A Full Day of Careers, Panels, and Powerful Messaging

Tuesday brought a full slate of perspectives, moving interns from the psychology behind criminal behavior to the real, lived experience of building a legal career.

The day began with a lecture from Dr. Talisa Carter, a professor at American University. Dr. Carter drew on her own background as a former corrections officer, walking interns through how that experience shaped her and how it continues to inform the work she does today as a professor of criminology. From there, she gave interns an introduction to criminology itself,  how a criminal's mind actually works.

Next, interns met their clients for the first time, in a session facilitated by attorney Brandi Harden. It was their first real opportunity to sit down, ask questions, and start working through the details of the cases they'd be building, a shift from studying the law in the abstract to applying it to a real person with a real story.

The afternoon brought a legal careers panel featuring Heather Pickney of the Public Defender Service, Brian Levine, formerly of government service, and Kevin Hagan of FAMM. Each brought a distinct vantage point on what a career in criminal justice can look like, from indigent defense, to government work, to advocacy-focused organizations working to reform sentencing policy, giving interns a wide-angle view of the field beyond the courtroom alone.

Rounding out the day, former prosecutor Lauren Castaldi gave interns a look into her time as a prosecutor, offering a valuable counterweight to a program largely centered on defense and reform. Understanding how a prosecutor builds a case and makes charging decisions sharpens interns' own advocacy, the better they understand the other side of the table, the stronger their arguments become.

From the science behind criminal behavior, to a first meeting with real clients, to a wide-ranging look at what a legal career can actually look like, Tuesday gave interns one of the fullest days of the program yet, equal parts education, practice, and perspective.