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SKILL SHARPENER
Moritz Law Students Explore Washington, DC, Legal Careers [by Erica Winter] Students at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law who are motivated (and lucky) enough to get on the short list of participants in the Washington, DC, Summer Law Program do not treat the opportunity lightly. Like many interns who descend on the capital every summer, they seek insider knowledge and connections. Moritz Law students, however, get a running start with some insider help.
The Moritz Law seven-week Washington
ence,” she says.
tertainment law, especially within the music industry; “it would be a really interesting
summer program involves a 20-hour-a-week internship. The students work with Program
Cohen interned with United Cerebral Palsy
thing to be able to help musicians’ careers
Director Professor Peter Swire to secure
(UCP), a national nonprofit organization
grow,” she says. She will do pro bono legal
summer positions. Professor Swire worked
based in Washington. UCP’s national office
work as well, she says, “and election law will
at the White House, crafting privacy policy in
focuses on public policy for those with dis-
be a huge part of that.”
the Clinton Administration from 1999 to 2001
abilities, including people with cerebral palsy.
and also practiced law in Washington before
Cohen has cerebral palsy herself, “so I’m a
Bassel Charles Korkor, also a rising third-
starting his teaching career.
little bit invested in it,” she says.
year at Moritz Law, did an internship on the
Swire uses his knowledge of government and
At UCP, Cohen worked on voting accessibil-
the city to aid students, who choose organiza-
ity for people with disabilities, as well as
fice. Korkor interned in the appellate division,
tions they are interested in and interview with
on other access issues, such as Medicare
which only hired two summer interns total.
the groups individually. While not all students
coverage of wheelchairs. She did research on
It was “a good opportunity to do appellate
who sign up for the program (sometimes
these issues and went to meetings on Capitol
work,” he says.
lining up in the wee hours of the morning to
Hill. Her supervisor at UCP told her “every
be at the top of that coveted list) find intern-
week I’d have some kind of epiphany,” and
The DC Office of the Attorney General gets
ships, most do.
she did, Cohen says.
hundreds of trial-level cases, and some move
Students also take two classes for the
Cohen was shocked to learn just how inac-
attorneys in that office, doing research on
program: an externship seminar, where
cessible the voting process is for people with
case law and statutes, preparing memos and
they develop policy proposals based on their
disabilities, and not just physically. Blind
briefs, and suggesting arguments that could
internships, and a professional responsibil-
people, for example, cannot vote anonymous-
be used in appeals. Having interned at the
ity class, where they learn the finer points of
ly. Voting places inaccessible to wheelchairs
State Department already, Korkor wanted
practicing law in Washington. Both courses
provide voting at the curbside, which is also
to see the local side of DC via the Moritz
are taught by Swire, with guest speakers
public. For her policy paper in the program’s
program. “Washington is a city like any other
coming into share their local knowledge.
externship seminar, Cohen wrote an argu-
city,” he says.
local level last summer with the DC Office of the Attorney General, the city prosecutor’s of-
on to the appellate level. Korkor worked with
ment against electronic voting machines This summer, 23 Moritz Law students will
with paper trails because that paper ruins
This summer, Korkor will see a very different
go to Washington with the program, and 17
anonymity of the vote for blind people.
side of Washington as a summer associate at the firm Arent Fox. “I’m really looking
made the journey last year. The program “has grown and been successful,” says Swire, who
Working on voting issues the summer before
is proud of the students who have completed
the presidential election made it “very inter-
the program thus far.
forward to it,” he says.
esting to be in DC at that time,” says Cohen.
Gerrit Smith, unlike most participants, went
Returning to Ohio for the fall semester and
on the Moritz Washington program during his
Rising third-year Jocelyn Cohen had Swire
the election itself heightened the issues even
second summer and took time out the day
for torts her first year, which piqued her
more, with national attention on the state.
before his law school graduation to talk about
interest in the Washington program. Because of Swire, “I knew it would be a good experi-
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the experience. In her legal career, Cohen hopes to do en-
continued on back
SKILL SHARPENER
Smith interned with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s staff to the Majority Counsel. Smith worked with staff of Senator Mike DeWine, the senior senator from Ohio, who is Chair of the Antitrust Subcommittee. After some time in private practice, Smith would like to work in the Senate someday. Last summer, “through the program, I was able to do that,” he says. The opportunity made up for the fact that he had an unpaid internship for his 2L summer. He was not the only one to make the sacrifice: all the other Judiciary Committee interns that summer had just finished their second years. “It’s a competitive position,” says Smith. “Luckily, it worked out for me…I was willing to forgo the money for the experience.” The Moritz program “was one of the highlights of law school,” says Smith.
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