AN OPEN MIND

At Ward and Smith, paralegal internships pave the way to fulltime careers

■ BY TERI SAYLOR c ontrIBUtInG wrIter

Ginger Jones was in her 50s when she decided the time was right to become a paralegal.

Now, she is on her way to earning her paralegal technology degree from Pitt Community College in Greenville, N.C., and slated to graduate in May.

Now, two months into a unique paralegal internship at Ward and Smith in New Bern, N.C., Jones knows she made the right move.

“What I like most about my internship is the incredible amount of learning there is still to do in real life outside the tests, quizzes, and hours spent in labs,” she wrote in an email. “ e training process at Ward and Smith includes patience, a lot of good humor, and no lack of opportunity.”

Many law rms o er paralegal internships in a variety of formats, but Ward and Smith takes a unique approach, says Jessica Denoy- er, human resources coordinator at the rm.

“We’ve always had a summer associate program for the attorneys, and we decided to create a sta internship program three years ago,” she said in a recent zoom interview.

Seeking out the right partners

One of the law rm’s goals is to build its own talent pipeline, and so far, their e orts are paying o . ey’ve hired six full-time sta through their internship program.

e paid internships run 16 weeks, and edgling paralegals are treated as part time temporary employers, Denoyer said. e rm hires one paralegal for each of its ve o ces in New Bern, Asheville, Greenville, Raleigh, and Wilmington.

Denoyer turns to local community colleges for help with recruiting.

“When we were seeking education partners for our internship program, we wanted to nd those that best represented the communities where we live and work, and we believed the community colleges met that goal,” she said. e community college system also supports Ward and Smith’s DEI goals to nurture a diverse sta that includes people of di erent backgrounds and experiences.

Internship programs like the one at Ward and Smith are music to Vicki Coleman’s ears. Coleman, paralegal department chair at Pitt Community College, is inundated with requests for paralegals from area law rms.

“ ere’s probably four or ve jobs for every student,” she said in a recent zoom interview. Currently, the student population, at 35, is at a low ebb.

“In the past, we have had as many as 70, so we’re down about half,” she said. “When the economy is bad, our enrollment picks up, but the job market is really good right now.”

For Pitt Community College students, participation in a work-based learning pro