldn't major in pre law. I should major in something that interests me because he said pre law would be a really burning and basic major. It gave me a lot to think about. After that we met with a client and that was it for the day.
Thursday July 27, 2017
Today was super interesting! So I went to the office and filed a few more binders and such but then we had a special lunch to go to. It was the Rotary lunch at heritage golf club! Aaron had said that he thought it would be a great experience for me to see some of the older leaders of our community! Let me tell you it was a fun but very awkward experience. We walked into the room where the lunch was being held and because I was guest, I had to stand up and everyone welcome me and it was very intimidating because it was all the authorities and superiors of Hilliard! It was still fun though I met a lot of nice people, and some of them even turned out to be lawyers who Aaron knew. They had a guest speaker who was actually a speaker for the organization Sole Hope. I came to find out that Sole Hope is an organization who helps people in Uganda deal with jiggers that actually get stuff in their feet because they don't have shoes and their conditions are so bad. The people who are administrators of the group go on mission trips to Uganda and make the citizens shoes made out of tire and jeans! The whole story was very humbling. All in all the lunch was very fun because I got to meet other lawyers and some of the leaders of our community. I also found out that the Rotary club is actually an international version of interact club which I am apart of at Davidson so that was cool!
Today was super interesting! So I went to the office and filed a few more binders and such but then we had a special lunch to go to. It was the Rotary lunch at heritage golf club! Aaron had said that he thought it would be a great experience for me to see some of the older leaders of our community! Let me tell you it was a fun but very awkward experience. We walked into the room where the lunch was being held and because I was guest, I had to stand up and everyone welcome me and it was very intimidating because it was all the authorities and superiors of Hilliard! It was still fun though I met a lot of nice people, and some of them even turned out to be lawyers who Aaron knew. They had a guest speaker who was actually a speaker for the organization Sole Hope. I came to find out that Sole Hope is an organization who helps people in Uganda deal with jiggers that actually get stuff in their feet because they don't have shoes and their conditions are so bad. The people who are administrators of the group go on mission trips to Uganda and make the citizens shoes made out of tire and jeans! The whole story was very humbling. All in all the lunch was very fun because I got to meet other lawyers and some of the leaders of our community. I also found out that the Rotary club is actually an international version of interact club which I am apart of at Davidson so that was cool!
Monday August 14, 2017
Today was my first day back to the law firm since I got back from Florida and it was a pretty normal day. I went to the office and filed some more trusts and wills just like any other day. We were supposed to have a meeting with a client but they didn't show and I had to leave earlier than usual because I had to go to work. Aaron and I held a meeting on the phone with two other attorneys to discuss a future case they were going to work on together. Honestly it was a really confusing phone call because they were talking about stuff that didn't have to deal with estate and probate law which I have been studying for a few weeks now. But it's okay because Aaron said he was even a little confused too. All in all it was a pretty normal day, but Aaron gave me a cool shirt from his firm!!
Today was my first day back to the law firm since I got back from Florida and it was a pretty normal day. I went to the office and filed some more trusts and wills just like any other day. We were supposed to have a meeting with a client but they didn't show and I had to leave earlier than usual because I had to go to work. Aaron and I held a meeting on the phone with two other attorneys to discuss a future case they were going to work on together. Honestly it was a really confusing phone call because they were talking about stuff that didn't have to deal with estate and probate law which I have been studying for a few weeks now. But it's okay because Aaron said he was even a little confused too. All in all it was a pretty normal day, but Aaron gave me a cool shirt from his firm!!
Tuesday August 15th, 2017
Well today was a very busy day because it was my last day as an intern at Epling Law. My senior Capstone project was coming to an end, and at the beginning of this process Aaron promised me we would go visit the Franklin County Courthouse downtown so that's what we did today. For most of the trip I was in aw. I never thought I would be in the franklin county court house with a real lawyer!! We went through the whole process of what it takes to get a case dismissed and might I just say there were so many stops! Within the court house there are many divisions and we were in the probate division. Within that division alone there was anywhere from 7-15 stops where we had to get things signed, stamped, recorded, etc. it was crazy!! Not only were all the things you have to do for a case intimidating, but the courthouse itself was too. Right when you walk in there is a security station where they search everything you bring in and then you go through a metal detector. It was high security for sure and we weren't even in the criminal building, we were in the civil building. Not to mention the building was huge and honestly if I wasn't with someone who knew there way around it, I would've probably got lost. It was definitely awesome to see and one go the best times of the whole internship itself!
Well today was a very busy day because it was my last day as an intern at Epling Law. My senior Capstone project was coming to an end, and at the beginning of this process Aaron promised me we would go visit the Franklin County Courthouse downtown so that's what we did today. For most of the trip I was in aw. I never thought I would be in the franklin county court house with a real lawyer!! We went through the whole process of what it takes to get a case dismissed and might I just say there were so many stops! Within the court house there are many divisions and we were in the probate division. Within that division alone there was anywhere from 7-15 stops where we had to get things signed, stamped, recorded, etc. it was crazy!! Not only were all the things you have to do for a case intimidating, but the courthouse itself was too. Right when you walk in there is a security station where they search everything you bring in and then you go through a metal detector. It was high security for sure and we weren't even in the criminal building, we were in the civil building. Not to mention the building was huge and honestly if I wasn't with someone who knew there way around it, I would've probably got lost. It was definitely awesome to see and one go the best times of the whole internship itself!