For most students, the sanest approach is to view their internship as the first step in a complex, long-term game plan. Your ultimate career goal may be still three or four steps away. Look for an internship that will get you to step one first. Someone with an eye on a litigation-support slot at a large, prestigious firm, for example, might focus first on becoming qualified for work in a small or solo firm. The big firm could still be three years away or more.
Students with even small doubts about their career goals are smart to seek the most varied experience possible. They need a wide base of experience from which later career decisions can be made. And no one should ever be afraid to imagine, dream, and go beyond textbook definitions. The world is going beyond those definitions even as they are written.
Interns who are not in a law office setting may inadvertently be asked to "play lawyer." A non-lawyer supervisor may not fully understand the unauthorized practice of law, so it is up to you to explain. Make it clear you are not a "junior lawyer" and do not give legal advice.
Risks for Non-Law-Office Interns
In working or interning for offices other than private or public law firms, students need to be alert to a major risk factor. The internship supervisor in a non-law-office setting may not be a lawyer and may not have hat formal legal training on any level. Consequently, he or she may have no id .a what constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.
Make it clear that you are no substitute for a law-school-trained, licensed attorney. Throughout your internship, remain constantly alert to situations that could carry you over that line. Know when to stop and tell you supervisor that a lawyer's advice is needed. When in doubt, check with your school's program director.
The Military Setting
Larger army bases around the country maintain what might be described as a sort of "legal services" office for local army personnel. One of several divisions of the Judge Advocate General (or JAG office), JAG Legal Assistance is staffed by lawyers, paralegals, and secretaries who help soldiers and their families with noncriminal legal matters, both on and off base. Other divisions of the JAG office handle criminal cases, tort claims, trial defense, administrative law, and military offenses. In all areas but those dealing with sensitive government and military matters, civilian interns are welcome and security clearance is not required. Major navy and air force bases maintain similar facilities for their personnel.
Extensive legal work is also done in the offices of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which, like many JAG offices, accepts well-trained civilian paralegal interns. The office of Counsel of the Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Division, for example, does not normally work with classified documents so security clearance is not necessary here either. Often, these offices work closely with nearby colleges and law schools to draw on some of their best interns on a regular basis.
Students attracted to the growing fields of environmental and administrative law can find challenging opportunities in this setting.
Working With an Independent Paralegal
There are two kinds of independent paralegals. Freelance paralegals are those who work for law firms, but as independent contractors-not as regular employees. Working out of their own offices, freelancers accept assignments for hourly or per diem wages from numerous attorneys. Their relationship with law offices is in some ways similar to that of a temporary employee.
Although the sufficiency of attorney supervision over freelance paralegals was questioned in a few states and the unauthorized practice of law by freelancers was sometimes feared, this breed of paralegal has now become a respected member of the legal community in virtually every state. Many law offices rely on them heavily.
Extensive experience can be gained and many law office contacts can be made while interning with a well-known, reputable freelance paralegal. Students who want to become freelancers themselves can also get a realistic, firsthand view of how such a business is run and what it takes to succeed on your own.
Independent paralegal practitioners or legal technicians, on the other hand, sell their services directly to the public, with no attorney involvement. Also known as document preparers in some areas, they offer an alternative to the conventional law office, serving clients who many believe might otherwise receive no legal assistance. However, they usually operate in violation of state statutes and case law on the unauthorized practice of law.
The delivery of legal services directly to the public by independent, unsupervised non-lawyer practitioners remains an extremely volatile issue. In most jurisdictions, working with a legal technician or non-lawyer document preparer puts your career at serious risk. Until legal technicians or document preparers become a legally authorized occupation, students are wise to avoid interning with such offices.
Paralegals Have Many Different Job Titles
Some people say that the paralegal profession has fewer opportunities now than in the past. Those who say this (and students who mistakenly believe it) may have lost sight of all the law is and does in today's world.
Until fairly recently, the term paralegal described one only thing: a professional employed in a law office. Today, the profession includes employment settings unheard of years ago, and this trend shows no signs of stopping. American law has become so pervasive that it affects virtually every form of human endeavor. There is hardly a business or undertaking anywhere in which legal expertise is not needed and a law-related career cannot be made.
For that reason, your internship opportunities are by no means limited to what is described in this article. Neither are your career prospects. The students who find career paths they love are the ones with their eyes constantly on the horizon and enough imagination to envision the ever-expanding possibilities.
