Hometown: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Major & Class Standing: English, Senior
Internship Company/Organization Name: Truitt Law Offices
Location of Internship: Huntington, Indiana
What was your internship title and role/responsibilities?
I was a paralegal intern. My responsibilities included: new client intake, deposition summaries, medical chronologies, and document proofreading.
What did your daily routine include?
My daily routine included handling all calls coming into the office and routing them accordingly. Checking the digital mailbox for new work assignments and completing them in a timely fashion.
How did you obtain your internship? What resources did you utilize to secure your internship?
I obtained my internship through a friend of my family. After meeting with one of the practicing attorneys he decided I would be a good fit for their office.
What was your favorite part of the internship?
My favorite part of the internship was doing work that positively impacted a case. In this regard, all of the work that I contributed worked toward a greater goal of helping personal injury clients attain a favorable outcome.
What was your least favorite part of the internship?
My least favorite part of the internship was tackling the learning curve on reading deposition summaries. Every person talks in different cadences, and while the questions attorneys ask can be boilerplate, the responses often vary widely for clients that are stubborn or aren’t prepared properly. This leads to a lot of on the fly editing due to redundancies of speech, which slows down the process of transcribing.
What did you learn about the industry or your career path as a result of the internship? What are your future plans?
I learned that the wheels of justice do turn slowly. The firm’s average acceptance to completion time for a given case is around two years. My future plans are to pursue an MFA in creative writing.
What skills did you learn and/or build upon during your internship?
I learned how to type more accurately. I also improved my proofreading skills of technical documents which have helped me in my own creative writing.
What advice do you have for other students seeking out internship opportunities?
My advice for other students would be to push yourself to try new things. I never would have thought that interning at a law firm would be something I would enjoy. I’ve come out on the other side of my internship more confident in my ability to tackle the unknown.
