EXPERIENCE TO LAST A LIFETIME

When I applied for this internship, I looked at it as a means through which I could figure out what type of law I eventually wanted to practice when I graduate from law school. Thus far, I have been a legal secretary for in-house counsel of a large corporation, a paralegal for a small law firm, and a legal intern for a Common Pleas Judge. So, other than practicing corporate law, which I know I definitely do not want to practice, legal services was the one field I had yet to experience. Needless to say, I will forever be grateful that fate led me to MidPenn Legal Services.

During this internship, I have learned more about the law and myself than at any other job I have ever had. While working at MidPenn Legal Services, I learned how truly tenuous custody of a child is. How a simple loophole in the law allows grandparents to sue for custody of their grandchildren even though the parents of the child are perfectly adequate. How what once seemed like a meaningless arrest 20 years ago suddenly hinders a person from obtaining employment. How a Section 8 voucher can mean the difference between life security and a life of crime. How simple it is for the elderly to be made victim of identity theft in today’s high-tech society. These are the issues attorneys at MidPenn Legal Services deal with on a daily basis. I will be forever indebted to them for sharing their passion with me and allowing me to assist them in fighting against systems of injustice and inequality.

It is this injustice…this inequality that forms the basis of the destructive cycles of poverty, such as drug and/or sexual abuse, teen parenthood, and unemployment. Many of the clients of MidPenn Legal Services have been victims of, or witnesses to, these vicious cycles. They come from broken homes, abusive relationships, neighborhoods filled with violence, hopelessness and frustration. It is unfortunate that we live in a society where the poor are easily taken advantage of because they have limited education, limited resources and therefore feel they have limited ability to achieve the opportunities available to those more fortunate.

I have always believed that the best thing about the law is that it gives the voiceless a means by which they can fight against social injustice and inequality. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with people who use their voices to fight for the voiceless. I want to thank all of the attorneys that I worked with at MidPenn Legal Services: Patrick, Nick, Arlene, Matt and the incomparable Mr. Steve R. Krone – for answering my questions, giving me every opportunity to learn and experience what it means to be a legal services attorney.