Week two at PWJC

     My internship at the Pace Women Justice Center has been wonderful so far. My second week went pretty smoothly. I am definitely starting to get the hang of things. I am interning with two other college students, and it has been amazing getting to know and work with other students who are all interested in law as much as I am. 

     On Monday, I was so excited that Natalie took another intern and I to the White Plains Courthouse. The trip was very eventful as we caught ourselves in the midst of a case about four young boys accused of sexually assaulting their female classmate. We walked into the courtroom at around 10:30am, everything was casual because nothing began yet. An hour later after seating there in the courtroom with the judge waiting, the lawyers finally walked in; followed by the defendants who were brought in one by one in handcuffs; followed by family members and so on. It was cool to see everything happen right in front of my eyes. The defendants and their parents had to raise their right hands and swear that everything they say will be "the truth, and only the truth." 

     However, as the case progressed in court nothing exciting really happened like I had hoped, because the defendants's lawyers really did not have a clear goal as to how they wanted to proceed with their cases. They were all depending on a witness who ended up leaving before she was supposed to take the stand. Due to that whole debacle, the case was pushed to the next day. Me and the other intern were so eager to know how the case would end, whether or not the lawyers were going to bring in more witnesses, so we decided to come back the next day to get the follow up. The next day the defendants and their lawyers came to the conclusion to just settle the case by admission. Meaning, the defendants admitted to the charges against them and were set free to go home under certain laws and conditions set by the court. This was a smart decision made to avoid having to go to trial. 

     Going back to that Monday, we also sat in on other cases, they were all cool and interesting to watch. We were also lucky to see the lawyers from the PWJC represent a woman who was in a domestic abuse situation and wanted an order of protection against the abuser. The judge granted us our request and it was great to see what the lawyers actually do and how they present their cases. 

     Throughout the day spent at court, I really felt like this was something I could really see myself doing. So far, this internship has been just an amazing experience. 

My First Week at PWJC

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with Natalie Sobchak, one of the staff at the Pace Women Justice Center. When we spoke, I knew I wanted to intern there for the summer and be a part of this amazing  working community.


Here's a little bit about the Pace Women Justice Center:
       The center is located right around the corner from the Pace University Law School. It was founded in 1991 and serves over 2800 victims of domestic violence and elder abuse cases. They are located in Westchester, so most of their victims live around the Westchester area.


A part of me always knew I wanted to go into Law, and I thought it would be a great thing to intern at a Law center such as the PWJC and figure out  if Law will in fact be the right career path for me. I am currently finishing my first week at the center and I can say without a doubt that being a Lawyer is absolutely a career I can see myself doing in the future. How did I come to such a conclusion after just a week?


Maybe this is really what I needed to give me a bit of reinforcement, and confidence in pursuing my dreams. Another reason is, when reading the client case files there are two feelings that overcome me, anger and pride. I feel angry knowing that an individual can create/inflict such pain and misery upon another fellow being. Then, I feel proud knowing there is a center like PWJC with amazing lawyers that help out those victims. And after every single file that I read, I feel like it is my calling to help out people, especially women that are victims of domestic violence. I want to encourage women to not be afraid to seek help when they feel it is necessary.

Although I can't represent clients like the Center lawyers, working at the Center sure makes me feel like I am doing some good in this world.

xo