From the Desk of David Sherman: Summer of Community Access and Outreach

If you ever want a summer internship where you are doing something new every day, then you should consider working in one of the divisions of the Trial Court Administrator’s office.  This is not a state wide office and is only present within a few cities in the state.  Ultimately, this position works along with both the Chief District Court judge and the Senior Resident Superior Court judge at the courthouse managing everything from case flow management to management of specialized courts for drug treatment.

I specifically worked in the Community Access and Outreach division where the work I did over the summer varied tremendously.  Obviously, I had my stock job requirements which included developing brochures and newsletters, filling media requests, filling ADA requests, attending various committee meetings, and assisting in giving tours of the courthouse; however, I was also allowed to participate in several unique experiences as well.

One of the most influential and unique experiences that I had was that I was asked to draft a letter on behalf of Hon. Judge Louis Trosch to local, state, and national representatives.  After drafting the letter I created a schedule for mailing and made the first of hopefully several contacts inviting these officials to visit Mecklenburg County Courthouse’s Model Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency Juvenile Courts.  This opportunity was one that I felt very passionate about as it involved communication between two of the three branches of government and showed how effective communication is done between them.

Another of my unique experiences was the opportunity to see a high profile case from voir dire to verdict.  It allowed me to not only see aspects of the law which I had previously learned, such as civil procedure, but also allowed me to see aspects that I would be learning as a 2L such as evidence and criminal procedure.  I was involved in the case in two ways.  First, as the case was a change of venue from another district, I assisted in coordinating with the evidence officer and helped him decide where to safely keep all of the evidence during the trial before it was turned over to the clerk.  The other aspect of the trial that I assisted with was coordination of the media.  Without authorization, cameras and recording equipment are not permitted inside the court.  My job was to get the media past the security points and ensure that they followed the local rules in regards to filming the proceedings.  Interestingly, about the time that this trial began, the jury for another high profile case was chosen and the media was requesting permission to come and film the proceedings, and my boss was out of the office.  As a result, I had to step up to the plate and coordinate this myself.  Thankfully, everything worked out, the media was happy, and my boss returned shortly.

Overall, I had a wonderful experience, met some interesting people, and put the skills that I learned during my first year to use.

~David Sherman, Charlotte School of Law 2013~