Author: aleksiak598

Overall, I have had such an amazing experience working with the Polanco law firm! On this last day of work experience, I continued to work on many of the projects I have spent my time working on this week. I closed cases on the online data base, renamed files, made copies and did a myriad of other small tasks. Then, I spent the afternoon working with one lawyer to organize her cases. She asked me to try to determine which ones were open and which ones were closed. This is a little bit trickier than it sounds, I had to dig through her notes to try and determine if the case was finished. However, I was proud of myself because over the course of these 2 weeks I have learned enough about this firm to know what “VD granted” and “MCH on this date” mean and say about the case’s status. Today was also great because this lawyer that I have been working also ate lunch with me. Usually, I ate lunch with the other interns, but today I got to have a really meaningful conversation during lunch about law school and why one person would enter into this profession. It was nice to get to know better and more personally someone I had been working with for the last 2 weeks. If that was my last day at the firm, I would sincerely be sad to be leaving. I have learned so much these past 2 weeks about the everyday life of a lawyer, the importance of immigration law, the state of immigration and human rights for migrants in our country, the ins-and-outs of a law office, and so much more! I think the most meaningful thing I witnessed was the passion and joy that each individual I met found in their work. It was amazing to be welcomed with open arms into the Polanco law family and to see not just their work life but their motivation and drive and sympathy for their clients. I am truly excited that I will be able to spend more time working with them this summer and cannot wait to see what other things I will learn and experience.

Every day I have spent at the Polanco firm has been extremely interesting, I have loved getting to learn more about this type of career. and getting to work alongside amazing people. Today, I started my morning scanning lots of papers. It took me a long time to get used to it, the scanner was very finicky. Occasionally it would malfunction (or I would put the papers in crooked) which would results in a slightly embarrassing and very loud error alert. However, I soon got the hang of it. I also became adept at removing staples from papers so they could be put through the scanner. Even though this task sounds (and was at times) monotonous, it was cool to be involved in such an important process. A person’s immigration story is wrapped up in their file. Their file gives all the facts about their life, including their name, language, family, country of origin, and occupation. They show their story through a lawyers scraggly notes in messy handwriting, copies of visa applications, printed out copies of exchanged emails, and their family member’s written requests for help. So, I loved being part of this process even if it was just through making copies. Throughout the day, I also spent more time entering data online, updating closed case file boxes, and preforming other small errands. I am very proud of myself that I have learned which file boxes hold names starting with each letter of the alphabet and that I have become skilled at knowing what to look for when it comes to data entry. One of my most shining moments today came when I was handed a stack of about 10 receipts to file. Usually when filing, there are a lot of papers left over because it can be almost impossible these files. At times, it seems like we are looking for needles in a haystack. But today, I was extremely proud that I was able to file all these papers in record time! I was really glad I was able to help out so effectively without needing to stop others in their work to ask for aid.

What was probably the most exciting part of my day, however, came when Mrs. Eason came to visit the firm. While I was talking with her and the person who had been overseeing me throughout this week,  the Polanco law employee mentioned how grateful she was that I was there to help out. She mentioned that she didn’t want me to leave and said I was welcome back anytime. I was so glad that I had been helpful at a firm that does so much good in the world and am excited to say that I will probably come back to work with them some this summer! Overall, this was another great day at the law firm and I cannot wait to work with them more.

I think one of the things I find most fascinating about the Polanco law firm is that everyone there is always full of positive engery. There is incessant laughter and chatter filling the halls and drifting into storage closets and offices. In many ways, they seem like a big happy family. Today, I got to see this aspect of them really shine. Being a small office, they always go out of their way to celebrate the birthdays of others. It was another intern’s birthday over the weekend, this meant we had a huge potluck where everyone bought food and put down their work for about an hour. The entire office worked together to create the spread and pulled chairs into one conference room so everyone could enjoy their time together. It was fun to hear everyone joke about their least favorite classes in law school (there was consensus that Will writing was one of the worst classes) and interesting to get to know everyone in a more personal way. While this firm constantly deals with negative issues, they find ways to support each other and cheer each other up just like any other supportive family.I think one of the things I find most fascinating about the Polanco law firm is that everyone there is always full of positive energy. There is incessant laughter and chatter filling the halls and drifting into storage closets and offices. In many ways, they seem like a big happy family. Today, I got to see this aspect of them really shine. Being a small office, they always go out of their way to celebrate the birthdays of others. It was another intern’s birthday over the weekend, this meant we had a huge potluck where everyone bought food and put down their work for about an hour. The entire office worked together to create the spread and pulled chairs into one conference room so everyone could enjoy their time together. It was fun to hear everyone joke about their least favorite classes in law school (there was consensus that will writing was one of the worst classes) and interesting to get to know everyone in a more personal way. While this firm constantly deals with negative issues, they find ways to support each other and cheer each other up just like any other supportive family.

 

After eating, they have a new tradition where the person who is being celebrated gives a speech about their lives over the past year and their dreams for the future. Today, what this one intern said inspired me in an unexpected way. She told us about how a lot of her friends in law school used to be extremely passionate about fighting for justice and pursue careers in that area. However, after about a year a lot of them lost their passion. They became focused on making money and lost their interest in immigration law. She told us she was so thankful she hadn’t lost that passion, was greatful  to the firm for working with her and teaching her, and was horrified by the notion many American’s have that they are better than other individuals just because they were born in this country. She also told us about how her family sometimes didn’t support her being an immigration lawyer, but she wouldn’t stop because this work is too important to her.  As someone who is just begining to think about this career area, I found what she said to be inspiring.  I spent most of my day digging in the firm’s data base to change the status of cases from open to closed (there were 600 cases to change, I only finished around half) and continuing with filing. However, the most interesting and meaningful part of my day was hearing why one law student wants to spend the rest of her life doing this kind of work.

 

(This is an image of the online data base the firm uses to store information on their cases)

Today was another great day at the Polanco law firm! I spent today doing many of the same things I had spent my time doing the rest of the week. I filed papers, made copies, and entered data. It was a lot of fun because I was really getting the hang of it, I knew better strategies to find files and began to be able to do all of these things faster! However, today was a little bit different than most days. I learned that every once in a while the firm has a representative from BB&T come to their office and talk to them about financing tips. I got to sit in on one of her classes while she taught us all about credit and how to use it responsibly. She told us about the benefits of using a bank, how to save effectively, and what types of credit accounts are available for individuals to use. The class focused equally on how businesses should manage their finances and on tips for individuals. It also came with a work book that me and all members of the firm filled out. Overall, it was extremely interesting and I enjoyed learning a little bit more about money management. It reminded me that law firm’s are a type of corporation and have to manage money effectively on top of all their other duties.  The rest of the day I continued data entry and I talked more to some of the interns about law school. They told me about how there were opportunities to study abroad in law school, I found this extremely interesting. One of them is planning on going to study abroad in England this summer! Overall, it was another extremely productive and interesting day at the firm. 

Day 3 was another great day at the Polanco law firm. I am having a great time really getting to know all of the individuals that work here and the cases that they handle. During the morning, I was running all around the office looking for files. We had a stack of receipts, probably the size of a text book, that had to be put in the files corresponding with the name on the receipt. We started with the file cabinet, but soon learned that most of the files we were looking for were floating randomly around the office with little order. We spent all morning looking, and still didn’t find them all! But during this time, I had a great conversation with the other intern (who happened to have just started out with the firm) about her college major and aspirations. While we were often unsuccessful at finding files and it could at times be frustrating, I realized that it is extremely important. Lawyers need to be able to focus on their cases, so I was happy to make sure that they were able to do just that instead of them having to run around and look for files themselves.

The rest of the day I preformed a myriad of smaller tasks. I made copies, entered data, bought USPS labels and scanned items. One of the most interesting times of my day came when I was scanning papers in. A lawyer and an intern acting as a translator put a client on speaker phone and gave me the chance to listen to her story. She was someone who came to the United States because she and her brother feared for their lives in their violent home country. It was fascinating to hear her journey and also to listen to the types of questions that were asked by the lawyer. I learned a lot about how people immigrate to the US to find freedom and began to feel very grateful that I was born in such a peaceful country.  It was also extremely interesting to see the American legal system at work and learn about what type of information is used to help undocumented immigrants stay in the United States. After another successful day at the Polanco law firm I cannot wait to spend more time learning from them.

To start my second day at the Polanco law firm, I spent more time finishing my filing project from the previous day. When I had finally alphabetized the last of the Z’s, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. The messy, overflowing storage room had turned into a strictly organized roadmap of the firms previous cases. While we were organizing, one lawyer was complaining about how their client was still detained despite the fact that he had paid $5,000 bail. He had worked through 3 different lawyers before contacting this firm! After the files were all in their boxes and the boxes in their places, we spent some time organizing receipts and making copies. While the work was sometimes tedious, I recognized that it was, in the grand scheme of things, a small but crucial step towards helping others reach justice. I spoke during this time with one of the law school interns and we talked about how the political climate in America has effected human rights and immigration law. As the daughter of an immigrant, she told me that her mom and her had come to the conclusion that human rights have always been a huge problem for immigrants. She explained that underlying racism has been present in our country for years, the only difference is now the public is paying more attention.

I spent the second half of my day working with one of the lawyers at the firm to enter data about her cases into her electronic data base and make labels to put on case files. Through this process I had the opportunity to read the notes on her closed case files as I was transcribing. Through this process I got to learn a lot about the problems her clients faced and served as part of a wake up call to me. One of her notes read something along the lines of “There is nothing more I can do. Case Closed”. This line definitely took me off guard and helped me see the ugly side to working in a law firm: losing cases. Today was another day full or learning and worldly realizations.

For my work experience placement this year I have the pleasure of working with the Polanco Law firm. This firm started a few years ago made up of just 3 lawyers. It has now grown to an 8 member staff and 4 interns (not including me)! They speacialize in immigration and human rights law. To start out with, I was introduced to all of the present lawyers, paralegals, and interns that work with the firm. Each staff member had their own area of expertise, whether it was immigration, public defense, civil rights or family law. This particular firm tends to avoid family law cases because they are emtional and extremely “messy”. However, when their clients from pervious cases get involved in a family legal dispute they often take the case.  I was also told about one staff member who lives near the site of an immigration detention center to challenge the human rights abuses at detainment camps. I spoke with one lawyer about the treatment of  detained immigrants and the frequent abuse of their rights. Most of the lawyers and interns spoke spanish frequently with eachother, something that is extremely important as they work with clients who often only know spanish or are more comfortable with it then english. The office was very busy, there was almost always spanish chatter floating in from another room.

 

I spent most of the day alphabetizing closed case files and filing them away while I spoke with other interns about what it was like to be in law school and what they majored in during undergrad. While we were organizing, one lawyer walked into the room and asked another intern to call ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) to ask if their client was still detained. That moment made me realize that the cases I was filing away, these names I was alphabetizing, were real people who faced unfairness and adversity. Whether or not they won their cases, the names I held in my hands had in some way had their inherent rights violated. There were so many names to be filed away, and this was only one firm, making me realize the importance of the work that the Polanco law firm and other firms like it do every day and the massive size of the problem. Overall, it was an extremely interesting first day and I learned a lot about the state of immigration in our country and what it is like to work for a civil rights law firm.