Summer Employment Opportunities, #7

We asked several of our 1Ls and 2Ls to discuss the role W&L Law has played in their summer employment search.  Tara MacNeill, a 1L from Vestal, New York, offers us her perspective.

One of the most striking things about W&L Law is the willingness of faculty, staff, alumni, and peers to help students with whatever they may need.  Whenever students interact with administrators, professors, or even the wonderful Brief Stop staff, the most commonly heard phrase is “Well if there is anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate to ask.”   Lucky for me, you often don’t even have to ask.

I secured my summer position in October when I went to a professor to discuss what supplement to get for his class.  I had always been very nervous about talking to professors, so I was expecting to just get a quick answer and get out as soon as possible.  Instead, he asked me where I was from, where I was looking to practice law, and what type of law I was interested in.  I told him that I hope to pursue a career in criminal public interest law, either as a public defender, prosecutor, or with the federal government.  After talking with me for only a few minutes, he told me that he knew someone at the Commonwealth Attorney’s office in Roanoke and that he would send them my resume.  Three days later, my intern position was secured.

This position fits my summer objectives perfectly: I can stay in my apartment in Lexington, I will be working in public criminal law, and I will have the opportunity to network with attorneys and W&L alumni who practice criminal law in Roanoke.  Although my goal has always been to be a public defender, I am really excited to have the opportunity to experience the other side of the criminal law aisle and to gain a better understanding of the criminal justice system in general.

Before coming to W&L, I never realized how important networking was.  I remember attending the student internship panels hosted by Career Services in the fall and hearing students say that they secured summer positions because “they knew someone.”   I always thought to myself, “Well I don’t have any connections…”  But I did.   I had the W&L network.

I never asked my professor about his professional network; I never even mentioned summer employment.  In fact, when I thanked him for helping me, his response was “Hey, that’s what I’m here for.”  That is what makes W&L Law so incredible- you really don’t even have to ask.

Summer Employment Opportunities, #6

We asked several of our 1Ls and 2Ls to discuss the role W&L Law has played in their summer employment search.  Amy Bianchini, a 2L from San Diego, California, offers us her perspective.

For the past two years, I read horror stories online about the difficulty of getting a law firm job without connections.  Friends feared that it was nearly impossible to get a job through on campus interviews.  This made the thought of applying for jobs through OCI daunting.  Washington and Lee’ Office of Career Planning (OCP) made the application process much easier by making the process simple. They put my mind at ease when it came to applying for law firm jobs.

When I came back to Washington and Lee to begin my second year, I knew I wanted to find a job at a law firm for the summer.  The previous summer, I worked in the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s office.  I enjoyed my time there, but before I settled on a career, I wanted to see what it was like to work at a law firm.  I focused my job search on law firms instead of public interest jobs.  In particular, I focused on firms that had specialties in employment and energy law because I had a particular interest in those areas.

With this goal in mind, I began my job search with Washington and Lee’s Simplicity website for on-campus interviews.  Through Simplicity, I had access to many firms with summer associate programs across a wide geographic range.  I carefully reviewed the employers that would be interviewing on campus and chose to submit my resume to employers with specialties in employment and oil and gas because of my interest in those fields of law.  I focused my search on states out West and sent out many applications through Simplicity.   Looking at certain firm’s requirements was intimidating, but I tailored my cover letters to each firm and tried to highlight why I would be good for that particular firm.  Additionally, I independently sent a number of applications and resumes to other firms outside of those I found through W&L OCP.  However, a vast majority of firms I applied to independently told me they no longer had a summer associate program.

I started to receive options to interview with firms through Washington and Lee’s OCI program in late August.  Before any interview, I researched each firm very carefully and organized discussion points and lists of questions I wanted to ask each firm.  One of my first interviews was with a firm in New Mexico, Hinkle, Hensley, Shanor & Martin.  The position is at their main office in Roswell, New Mexico.

Washington and Lee made the interview convenient.  Instead of having to fly to New Mexico for the interview, I did the interview at the law school via video conference.  Washington and Lee tipped me off as to who from the firm would be interviewing me: two of the firm’s partners, one a Washington and Lee Law graduate.  The firm specializes in oil and gas and employment law, and their geographic location was ideal for me.

The interview went very well, and after talking to my interviewers, I was sure that I would be happy working for Hinkle, Hensley, Shanor & Martin.  I waited to hear back from the firm, hoping for a call back or a second interview.  In early November, I received an email in my inbox from the firm.  The firm offered me a summer clerkship position for half of the summer.  I eagerly accepted the position and look forward to working in New Mexico this summer.

Summer Employment Opportunities, #5

We asked several of our 1Ls and 2Ls to discuss the role W&L Law has played in their summer employment search.  Chrishon McManus, a 2L from Charlotte, North Carolina, offers us his perspective.

This summer I will spend ten weeks as a summer associate at Arent Fox LLP, a Washington, D.C. based firm with approximately 350 attorneys in Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, and a new office opening in San Francisco this spring. As a summer associate, I expect to be assigned work comparable to that of a first-year associate. I will rotate through practice groups and spend roughly equal amounts of time in the Litigation, Business, and Regulatory departments of the firm.

I was familiar with Arent Fox’s reputation before law school because I had spent time in D.C. Last year I applied to Arent Fox for its 1L program but was not selected.  I decided to apply again because it was one of the few firms that provided the exact type of opportunities that I was looking for, namely a mid-sized firm in D.C. that has experts in all fields as opposed to a firm that specialized in one or two areas. Out of all the employers, I narrowed it down to a few and focused on those while applying to a variety of employers. I believe that one of the reasons I was chosen for this position is because I am very interested in this particular firm and the work that it does. While many 2Ls find their summer jobs through OCI or jobs fairs, I was lucky enough to be hired after applying directly to the firm through its online application.

The Office of Career Planning at W&L was an invaluable resource to me during my job search. I had people who were always available to read draft after draft of my resume and cover letters, even in the middle of the summer when the application process begins. While I did not find this particular position through OCI or a job fair, the Office of Career Planning helped me prepare for those interviews as well. Even far from campus, there was someone at a job fair in Atlanta available to answer my questions and help me appeal to employers. OCP connected me with alumni who were willing to volunteer their time and sit down with me to conduct mock interviews or just answer questions about their practices.

I went to college in D.C., and it was always my intention to return after law school. It was important to me that the firm be based in the District because I wanted work in the same location as the firm leaders and be a part of a firm that focused on the local community with its service efforts. Ultimately, I plan to be a transactional attorney and Arent Fox is the perfect place for me to develop an expertise in corporate and securities law.

Summer Employment Opportunities, #4

We asked several of our 1Ls and 2Ls to discuss the role W&L Law has played in their summer employment search.  David Johnson, a 1L from Shawnee, Kansas, offers us his perspective.

Like most incoming law students, I discovered the marketplace for law school advice well before classes began.  I read far too many blogs, articles and books explaining, for the most part, how to read books. A large percentage of these sources also focused on the deteriorated state of the legal job market.  Phrases like “structural change” and “worst in decades” seemed ubiquitous in even the most optimistic writings. Despite the dire forecasts, I sent my seat deposit to W&L and hoped my past successes could be repeated in the law school environment.

Upon arrival at 1L orientation, I was once again exposed to the same downward-sloping graphs and shrinking charts that gave me pause the previous spring and summer. That message, however, was conditioned with a description of the myriad services available to help W&L students navigate the tough job market. Unfortunately, the Association for Legal Career Professionals prohibits the use of those services by 1Ls until November 1st. Thus, rather than our key job search resource, the admissions team gave us a few networking tips and a directive to focus on classes for the first few months. That is exactly what I did.

When I pulled my head out of the books in mid-October, the admission and career planning teams were ready with a different message. The no contact phase had almost concluded and new graphs were on display, graphs with a clear upward trajectory. I saw long lists of employers willing to speak with me and an expanding map of alumni connections. My optimism grew along with the number of job notice emails in my inbox. Although I was not yet permitted to communicate with the Office of Career Planning (OCP), I decided to apply for a few positions in the field that most interested me, economic regulation and commercial law.

With no access to the OCP, I prepared my application with those resources that were available. I modeled my legal resume after templates listed on the OCP website. I talked to my Burks Scholar about cover letter strategy. Perhaps most importantly of all, I sought advice from two 3L students that were previously employed by the same governmental organization I was applying to. One student was working on his 3L externship out of state, but was accessible by email. He promptly replied to my message and gave me his impression of the program and some interview talking points. I found the second student studying in his carrel. He cheerfully described the program to me for 30 minutes and helped to tailor my cover letter to the employer’s program goals. Based on the support I received from those students, I felt confident to submit my application.

When I was offered several interviews, those students who aided my application once again gave me advice on what to expect. Well over a dozen 2Ls and 3Ls gave me tips and helped shape my expectations for the interview.  It is tempting to think the attention I received was an anecdotal reaction to my charming nature, but I know many other students who have had a similar experience. My roommate, through the exact same preparation process, knew his future employer’s growth plans and the name of his interviewer’s dog well before he was granted an interview. Both my roommate and I had successful application and interview experiences because of the support we received from other students.

I accepted my first job, a funded position with a state attorney general, before I was even allowed to have my application reviewed by OCP and long before semester grades were decided. The job is in the exact legal field and geographic region I wanted. I was not forced to make any concessions in my job search.

Since grades were released and the no contact period ended, I have applied and interviewed with several other potential employers. Through the same peer-supported application preparation, I was able to accept a split-summer offer with the Department of Justice in Washington, DC in early February.

Of all the articles I read before I came to law school, not one made me believe that the job market was uncompetitive. You could spend hundreds of dollars on books that claim to have a system or secret to navigate the job search process. I never spent that money and I never read those books. I came to law school with the same lingering employment doubts that you likely have. Those doubts were allayed by the support of older W&L students who advised me through the job search process. This article is my attempt to do the same for you.

Summer Employment Opportunities, #3

We asked several of our 1Ls and 2Ls to discuss the role W&L Law has played in their summer employment search.  Julia Barber, a 2L from Kingsport, Tennessee, offers us her perspective.

When first starting out on my job search my 1L year, I had no idea where to start. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or where I wanted to do it. In some ways, not really having a plan was helpful because my options were nearly limitless. On the other hand, it isn’t realistic to apply to every single job out there. I met with the Office of Career Planning (OCP) before I even started looking to discuss what I thought I might be interested in and where I could look at various types of job postings. Based on my interests and undergraduate studies, my advisor suggested a few different areas of the law in which I might be interested.

My job search didn’t really start until I started getting emails from OCP about On Campus Interviews (OCI). Although I wasn’t sure what kind of law I wanted to practice or where, I figured a law firm could expose me to variety of types of law and hopefully, I could narrow my scope a little bit. I started applying to most of the law firms that were coming to OCI. Although I had never been to Alabama, quite a few of these firms were in Alabama, and I figured I might as well give them a try. I interviewed at a few firms during OCI and ended up committing to a larger firm in Birmingham for half of the summer as a summer associate.

I was excited to try something new in Birmingham for a portion of the summer, but I wasn’t I was ready to abandon my roots in northeast Tennessee yet. Since Tennessee wasn’t largely represented at OCI, I did some research on my own for this area.  OCP helped me find a few W&L alums in the region to get in touch with. I called some alums, along with a few family friends, to hear about their work and their firms. Being able to talk with alumni was great, because they were really willing to bend over backward to help you out. A few of the alums I spoke with passed along my resume to their hiring committees, and one alumnus even helped edit my resume for me. In addition to getting in touch with people, I found various firms in the region whose websites indicated they had a summer associate program. I sent emails to the contacts listed with my resume and cover letter, and I heard back from a few for interviews. All of the firms were really flexible and said I could just do a Skype or phone interview if I couldn’t come to the office. Fortunately I was headed home for spring break, so I interviewed at the firms in the person. I ended up choosing to spend the other half of my summer at a smaller firm in Knoxville, TN. It was really nice being able to split my summer because I could compare firm cultures and work atmospheres and decide which place was a better fit for me.

After splitting my summer, I was fortunate enough to find a firm I really liked . Lucky for me, they liked me too. I’ll be returning to one of the firms to be a summer associate. I was really lucky to be able to work at the firm my 1L summer because a fair portion of their 2L summer associate class is filled by people who worked there for their 1L summer.  Although many markets aren’t like this, those that have large 1L summer associate classes seem to have a lot less room for new people in their 2L summer associate class because they invite some of the 1Ls back.

On their face, many law firms seem incredibly similar. This is far from the truth though. For me, finding a law firm that was a good fit for me was more important than finding a law firm in a specific location or of a specific size. Keeping my options open helped me find a place that I could see myself working for many years to come.

Summer Employment Opportunities, #2

We asked several of our 1Ls and 2Ls to discuss the role W&L Law has played in their summer employment search.  Nigel Wheeler, a 1L from Dallas, Texas, offers us his perspective.

I couldn’t believe it. The response showed up in my inbox within minutes. I figured it had to be a mistake. It just had to be.  Mr. Toles was likely hunting jackals in South Africa, or maybe trekking through the Khyber Pass or wait, even more likely, spelunking his way through the Carlsbad Caverns- you know something super awesome and super exotic, something that big time lawyer guys do. He certainly wasn’t wasting any of his time responding to a 1L- oh wait, at that point I wasn’t even a 1L, I was lowlier  than that – I was a prospective 1L.  I deduced that Mr. Toles’ prompt email response was just one of those annoying,  send you from hero to zero,  auto-reply emails- the kind that inform you that the desired recipient is off somewhere doing something incredible and that if you need immediate assistance you should call Rick or Sue or some other monosyllabic stranger.  I was totally wrong. Mr. Toles had written me back.

William Toles graduated from W&L Law in 1995. Last summer, when I was trying to decide where to go to law school, I called Dean Brett Twitty and asked for the contact information for some law alumni in the Dallas area.  Dean Twitty emailed Mr. Toles’ information to me and naturally I displayed no coolness and emailed him immediately. After a brief email exchange we set up a meeting where I met with Mr. Toles face to face and was also introduced to Morgan Meyer, another W& L alumnus. Mr. Toles and Mr. Meyer were amazing. They were extremely candid about their time at W&L and discussed their classes, the social environment, and their job opportunities upon graduation. The meeting not only convinced me that W&L was where I needed to be, but also helped set the gears in motion that ultimately led to a summer job.

The meeting was a game changer. Through contacts that Mr. Toles and Mr. Meyer helped provide, I talked to somebody who mentioned to somebody that I was somebody who wanted to practice in Dallas.  Eventually I learned of a 1L summer associate position at Bracewell and Giuliani. I applied immediately, interviewed, and miraculously landed the job. This summer I will be working in various departments at  Bracewell’s Dallas office. Ultimately I hope to do public finance, or maybe white collar defense or maybe who knows- I’m a 1L and I have no idea what the heck I’ll end up doing. Bracewell, to some extent, should help me figure it all out.

Mr. Toles and Mr. Meyer were instrumental in helping me navigate through the maze that is the job search process. The OCP (Office of Career Planning) also provided a lot of assistance. OCP helped convert the mess that was my resume into something that actually made sense to employers. Ms. Lorri Olan also helped introduce me to the W&L alumni network. I would be remiss to not mention the OCP-sponsored etiquette training–I now know more about fork selection and soup-scooping than you could ever imagine.

A lot of law school administrators, at least a lot of the administrators at schools that I was considering before coming to W&L, tout the strength of their alumni network. At other schools I was shown pie charts and placement tables and spiffy videos that show alumni all over the world and their support for their school.  At W&L, that spiffy video came to me. By virtue of sitting down and talking to a stranger (that’s me guys),  two W&L Law alumni showed me the true strength of an alumni network. A couple of handshakes, a candid conversation and a free club sandwich with sweet, delicious garlic fries,  was all that I needed to be convinced.

Nearly all alumni responded to my emails and phone calls. At times it took several attempts but it was well worth it. What impressed me most was that not only were the alumni willing to correspond via phone and email, but also many insisted on meeting in person. I admit that those first few interactions were a little awkward but it all seems to have worked out. The alumni here have helped open doors that I couldn’t even see before meeting with them. One day I hope to return the favor.

Summer Employment Opportunities, #1

We asked several of our 1Ls and 2Ls to discuss the role W&L Law has played in their summer employment search.  Adrienne Adkins, a 2L from Richwood, West Virginia, offers us her perspective.

I attended Washington and Lee University as an undergraduate, so four years later when deciding where to go to law school, I jumped at the chance to return to my alma mater.  I was aware of the difficulties in the legal market, yet I was confident in the reputation, staff, and alumni network of W&L and the legal education that I would obtain to help me secure employment in this challenging marketplace.  And I have not been let down.

Following my 1L year, I was open to new possibilities as I was still learning the law, but I wanted to expand on the business base I had built during my undergraduate work and through my previous career as an assurance associate at Ernst & Young.  During the school year, I met with a counselor from the Office of Career Planning (OCP) who helped me identify some potential opportunities in the public sector to explore my interests.  The counselor also helped guide me through several of the school’s online resources for job postings, including a database called Symplicity.  After perusing the sites, I noted the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was taking applications for their Summer Legal Honors Program.  I graduated from W&L with a degree in accounting and business management and spent the following three years auditing and advising a publicly-held company, so the SEC seemed like a perfect fit for me.  Before submitting my application materials, I asked my counselor in OCP to review them, which she did within 24 hours.  Further, I signed up for a mentorship program through OCP, where 1Ls are assigned an alumni mentor.  Interested alumni work with OCP to remain connected to the students and to provide advice on careers, classes, interviewing techniques, etc.  I reached out to my mentor about possible job routes I should consider for the summer, and before my SEC interview, he provided advice on how best to prepare.  I ended up spending the summer after my 1L year working in the Division of Enforcement at the SEC in Washington, DC.

Before I had even finished my first internship, the race to find the next job had begun.  Prior to the start of the application process, I called my OCP counselor to discuss my application strategy.  W&L offers several regional interviewing programs, in addition to the traditional on-campus interviewing (OCI).  I participated in the Northeastern Interview Program in New York City, where both firms and several public interest employers participated.  After receiving initial interview offers, I again relied on my counselor to help me prepare on the types of questions to expect, how best to tailor certain answers, and even what to wear.  I also participated in OCI.  When I was fortunate enough to receive call-back interviews and different job opportunities, my counselor was one of the first people I called.  She was incredibly amenable to all of my requests.  For example,  I would be on the train from one callback to another and would not know how to properly address an issue, but she was there to answer my call and assist me through the process.  She also helped me prioritize and decide what type of job was a good fit for me, my personality and my career goals, and she was able to do so based on her experience, not only as a counselor, but also as a practicing attorney.  In the end, I decided to go with a firm that I applied to through Symplicity—the same way I applied to the SEC.  I did a “resume drop,” got the call from Davis Polk & Wardwell and off to New York I went.  I will be working as a summer associate in the firm’s New York office this summer.  I am excited to build off of my prior work experience and my experience at the SEC to further explore my legal interests, and I know my counselor will be there if I have any questions along the way.

Compare, Contrast

Mary Katherine Vigness grew up in Fort Worth, Texas.  She earned a B.A. in History/Liberal Arts Honors and Theatre and Dance from The University of Texas at Austin.  She is currently the Publications Editor for theGerman Law Journal.  This summer, she is clerking for a full-service corporate law firm as well as the Civil Division of the District Attorney’s Office in Dallas/Fort Worth.  She returns to W&L in the fall for her final year.

Now that I have completed clerkships with a private law firm and the Civil Division of the District Attorney’s Office, I can reflect on how the experiences have shaped my legal education.  There are certainly differences between government work and private practice, such as the difference between billable hours and a yearly salary, but overall, I found the experiences to be complementary. 

I encountered many of the same legal areas in both clerkships, such as employment law, civil procedure, and property law.  Had I been on the criminal side of the DA’s Office, I would have been working under prosecutors and in an entirely different capacity.  But in the Civil Division, I was able to work with civil law as I did in the private firm, though I had to consider how politics, local statutes and regulations affected the work.  In contrast, my work on the private side was ultimately for a private client and generally did not involve compliance with local statues.

There were many benefits to my varied clerkships.  One benefit was learning how the two entities—private and public—can operate together.  For example, the county may consult outside counsel on complex issues or even face such counsel in litigation if the county is sued.  Another benefit to having both clerkships was the opportunity to meet and work with a variety of people in the community.  I learned about the importance of business development and community involvement, whether I am working for elected officials or private clients.  I also worked in close proximity to the courts where I could interact with judges and learn how courts operate. 

Both jobs involved different pressures and requirements, but each one gave me the opportunity to improve my legal writing and get hands-on experience with legal responsibilities such as writing memoranda, drafting briefs, reviewing contracts, and reading codes.   The summer also exposed me to different office environments so that I could feel better prepared for any job after law school, whether the job is with a small, mid-size, or large office.  Most importantly, I can enter my third year of law school with greater confidence in my future as an attorney.

Dreams Realized

Frances Kirby is a rising 3L at Washington and Lee. She was awarded a NAACP/Kellogg Fellowship and spent her summer working at the NAACP headquarters in Baltimore. Kirby is Research Chair for the NBLSA Amicus Curiae Program and Associate Editor of the SRBLSA Law Journal. She will be a student attorney in the Community Legal Practice Clinic during the upcoming year.

Frances Kirby

Each year, the Office of the General Counsel at NAACP headquarters in Baltimore, MD selects six law students, based on “commitment to excellence and passion for civil rights”, to participate in the NAACP/Kellogg’s Law Fellow Program. Having an opportunity to work with the oldest civil rights organization in the nation was a privilege unparalleled. Being a beneficiary of an amazing summer of professional development was a dream realized for me, as a future civil rights advocate.

Because the Office of the General Counsel serves as in-house counsel for NAACP Conferences and Branches, in addition to representing classes, I researched varied legal issues including contracts, torts, non-profit corporations, and—to my surprise—defendant side employment law. During a visit to Battle Creek, MI, to thank our benefactor, an employment lawyer convinced me that a lawyer on either side has the power to positively impact workers’ rights. She helped me to understand how important the spirit of the lawyer is to the practice.

While I anticipated being exposed to civil rights, I had no idea the work would run the gamut of virtually every area of social justice including: access to education, criminal defendants’ rights, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, and fair housing. Had I made a list at the outset of what I wanted from the Fellowship, I would have foreclosed for myself the opportunity to help address important legal issues facing underrepresented communities.

The summer was filled with challenge and triumph, as we worked tirelessly to finish the constant flow of assignments, dealing with issues from both plaintiff and defendant sides of the law, while managing a full schedule—in and out of the Office. In addition to providing us with great legal experience, the Office created the most awesome networking opportunities—including informational sessions with attorneys at federal agencies, small and large law firms, and a myriad of social justice organizations. We sat through the Dukes decision at the Supreme Court (played basketball on the highest court of the land afterward), and the morning docket at the Baltimore City District Court. From coordinating and moderating CLE panels on civil rights, to networking with hundreds of lawyers and judges at the National Bar Association Convention, the summer was an experience unmatched by any other. In fact, the Fellowship opened up for me another opportunity—I will be working during the school year with a D.C.-based civil rights “action tank”.

I will be eternally grateful to Kim Keenan, our General Counsel, for being so personable and so willing to share with us her wealth of knowledge, experience, and countless connections; Dorcas Gilmore, our supervising attorney and a former educator, for bringing great pedagogical value to the Program; Victor Goode for showing me sophisticated lawyering in action and for being unnaturally patient and available to us, and to Anson Asaka for showing me that excellence can combine well with silence and humility. Facilitated by Kellogg, the NAACP Office of the General Counsel made a tremendous contribution to my personal and professional growth.

The Truth Comes Out in Court

Claire Fernandez  is a Lead Articles Editor on Law Review, a Burks Scholar Writing Fellow, and the former secretary of LALSA.  Claire spent the first half of her summer working for a judge at the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas.   She will spend the next six weeks working for Judge Frances Stacy, also in Houston, who is a federal magistrate judge for the Southern District of Texas.

As some of you may recall, I spent the first six weeks of the summer drafting opinions for Justice Jeff Brown at the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston.  For the past few weeks, I’ve been working for Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.  My transition was a relatively smooth one as both positions required extensive legal research and writing to produce draft opinions.

However, Judge Stacy and her clerks also encouraged me to spend some time watching federal trials.  Luckily for me, my first week coincided with the end of the Jamie Leigh Jones v. Halliburton trial, which the media took significant interest in, especially in Houston.  Ms. Jones worked for KBR, a former Halliburton subsidiary, when she was sent to Iraq for an assignment and allegedly gang raped.  The case had already gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve an issue regarding an arbitration agreement in Ms. Jones’s employment contract.  The Court concluded that Ms. Jones’s claims were outside the scope of her employment contract and that she therefore had the right to litigate her claims in federal court, at which point her case came to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The case began two weeks before I arrived at the court, but I was fortunate to have the opportunity to watch the last few days of the trial.  I had already read a number of news reports on the case, but I was absolutely shocked to hear how different the evidence presented at trial was from the story presented by the media.  Without going into the details of the case, the media reported several allegations Ms. Jones made at various points throughout the past several years.  However, the trial showed that most of her claims were unsubstantiated at best, and directly contradicted by factual evidence at worst.  (An interesting article that illustrates this can be found here http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/07/kbr-could-win-jamie-leigh-jones-rape-trial).  The jury ultimately returned a verdict favoring the defendants, concluding Ms. Jones was not raped and KBR was not liable for the numerous allegations Ms. Jones charged them with.  Although I knew the news reports I read may not have been fully reliable, I was very surprised to see firsthand just how unreliable they actually were.

The opportunity to watch this trial allowed me to observe litigation tactics by some of the most successful attorneys in Houston.   It also illustrated how much the media will stretch a story to make it newsworthy and present information as fact when the evidence does not support such reports.  While I’m enjoying the opportunity to continue improving my legal research and writing skills at this internship, watching the Halliburton case has definitely been the most interesting part of the internship thus far.