Legal Studies Department  

Testing the waters before jumping in – applying education to “real-life” experience in the legal world.

The Legal Assisting Internship (Practicum) Program

Dear Intern Sponsors:

Columbus State Community College is grateful to the legal community for its support in sponsoring the interns from the Legal Assisting Program.  The Legal Studies Department believes that the practicum will offer an opportunity to learn skills and acquire knowledge that would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to provide in the class room.

Benefits of the Practicum
The students value this opportunity for practical experience.  The students benefits and the sponsoring attorney also benefits by realizing helpful work.  In addition, the practicum provides an excellent opportunity without commitment to evaluate how a paralegal might function in a particular office setting.  Although it is understood that a practicum is not expected to lead to employment, attorneys have found excellent employees as a result of the practicum experience.  In order to ensure these benefits and maintain a quality practicum program, we do have certain guidelines for those providing a practicum.

Responsibilities of Sponsoring Attorneys
A variety of tasks should be assigned - tasks which will require the student to use the knowledge and skills gained in the program.  These tasks should be useful to the firm.  Routine clerical and secretarial duties, while essential for the law office, are not generally appropriate practicum tasks.  A student may be asked to do occasional copying or clerical work, but these requests should prove the exception rather than the rule.  For each task assigned, some initial explanation will need to be given.  If possible, appropriate models of similar transactions should also be supplied.  The reasoning behind this is students are introduced to general procedures in their classes with a limited exposure to specialized situations.  Feedback on the student's work is especially helpful.  At the conclusion of 70 hours, the sponsoring attorney meets with the students and practicum instructor to assess the student's performance and offer any helpful advice.

Responsibilities of Student Interns
The student will keep a daily log of time spent on tasks.  Students are also asked to make copies of their work products with proper names removed or blacked out.  (Particularly sensitive documents may be excluded from this requirement.)

Typical Skills
Many attorneys want to know the specific kinds of tasks an intern can be expected to do.  The following are examples of the typical skills introduced in the program:

• Drafting and answering complaints, interrogatories and requests for production of documents
• Summarizing and abstracting transcripts, depositions and documentary evidence
• Investigation and fact gathering
• Data organization, control and recovery
• Drafting of motions, requests for admission, mediation summaries and judgments
• Preparing for and assisting at trial
• Post trial/post settlement follow-up
• Preparing for appeal
• Probate administration and estate planning
• Collecting and valuing assets
• Preparing and filing probate court forms, including annual accounts for estates and trusts
• Preparing tax returns
• Drafting simple wills and trusts
• Processing insurance change of beneficiary designations and claims for proceeds
• Arranging for transfers of asset ownership in accordance with estate plans
• Pre and post death estate planning calculations
• Drafting purchase agreements, deeds, bills of sale, land contracts, assignments and leases
• Reviewing title commitments and mortgages
• Checking legal descriptions against survey of property or preparing legal descriptions of property based on survey

In general, legal assistant interns should be assigned tasks useful to the firm.  They may not, of course, give legal advice to clients, sign legal documents, or appear officially in court.  Throughout their course work, students are encouraged to be resourceful and, after an appropriate introduction, can be expected to handle many initially unfamiliar tasks.

Typical INTERNSHIPS:      Columbus City Attorney, Wolske & Blue Attorneys, Franklin County Juvenile Court, Ransier & Ransier, Attorneys, Ohio Supreme Court, Wendy's International, Inc., Ohio Attorney General's Office, Franklin County Municipal Court and Franklin County Common Pleas Courts, Nationwide Insurance.

Job Referral Service
Employing legal assistants has become the logical outgrowth of an effort to make the delivery of law services more economical for the client and more profitable and efficient for the law firm or business.  Attorneys who feel a legal assistant could make a contribution to their practice are invited to contact the office at 287-2592.  The Legal Studies Department have  resumes of Legal Assisting graduates and students who are currently seeking either full- or part-time employment.

Contact Information
Should you have any further questions concerning the Practicum in the Legal Assisting Program at Columbus State Community College, please contact:
 

Daryl Cullison, J.D. Chairperson (614) 287-2592 dculliso@cscc.edu

Larry Stephens, J.D. (614) 287-2594 lstephen@cscc.edu

Thomas G. Shanahan, J.D. (614) 287-2623 tshanaha@cscc.edu

© 1999 Columbus State Community College, Legal Studies Department.  All rights reserved.

| Top of Page |  HOME |  Legal Assisting Profession |