Relfection

What have you gained from your mentorship? What actions did you take that helped you get the most from your experiences? How has this mentorship prepared you for the future?  Has it or How has it changed your view of the career area in which you are mentoring?  What would your advice be for future students who wish to participate in HMP?



   Over the past year, my time spent in my internship has taught me several things.  From the internship, I've learned all about being a lawyer, how to work in a setting that's very formal, how to talk to people during high stress situations, and much more.  I've gained the insight that comes with working, like doing what someone else wants you to do and following orders.  I learned how to research laws and past court cases and use what I learned from the research in a current case.  Everything I did in the internship, I tried to use as a way to learn more, so I've gained a tremendous amount.
   The mentorship has prepared me for the future by providing me with a job.  I think everyone needs to know how to work.  That doesn't just mean knowing how to do a task in a job, but how to perform in a workplace with others.  Also, It's prepared me by giving me the opportunity to see what I may make a career out of.  My perspective on being a lawyer has changed drastically.  Coming into the job, I thought being a lawyer meant you were always in the court room.  However, there is a lot of behind the scenes work going on before each trial.  I've seen that being a lawyer is a lot of work, not to say that I didn't think so before, but a lawyer has to follow of bureaucratic type of work.  But that is not to say being a lawyer is in anyway bad.
   For upcoming students, I would tell them interning isn't really hard.  From what I can tell, you're given work that at first may be difficult or just different from what you are used to, but after a little while you pick up on it.  What you do day in and day out isn't what teaches you about the profession.  What you do different from your routine does though.  For example, in my case, every time I had to research something was different.  Normally, I had to file papers, go to the courthouse to pick up files, go to the DA's office, or go to the Solicitor's office.  Doing research meant I had to look up something new and present it to my mentor, so he could use it in his case.  So, pay attention to everything new that happens.  

  

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forsyth_County_courthouse.JPG

This is a picture of the Forsyth County Courthouse