Personal Narrative: My Experience At The Wisconsin Court Of Appeals

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My experience at the Wisconsin Court of Appeals was an extremely valuable one. As someone who was interested in doing a clerkship after I graduate, it was great to see the procedure used by a law clerk at an appellate state court. Although some of the work done will not seem difficult, it is very important that an intern try to find the learning objective in each task. There are many different outlets in the Court of Appeals that will be there for support, including law clerks, assistants, and other interns. I would recommend asking questions as many times as you feel necessary to build a relationship with each person.

(2) Maximizing Time
Everyone’s schedule will be different depending on what other responsibilities interns have going on …show more content…

Most of the projects will be research and citation check, which will make you feel like you are in a law review. It is important that you understand the structure of what the Court wants and how to best satisfy those needs. Listening clearly to directions and following past intern’s work will also be important, as you will have an example of what the law clerk and the Judge expect from the intern. Also, be sure to have a set schedule where you are setting aside time each week for work that the Court needs to get done. Personally, I was never given any tight deadlines but there will be times that you will face a hard deadline and the Court is counting on you to deliver. The Court runs very efficiently and you do not want to be the one to hold them back because you “forgot” to do a project. Everyone is very helpful and everyone seemed to have an open-door policy and made themselves approachable, so if you are stuck or confused, be sure to utilize them to your full advantage. Lastly, enjoy the internship. You spend so much time in class reading cases and wondering if you will ever have to remember some of the materials, but in the Court of Appeals, you are working on real issues that affects real people. Treat it like you would if you were a practicing

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