I’ve taken quit a few photos throughout my time here and I thought I would share them with all of you. I’ve always thought photos were the best way to share an experience with someone, I hope you enjoy and get a feel for how amazing this place truly is! (unfortunately I am unable to post all of my photos but here are a few I have taken)

Brooklyn Bridge history

running across the Brooklyn Bridge

shelves and shelves of booksSunset over Hudson River

celebrity citing!

Mouth watering goodness

No wonder they call it the Empire State

The past two days I have spent in court watching settlement conferences and motions arguments. Both have been a really cool experiences and after spending two days at court I have realized if I end up pursing a career in law I want to be a court/trial attorney. I like studying case law and preparing documents for trial, but there is something unique about attending court. The minute you enter the room, you can feel the case come to life. After sitting and watching these proceedings I finally felt like the cases I have been working on are real issues, with real people. Up until the past few days I had not experienced anything like this before. I was so excited to be able to attend court hearings and I hope to be able to go again. The lawyer I followed around all day was so nice and a very animated person. He is clearly a pro at what he does. He made the proceedings interesting and even let me participate. My name was once again put on the record!

Today I got to witness a deposition or examination before trial (EBT for short). For all those that are not familiar with this esesential legal process, a deposition is a session in which either the plaintiff or the defendant is questioned by both attorneys. Lawyers use this in order to gain essential information and evidence about the case. EBTs are usually fast paced events where the attorneys try to confuse the person they are questioning in the hopes of gaining some information vaulable to their side.

I had the oportunity to observe an EBT of a plaintiff and it was so cool! It lasted for about 2 hours and was very intense. Constant firing of questions and arguing between the lawyers. The attorney I was following even let me ask a question which was so cool because my name was put on the record. Having my name on the record makes me feel like a real lawyer!

After the EBTs later that night the partners of the law firm and the president of American Transit took us out to a nice fancy dinner at the New York Athletic Club which is a very nice and prestigious social club in the Upper East Side. This place was amazing! The dinner was fantastic and a lot of fun. Not only was the food great, but the atmosphere of this club was unlike anything else I have ever seen. However, what really made the night really amazing was the great company. Everyone was so friendly and had some great advice to share. I had a very nice time and will always remember it.

First off I wanted to apologize for being away for so long. I’ve been super busy at work and also just got back from a vacation in the middle of Jersey where there was no cell phone or internet service. Here is a snap shot of everything I’ve done in the past 2 weeks

• Sunday June 30th: I explored the city with a friend. We went to China town had some amazing (the best I’ve ever had) chinese food and then proceeded to walk 3 miles around Soho where we ended at the Empire State Building. Unfortunately there was zero visability as we reached the 102nd floor because it decided to start raining, but it was still so cool to be at the top and after a little while the clouds started to move so we caught a glimpse of the city below. What an cool view, I felt like I was on top of the world and the city looked like an ant village. You really get a feel for the massive size and wonder of New York City from the top. On our walk over to the Empire State Building we stopped at George Town Cupcakes. These were honestly the best cupcakes I’ve ever had! When it comes to cupcakes I know what I like and boy was this place out of this world! The store was so cute and their gluten free cupcake was amazing! At the end of the night we went to a great mexican place in Brooklyn under the bridge and it was so yummy too! It was a cute little mom and pop shop. Not only as the food great but the people were so nice as well.
  

  Empire State Building

cloudy view from the top

• July 4th week: This was my last week working for the motions department. I learned so much about the legal process in this department and it was sad to leave. I worked on a few more difficult motions during the week and when Wednesday hit, I was off to my Aunt and Uncle house in New Jersey for the rest of the week. My family from Boston came down and it was so great to see them and spend time with them as well. I really missed them! We had a huge family BBQ with all my little cousins. It was so fun to be around little kids and to spend some quality time with family. I also didn’t stop eating for 4 days, making the vacation that much better!

This week I started working for the Affirmative Litigation department of the law office. This is a new experience, which deals with more of trial prep phases. A lot of the work this department does is reviewing medical files of plaintiffs and putting together defenses based on these findings. They also deal with the bio-mechanical department, which consists of scientists dedicated to running equations that show if certain injuries could actually occur in the accident. The other interns and I will be attending one of these session later on in July. The rest July is sure to be a busy month we have a few field trips to bigger trial law firms, a dinner with the partners, and we are going to witness a trial as well. I’m so excited for all of this! I also can’t believe I am half way through my internship and I only have a month left. It is so hard to believe!

Gluten free heaven

George Town Cupcakes...yummy!

Looking up from Bryant Park

Today after work a few friends and I adventured down to Bryant Park to watch one of the free movies they have every Monday night. It was very cool to watch the movie outside, and surprisingly it was a very nice night for it. The weather ended up cooling off nicely and we were able to enjoy the night. This week’s movie was the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which is a 1950s sci-fi film. Needless to say, it was very interesting…while it wouldn’t be a movie I would pick up at the store, it was great to enjoy some down time after work and experience an authentic New York night.

The park was crowded full of people, and there was even a small farmers market going on, complete with amazing food and deliciously refreshing lemonade. I tried a blueberry lemonade and I would totally recommend it! After the movie we stopped by a sports bar to watch the last 5 minutes of the Bruins game, and sadly it was not the best way to end a fun night. We walked into the bar just in time to see the Bruins loose to the Blackhawks, it was devestating! I guess we will have to get them next year!

Bryant Park full of people!

Work was pretty busy, I spent the entire day working on one very complicated motion and still didn’t finish when the day ended. It is by far the most involved piece I have written yet, and while it is hard work it is exciting to be trusted with such a big and important project. It is really giving me a great feel for what these lawyers do on a daily basis, and is an experience I would not be abel to get anywhere else.

For the first time I felt like an official intern today, when I took the initiative to go to the Kings County Court House to retrieve a court document. It all started when I was writing my motion for today and preparing various documents I would use for evidence. As I went through the file I noticed a document crucial to my argument was missing. When I approached my supervisor she told me we could try to reword the argument without using this evidence. However, after further review she realized it was actually the most crucial piece of my argument. Because she was so busy today she was hesitant to take me to the court house to get the records, so showing excitement, I voulenteered and off I went.

Kings County Court House

The court house only a block away so it was pretty easy to find. Once there I made friends with the police officer running the entrance. He was so friendly and eager to help! I then reached the records room, where I was greeting once again by friendly clerks who showed me how to file the request. After the retrieved the papers for me I then quickly photocopied the document and returned to the office. My supervisor was very impressed that I took initiative and showed interest in wanting to make sure my argument was complete and thorough. It was great to be able to own my work, and really feel like I had put everything I could into making this piece the best one I’ve written yet. I loved visiting the records room, where thousands of huge old paper boxes line the walls, from the ground up. The minute I walked in it smelt like old paper, a smell I love! I hope I will be able to visit the record room again sometime this summer, and who knows maybe I will run into my new friend, Mark the police officer!

Yummy cheese platter!

Yesterday night I met up with some friends from Holy Cross for drinks and dinner in East Village. And it was a lot of fun! We ended up walking around for a little, and stumbled into a cute little place called Cafe Mocha. We had great food and delicious wine. We even got a free cheese platter with a bottle of wine! The cheese was wonderful and complimented the wine nicely. It was great to enjoy some time with friends and unwind from a long day of work. I enjoyed hearing about everyone’s internship experiences. Last night was a nice night of story sharing about the struggles of copy machines, printers, and computers over a great dinner and a wonderful bottle of wine. I felt like a grownup person in the real world! I had a great time and I hope we can do it again soon. East Village is really cool and a great place to hangout as a young student looking for a relaxing atmosphere. It is probably my favorite place I’ve visited in the city so far.

Today was a momentous day: I filed my first motion! This is an official legal document, filed with the court moving to create/form a certain action concerning the case. While the document appears to be a simple outline, each word and phrase is actually extremely important so it took me a little while to form the wording just right. Once it was all prepared I ran it down to the mailroom right before the deadline of 3pm. I’m still in shock that I got to play such a crucial role in determining the movement of the case. Even though it may seem anticlimatic to most people, to me this will be a moment I will never forget. I am so greatful to SIP, and all the Holy Cross alumna that have made this opportunity possible for me and other students!

The title of this post pretty much describes the day I had at work. The battle between me and the copy machine began around 10:30am when I was sent to make photo copies of the documents I had prepared for a client. When told what to do, I thought, “no big deal copies, that’s easy”. Little did I know it would be an endless struggle, resulting in many paper casualties. After seeing the machine that’s when it hit me that this was going to be a little more complicated than usual. It clearly wasn’t your standard Xerox machine, not only was it the size of a VW BUG but, also complete with a myriad amount of options and fancy, shiny buttons. I was in shock.

Once I finally figured out the correct button order to press (took about 10 minutes) I pressed the big green START button, and that’s when it all began. At first it sounded all fine, everything progressed normally and then…BANG! Flashing red lights and horrible noises told me something was most definitely wrong. A huge jam, 15 of the 30 pages I was copying got stuck somewhere in the massive machine. With paper flying everywhere, I thought it would be a good idea to open the machine. In hindsight this was the worst thing, it was like opening the flood gates. I reached into the depth of the beast, to grab the jammed paper. As I released my hands from its stomach I didn’t realize they were inky, and of course planted them right on my white dress. Needless to say, my dress was ruined for the rest of the day. Finally, about and hour later, my copies were all set and ready to be mailed. Phew!

Despite my embarrassment, I learned a valuable lesson today, how to work a car-sized copy machine. I also provided the entire office with entertainment for the morning, as they were all watching. Apparently my face was in complete shock throughout the whole thing. I think I will be known for the rest of the summer as the girl who lost to the copy machine. Even though I was providing them amusement, all those sitting around the machine were so willing to help, and honestly I wouldn’t have made it through the fight without the reinforcement troops. Thankfully, I emerged with only the ink stains, no real battle scares. And guess what, by the end of the day I was a copy pro. So to all those out there a little scared to use a copier, don’t worry if I can eventually figure it out so can you!

One way to describe this past week would be: rain. It has been raining here so much, and when I say rain I mean down pours with massive thunder storms! While walking to work is alway more fun in the rain…not, work has been great. The other interns and I are almost finished with our training period and will probably start actually writing and filing motions next week. I’m so excited! I’ve been itching to start a portion of the legal process that is so detailed and involved. The training is very useful though, and I would honestly be lost without it. Now that we are wrapping it up, I am noticing that everything builds on each other, making training crucial. I think I can finally say I’m getting the hang of it!

As for exploring the city, today I went for a run across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so cool, except for the rain. Thankfully, the down pour didn’t start until I was pretty close to the end of the bridge. On the plus side, the rain made me run faster to get home! Tomorrow I leave for my friends beach club up in the suburbs of New York. I am excited to get to spend sometime relaxing and seeing a quieter side of the city. I love the constant activity of the area, but at the same

running across the Brooklyn Bridge

time I am very ready for a quiet few days at the beach. A home cooked meal will be nice too…cooking for myself is a lot harder than anticipated!

"Law and Order: SVU" court house!

The pier on my running route

Well I can’t believe it here I am sitting waiting for my dinner to cook, at the end of my first week in New York City and the real world. Guess what I survived! While it took a little getting used to, I now feel pretty comfortable in the city and am truly enjoying myself. Work has been busy but very interesting. All last week we spent time learning about different New York statues and laws, and then began our training. I got to sit with a paralegal and learn all about how lawyers form cases and research to make their arguments stronger. I really liked seeing this aspect, since I love researching and writing in my studies.

Once Friday rolled around, the other interns and I decided to go to our first Happy Hour. It was so cool and a great atmosphere. This was my first time at a Happy Hour and it was great to be surrounded by other professionals looking to blowing off some steam from a long week. Plus, it was a great way to try some new usually expensive drinks at half price. After Happy Hour some of my high school friends came up and visited me, and that was a blast! We enjoyed exploring the city night life together and got to celebrate another friends 21st birthday in a truly special way. While in the city I met up with another one of my friends and fellow Women’s Rowing teammate from Holy Cross and it was great to have some of my great friends all hanging out together.

Saturday was another awesome day, which started out with a great brunch at the local diner full of eggs, french toast and all the coffee we could order. Once my friends left for their return trip home, I went to the gym and then took a nap. Once refreshed, my roommate and I made our way down to Target, picked up a few essentials and then went back to the room. Later that night I made my way down to Madison Square Park to visit my friend where a few of us went to the free BBQ down there. It was so fun, full of live music, beer gardens, and delicious smoked bbq. As we walked around the street you could smell the smoked food and I think I drooled a little! We finally made our way down to East Village to get some yummy gluten free cupcakes at Tu Lula’s Gluten Free Bakery. These were amazing! I love my baked goods, and it was so nice to get a yummy treat that I could really fully enjoy. As we walked back we stopped at a pub in the area and it was so cool. It was a great atmosphere full of young people enjoying a casual drink and food with friends. Once we left East Village we walked all over Soho and then ended up back near Madison Square Park where we ended the night with a bar sized truffle and arugula pizza and a cold cider, at the Taphouse. AMAZING and soooo YUMMY!

Overall it’s been a great week and I have learned so much and finally feel settled in. I’m looking forward to the second week and all that I am going to learn, explore, and discover!

panorama of the pier