I have learned so much during my internship at the Office of Public Defender Services. I learned some skills that would translate to any job, such as how to unjam a copier. I also learned skills specific to the legal field such as how to properly write a transcript digest; how to conduct legal research; how to analyze police and medical reports, 911 calls, and autopsy photos; and how to prepare a client for trial. Furthermore, I learned an important lesson. There are few truly evil people in this world. There are a lot of people from bad circumstances and with mental health issues that need help and a good lawyer to protect their constitutional rights and advocate for sentences that are truly rehabilitative instead of punitive.

This internship has definitely impacted my career path. I have always known that I want to be a lawyer, but I wasn’t sure about which area I would like to practice. After this internship, I would definitely want to be a public defender.

To any students who may intern in the future, definitely put time and effort into finding an internship that will help crystallize what you want to do as a career. If you want to intern somewhere like your local public defender’s office, be prepared to see some pretty horrific stuff. However, it is an experience I highly recommend due to the interesting and fulfilling nature of the work.

I’m really enjoying life as an intern. Everyone I work with is so friendly and impressive. It’s just a really great experience. I’m getting to spend a lot of time with my fellow legal interns. We get to talk and hang out with each other and the permanent workers there during our lunch break. The office makes me feel like part of the team in multiple ways. I’ve felt like a member of the team when I’ve contributed to the team’s goals by helping to create defense strategies for our clients, been allowed to participate in group meetings, and when the water cooler broke and flooded the office, everyone from the head of our office to us interns was mopping the floor with paper towels that just would not absorb any water. It was so frustrating that we all just started laughing instead and it was a real bonding experience for the office. 

I’m living at home and commuting about 30 minutes there and back to work. Living at home, I get to enjoy a mixture of home cooked food and local restaurants. For special occasions, like Father’s Day or family birthdays, we go to several restaurants. For Italian food, Lion’s Bleeker Street is the best place around. The Red Rooster Grill and 99 are also good places that happen to be owned by parents of my sister’s friends. For late night food, there’s the classic 24 hour Blue Colony Diner with the best pancakes I have ever tasted. For fun, I go to the beach, pool, movies, or in to New York City because it’s only about an hour away. 

In the course of my internship, some of the work I have done is

 – Visited prisoners in lockup, jails, and prisons

– Read case briefs

– Organized reports signed by witnesses and expert witnesses to be used at trial and to develop strategies

– Contributed to strategies for defending various defendants

– Analyzed security cam footage

– Analyzed witness and defendant police interviews

– Went through cell phone extractions

– Analyzed autopsy photos

– Participated in witness investigations

– Prepped defendants for trial

– Helped deliver subpoenas 

– Summarized trial transcripts

– Engaged in legal research

    I really don’t have a typical day or major responsibilities that stay consistent from day to day because every day is different based on what trials are going on, our clients needs, and where the lawyers currently are in the cases. Some days are more intense than others and filled with court dates and prison visits and other times we’re just doing research. 

 Most of my classes include reading and analyzing texts in order to obtain important information. I have translated those skills into reading police reports, witness statements, 911 call transcripts, and other written documents in order to pick out the information that is either helpful or damaging to our clients. I took a moot court class last year that involved reading many Supreme Court opinions. Learning how to read such documents has helped me to quickly and competently conduct legal research. Also, years of Mock Trial, including through Phi Alpha Delta, has taught me how to write the types of questions that can help prepare a defendant for trial. 

    Overall, the workplace environment is very welcoming to me as an intern. Everyone I have met is extremely nice to me and impressive in the work they do and their dedication to ensuring everyone has the right to counsel. 

Division of Public Defender Services, Fairfield Judicial District Superior Court

My name is Nicole Palmieri and I am an American Studies Major, graduating in Spring 2021, from Sandy Hook, CT. I am interning at the Division of Public Defender Services which is located within the Fairfield Judicial District Superior Court in Bridgeport, CT. Because I live in Connecticut and knew I wanted to save money by either living at home or with a relative and interning somewhere nearby, I had very specific geographical locations where I was looking for internships.  I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since I was twelve years old, so I was hoping for some sort of legal internship, preferably in a law field I was interested in so that I could begin to get an idea of what type of law I wanted to practice. I did some online searching and found the Connecticut Office of Public Defender Services’ website and a link to an intern application for the summer. I am a firm believer in the idea that everyone deserves a fair trial and a decent lawyer is essential to that, so I was interested in the work public defenders do. I decided I wanted to apply for the internship, so I went to the CCP to take a look over my resume to make sure everything looked good and to help edit a small essay on why I wanted to intern for the Division of Public Defender Services, which was part of the application.

I have been having an amazing time as an intern for the Division of Public Defender Services. The other workers are all incredibly friendly and it has been an eye-opening experience for me as to how our criminal justice system needs reform and a little more compassion and humanity. I have learned how very human everyone involved in the process is and how greatly even the smallest actions can affect a multitude of people’s lives. On a less abstract note, I have learned that your phone can track your location even without location services turned on based on cell towers and the signal from your phone bouncing off them.