During
my senior year at Towson University I was hired as an intern by Fine, Grzech, and MacMeekin. They are a law
firm that has been practicing law for over 60 years. They specialize in injury
claims, auto accidents, medical and dental malpractice, slip & fall cases, wrongful death cases, workers' compensation,
defective products, criminal law and general law. I had no idea what I was in for when I was hired, but it was
the best experience of my life. I was exposed to law on every level. I was taken to court to see how the court
system worked and I was also trained to perform every action inside of the office.
I was
taught how to read law from different sources and how to interpret and apply it to different situations. An example
was a case where one of our clients was charged with a traffic offense under the Maryland Statutory Code 10.14.11 where, the law states that noone may "willfully disobey a police officer or refuse
to bring his/her car to a stop when directed to do so." When giving testimony to the judge, the officer admitted that
the defendant said, "I didn't see you." Since we read the specific law before the trial, my lawyer was able to
prove that our client did not "willfully" disobey the officer.
In the
office, I learned about personal injury protection, bodily injury protection, and workers' compensation. I learned how
to set up interviews with clients, how to fill out all insurance forms for the client, and how to properly report an auto
accident to all insurance companies involved. I also learned how to prepare letters of representation, obtain
police reports, and how to run a tag of an individual that may have fled an accident.
Not only
did I learn a lot of legal skills, I also gained people skills. With a lawyer around every corner, the lawyers
of my office get personally involved with every one of their cases and clients. Everyday I was at work, I talked
with clients, adjusters, and doctors. I believe that the people skills that I gained as an intern has better prepared
me to understand the real world and how to communicate with it.
When
I began I was given a https://altezza24417.tripod.com/jobdescription.pdf. The description was accurate but could not begin to explain all that I learned from performing
the functions.
Before
I started at Fine, Grzech, and MacMeekin, I reviewed the job description and myself. I made a learning plan, consisting
of five things that I wanted to learn and how I planned to learn them. Click to view my https://altezza24417.tripod.com/learningplan.doc and my https://altezza24417.tripod.com/LEARNINGAGREEMENTPLAN.pdf.
The most
important thing about the learning plan is the results. You can view my progress by clicking on https://altezza24417.tripod.com/LEARNINGPLANRESULTS.doc.
To summarize
my internship, please read on to find out my Evaluations of My Internship and Myself. |