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Arely Ramirez Diaz

Dr. Lane

PLS 498

April 29, 2018

Reflection Essay

My involvement in the District Attorney’s office has furthered the agency’s mission by

suppling extra support around the office. While most of the work I did was limited, the cases I was

able to help with enabled my assigned Victim Witness Legal Assistant to focus her energy on other

areas of her work. This semester, I was able to help Paige, one of the Victim Witness Legal

Assistants, dispose of old cases. My major project was to scan the defendant’s folder, obtain their

record sheet from ACIS, create a dispose sheet, and organize the file to give it to Mr. Trotman, the

Assistant District Attorney whose signature was need to dispose of the cases. I was able to go

through about a third of the cases that were on the cabinet.

Taking Ben David’s class, Crime in the Cape Fear, prepared me for the internship. I was

able to make connections with information that I learned from the class and apply it to the case

trials I attended. Also, the class enabled me to make connections with some of the people who

work with Ben, which helped when I would see them again in our internship trips, and activities.

I think the internship aided my career goals because it helped me understand that law is

something I want to pursue, but not something I plan on staying in for a long time. I appreciated

that Ben and Christine, the internship supervisor, provided us resources to help us understand if

obtaining our law degree is something we should pursue.

Ben gave us insight of why he prefers staying as a District Attorney, and not pursuing a

different position in government. He also talked about other people he has encountered that have
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used their experience in law that led them to obtain a different position in government. He spoke

about a former Assistant District Attorney of his, Lindsey, and Governor Roy cooper. I really

appreciated that Ben was open to answer our questions and provided us with advice on how to

maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout law school.

Christine would make sure that we would succeed throughout our internship and would

often set up meeting for us to get in touch with the other assistant district attorneys. She set up a

q&a lunch with three attorneys, two of them had been part of the legal internship and were hired

after graduating law school, and one of them had been part of corporate before switching to public

service. I was able to ask Alex, the recent Chapel Hill Graduate, about her application process, and

experience in law school since Chapel Hill is one of the school I plan on applying. While I do not

have exactly the same aspirations as her, she gave me further reassurance on continuing my path.

Overall, I believe this internship has helped me set new goals, and create new connections.

I would recommend this internship with anyone who is considering law school or work for any

area of law.