The Interns of Summer

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Hard work and perks fill summer associates' days

Summertime, and the livin’ is … easy? Not for a handful of busy summer associates at the Milwaukee headquarters of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, who characterize their intensive work and learning as “first-year associate lite.” They agree it’s 12 jam-packed weeks, to experience all aspects of big-firm legal practice, such as the importance of excellence in their work product, of making rain, and of how to interact with clients, staff and colleagues. They also agree that, with all the opportunities to socialize that the firm has given them, they’re having a good time. An additional, little-known benefit is they’re not spending much on food. (The unofficial, unverified record at Michael Best for a summer associate buying his or her own lunch is a mere three times.) Adam Witkov, Michelle Wagner and Jeremy Adelson are three of the 31 law students in the firm’s 2008 class of summer associates. Witkov and Adelson attend the University of Wisconsin Law School, while Wagner is enrolled at Case Western Reserve School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio. Witkov and Wagner are general summer associates, who are encouraged to try multiple practice areas, while Adelson was hired as an intellectual property summer associate, who is experimenting with multiple practice avenues solely within that department. Michael Best has an assignment system that differs somewhat from the traditional system. In most big firms, a pool of projects for the summer associates is assembled and the students bid on them in forced rotations so they are exposed to multiple practices. At Michel Best, however, students are asked to find their own projects. It’s a prospect that was somewhat daunting during their first-year summers, but now that they are in their second year and they already have contacts to draw upon, they’ve had no trouble finding projects. About that work: It’s not been the stereotypical legal research, keeping them hidden away in the library. Witkov says that, last year, he helped facilitate discussions at employee training sessions for clients, and by mid-June this year, he’d already been to court three times. Meanwhile, Adelson and Wagner say they’ve had numerous opportunities to counsel clients.

When it comes to working on projects, they emphasize that they are fans of the law library, and that librarians can be their strongest allies, as the “hidden treasure” of most big firms. Wagner explains, “I always start with the library staff, and say, ‘This is the question and this is who it’s from,’ and they’ll know if the answer the lawyer expects is a 20-page treatise, or one page that basically answers the question with a yes or no.”

As expected, the hours can be long — or not. When there isn’t a project due the next day, it’s perfectly fine to leave at 5 p.m., they say.

Other times, Wagner says she finds it exciting to work side-by side with the attorneys, especially during crunch times, which sometimes last into the late evening. The next day, there might be a social event that starts at 2 p.m.

“The summer program here really gives you a taste of what it’s like to have work/life balance,” says Wagner. “They haven’t sugar-coated everything with just social events and fun. We do have fun, and we also work very hard, with real clients, who need real answers to questions. I like that.”

Adelson sums it up as, “You learn how to balance your time and get your work done.

That’s real life.”

There are rewards for their commitment. The pay is $2,400 per week, which is market-based and published annually on the National Association for Law Placement Web site.

In addition, every week there’s a planned social event for the summers at Michael Best — softball games, cruises on Lake Michigan, golf outings, a “triathlon” of darts, bowling and pool, and a tour of Milwaukee hosted by historian John Gurda — just to name a few, in addition to the informal get-togethers or happy hours.

Adelson notes that he’s a new dad, however, so he’s not able to participate in as many of the social events as the others.

Law student spends her summer with prisoners

Empathy. It’s a quality that law student San Juanita Lopez says can’t be taught in a classroom, and one that she hopes will make her a better lawyer in the future. In her pre-law school days, Lopez worked with marginalized groups, such as the homeless and at-risk teens. That was an excellent experience; yet, it didn’t fully prepare her for what she’s doing this summer, after completing her first year at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She is working at several state prisons in southeastern Wisconsin for the Legal Assistance to Institutionalized Persons Project through the UW’s Frank J. Remington Center. The assignment pays a stipend of $2,500 for the summer, plus coursework credit. But the monetary compensation pales in comparison to what she’s acquired, and the opportunity “to do something meaningful.” “I recently had to write a reflective essay about what I’ve learned so far,” she says. “What I realized is, I’ve had a real shift, from that first prison visit, when I was really anxious and hypersensitive about the possibility of doing all the wrong things, to now, when I understand that there might be more than one way to accomplish a goal. “A client told me he had his probation revoked and wanted to file a writ of certiorari. I thought, ‘I should probably know what that is, but I don’t.’ I’m getting more comfortable with the idea that I won’t have all the answers, but I can probably figure out how to find the answers.” Under the supervision of Prof. Mary Prosser, Lopez has helped inmates with a wide variety of legal issues, such as drafting sentence modification motions, advising on the laws of deportation and legal re-entry into the U.S., and regaining a driver’s license to allow an inmate ready for release to be able to drive himself to a job, so he can support himself and his child. “My clients have been extremely appreciative for my help and respectful. For the most part, they have realistic expectations — they don’t get angry if I have to give bad news.

And they’re remarkably hopeful,” she says.

“It’s really changed my thinking, and how I view inmates. I think I better understand them now. I frequently see a lot of tragedy in them. They’re not bad people, but they’ve done bad things and made poor choices. For a lot of them, other factors, beyond their control, went into that, like a lack of parental supervision and exposure to drugs and alcohol at an early age.

“I have a client who’s just 30 years old. It struck me when I heard that, because I’m 29 — just about the same age. He’s been in prison since he was 14. He has been imprisoned longer than he’s been in the free world. It’s made me think about things like, if he ever had a chance given the environment he grew up in, and why some people in similar circumstances overcome them and others don’t.”

Long-term, the experience has helped solidify her interest in a career in government servi
ce, post-law school.

In the short-term, the experience has shown her how legal research isn’t just a mental exercise, but it can really make a difference in someone’s life. It’s also been an excellent complement to her criminal law class, where she received an overview of sentencing, for example, but now she has seen how it actually works.

She says, “I’m learning how to do things, not just about things.”

Summer project builds homeless court

Once an individual becomes known among the regulars of Madison’s State Street as homeless, he becomes a target. When he walks that approximate six-block stretch, it’s likely that he’ll be approached at least two or three times by people trying to sell them alcohol or drugs. “They’re mostly men. There’s incredible pressure on them to consume cheap drugs and booze. And, it’s really not a ‘community,’ in the sense that they don’t tend to look out for each other,” says Ryan Farrell. Farrell can accurately describe the homeless experience because he has talked to many homeless people. He’s dedicated a good portion of this year learning about it, and devising a response from the local legal system on how to help that population, as well as enhance public safety. Farrell and Chad Wozniak, a fellow third-year student at the University of Wisconsin Law School, are spending their summer drafting a proposal for the creation of a special court to serve Madison’s homeless and transient population. They are doing this through the Gary P. Hayes Police-Prosecution Project of the UW’s Frank J. Remington Center. Homeless courts have been successfully implemented elsewhere, Farrell explains. The idea originated in San Diego, and has since been replicated in Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Phoenix, and — notably for Madison because there are many similarities — Ann Arbor, Mich., where it’s called the “Street Outreach Court.” The theory is fairly straightforward. Under the status quo, many homeless and transient individuals tend to have lengthy records of mostly municipal ordinances, where they’ve been assessed fines that they have no means to pay. Accordingly, they’re jailed and released, without treatment, so they are very likely to reoffend. Under the jurisdiction of a homeless court, those with the lengthiest records have their offenses bumped up to be charged as state crimes rather than ordinance violations, which would then give them access to a diversion program that would emphasize AODA or mental health treatment and job training, to allow them a better shot at successfully reintegrating into the community. It’s a carrot-and-stick approach, says Farrell, because the penalties are much stiffer — the possibility of prison time. But, accordingly, the rewards are more lucrative. And, like the drug treatment court that already exists in the Dane County Circuit Court, one judge and one prosecutor would handle their cases, so there’s ongoing accountability.

To help in drafting the specifics, Farrell and Wozniak have gone on countless walk-alongs with the capitol, university and Madison police, and they have spent many hours getting to know the homeless, who tend to congregate on or near State Street. They’ve also talked to many prosecutors, social workers, and just about anyone who has a stake in the problem, as well as doing research on the other cities’ courts, to learn how they work, and the best practices that emerged from them.

They are completing their proposal and hope to generate some interest from the Dane County judiciary as to how it can be put in place. Perhaps the biggest hurdle they’ll face, they say, is finding the monetary resources for treatment for those who would opt for the program. In the short-term, they say, inpatient treatment is expensive — but it can produce long-term results that ultimately save taxpayer dollars, compared to the costs of future arrests and prosecutions.

Farrell says the summer experience has been an incredibly invaluable supplement to his legal education in the classroom. “I’m getting a more full perspective on what happens outside the courtroom. I’ve seen the frustrations that police on the beat feel, and I’ve seen how full the jails are. I’ve come to see how different actors — law enforcement, politicians and judges — have competing ideas, visions and pressures, in how they approach solving problems.

“And, I’ve come to see that there are always questions or criticisms from the various constituencies. Frankly, that’s sometimes a little frustrating. But it’s to be expected when trying to tackle an issue of this magnitude.”

The two have received modest stipends of $2,800 from the law school for their work. The goal for the summer wasn’t to make a lot of money, but rather, to make a difference.

And, if the proposal isn’t adopted by summer’s end, they’ll keep working on it into their last year of law school.

Farrell isn’t sure what he’ll be doing a year from now, but thinks he’ll probably be playing some role in the criminal justice system. He also hopes that, should the proposal become a reality, he’ll become a resource to others looking to create similar courts.