Student Narrative
"I spent my summer with the Government Relations Office of the National Center for State Courts in Arlington. This group serves as a liaison to state court associations such as the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators and assists state courts in advancing their policy interests. Over the course of the summer, the work that I completed was mainly focused in the area of child welfare, but the Government Relations team has experts in all areas ranging from homeland security to transportation to technology issues to trade agreements, etc. I spent a lot of time outside of the office, attending policy coalition meetings, hearings in the House and Senate, as well as held in the D.C. area on child welfare. I attended most of these events as the sole representative from the organization. I also accompanied various staff members to private meetings with various federal agencies."
"When I was in the office, I drafted policy positions on behalf of the associations mentioned above, followed up on surveys sent to state court staff around the country and wrote executive summaries for the survey results. While the internship was unpaid, I was treated to a week in Salt Lake City in July to attend the annual meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators."
"This internship was a great experience for me. I was able to observe the inner workings of Washington and work with some very powerful individuals in the court system. I was able to discover the niche in which I hope to focus my career in policy and government - child welfare. I am also very interested in the legal system and was introduced to the area of court management. The scope of the work completed by the National Center for State Courts as a whole is intriguing. This internship led me to a part time job with the National Center in Williamsburg. I have been working 10 hours per week in the Research Division of the organization on an assortment of projects."
