Category: Student Spotlights

Mikaela Schulz is a 1L Rep for GPS. She is from Western New York and studied English at SUNY Buffalo. While there, she grew her love for a good story by working as a research assistant for the school’s Narrative Persuasion lab. Before coming to law school, Mikaela managed a restaurant and worked on political campaigns in her region. This summer, she will be continuing to pursue her interests while clerking at the Goldwater Institute.

After law school, Mikaela hopes to obtain a clerkship before working in DC. She is interested in gaining litigation skills at a law firm before transitioning back to public interest work long-term.

Maia Foster is a 1L Rep for GPS. She grew up in both Nashville, TN and Vienna, VA, graduating from the University of Virginia (WAHOOWA) in 2017. After graduation, she lived in Washington, D.C. for two years while working at a bipartisan climate change think tank that advocates for a federal carbon fee and dividend policy. Maia is dedicated to a career in environmental and climate change law, and she hopes to return to D.C. after graduating from Duke Law.

Binx Saunders is a 1L Rep for GPS. She grew up in Charlottesville, VA and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2017 with a degree in Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law. After graduation, she worked for a law firm in Chicago for one year before moving to DC, where she worked for the Federal Trade Commission in the Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Division of Financial Practices. Binx hopes to work in litigation for a law firm after graduation and to eventually return to government work.

Emma Allison is a 1L rep for GPS. She is from outside Atlanta, Georgia and majored in education and religion (primarily Buddhism and Hinduism) at Furman University. After deciding not to become a teacher, Emma spent a May semester in Rwanda studying post-genocide reconciliation. She then interned at an employment law firm in Greenville, SC during her senior year at Furman. Emma is dedicated to helping others and is fascinated by other cultures. She now hopes to pursue a career in immigration law.

Adam Golden is a 1L Rep for GPS. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2016, he joined Teach For America, teaching high school math in Charlotte, North Carolina. Frustrated with the injustices that impacted his students both inside and outside of the classroom, he shifted to policy work after two years. Adam spent a year working as a fiscal analyst on the Arizona legislature’s budget committee and a year as a legislative fellow for Congressman Lloyd Doggett before starting law school at Duke. In his free time, Adam enjoys writing and reading about public policy and other topics, spending time outdoors, playing board games with friends, and kicking butt at Mario Kart Double Dash.

Sean Berman is a 1L Rep for GPS. Sean grew up in Henderson, NV. He studied International Politics at Georgetown University. While in college, Sean interned on Capitol Hill for his home district’s member and worked on a congressional campaign in Northern Virginia. After graduating, Sean worked at a non-profit policy shop focused on solving national security challenges using private sector tools.

In the future, Sean hopes to pursue a clerkship before starting a career in the federal government.  In his free time, Sean enjoys playing tennis and saxophone and watching the Mets beat the Braves.

Sarah Laws, hailing from Sydney, Australia, is a 3L at Duke Law. Sarah’s interests lie primarily in civil rights litigation, which she exercised working at North Carolina Justice Center during her 1L summer and at Patterson Harkavy during her 2L summer. Both summers, Sarah’s work has included working to further protections for LGBTQ North Carolinians in a variety of contexts. The part of these experiences Sarah found most rewarding was working with clients. Sarah is pursuing fellowship and clerkship opportunities. A fun fact about Sarah is that she competed in the world championships with her frisbee team the summer before law school.

Dominique Estes is from Naperville, Illinois. In 2019, she graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Constitutional Studies. During the summer following her 1L year, she interned at the North Carolina Department of Justice in the Education Section. Reflecting on this experience, she shares that it completely affirmed her love for legal work and taught her that her real passion seems to lie in criminal defense. She had the chance to work on a criminal appellate brief and several employment suits, and she was even given the responsibility of drafting the plaintiff’s deposition outline. This summer, she hopes to intern with the North Carolina Appellate Defender. After graduation, she will be pursuing opportunities in Washington D.C. in public defense, appellate practice, or general government litigation. In her spare time, Dominique enjoys watching bad Netflix teen rom-coms, listening to true crime podcasts, and thrifting.

Legal Aid of North Carolina – Raleigh, North Carolina

This summer, I had the good fortune of working with Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Raleigh Office. I served as a law clerk for attorneys who worked in many different areas of law, including landlord/tenant law, family law, and unemployment law. The attorneys at the Raleigh office were more than happy to assign meaningful, engaging, and substantive work this summer, and I feel like I experienced a wealth of personal growth while providing a needed service to the people of Wake County.

One of the most memorable events of this summer was the opportunity to successfully represent a client in an unemployment benefits case. Under attorney supervision, I conducted the intake interview, prepared her for the hearing, and conducted the direct examination and closing argument. The most important thing I took away from the experience is how much legal services organizations are needed. Even as someone trained in the field, putting together the evidence and organizing arguments was overwhelming. Organizations like Legal Aid are necessary for giving people in need a fighting chance at obtaining fair outcomes in the legal system.

On a more personal level, the unemployment benefits case was uniquely helpful in improving my legal skills. Getting feedback from attorneys at Legal Aid was instrumental in my growth, and I was able to better understand my strengths and weaknesses in both written advocacy and oral advocacy. The opportunity to learn by doing was invaluable, and I greatly appreciated that the attorneys were willing to let me work on my own but were also willing to provide amazing advice.

Another memorable case was an attempt to secure a protective order for a victim of domestic violence. In that case I conducted the intake interview, examined the evidence, and participated in the negotiation with the other side regarding a consent order. What stuck out to me about that case is how much fear can permeate someone’s life. Viewing the evidence of abuse secondhand is jarring enough, and I see now how much courage it takes for victims to confront the perpetrators in a court setting.

I observed many non-Legal Aid hearings while working these cases, and they further demonstrated to me the need for a more widely-accessible legal system. When a party has an attorney as opposed to not, the change in atmosphere is incredible. One case that stood out to me was a domestic violence case where both parties were pro se. Neither parties were well-versed in the rules of evidence, yet they were bound by those rules. Both parties had very important testimony disregarded because they were unable to phrase their terms correctly.

Ultimately, this summer was a great experience. Legal Aid is an organization that helps people navigate a complicated system when they are at their most vulnerable, and my internship really helped me learn what kind of difference legal services can make. Further, I was able to grow my skills by performing meaningful and substantive work. I could not have imagined a higher-quality internship for my 1L summer.

Submitted December 3, 2018