A Monday for Stepping into the Field

Our first day of the program started with a lecture from our director, Jenna Sackter, who set the foundation for everything interns would build on throughout the week, walking through what the program would demand of them and the skills they'd be expected to develop by the time they stepped into a courtroom of their own and an office of a congressman.

From there, interns heard from attorney Brandi Harden, who delivered a lecture on Incarceration, Race, and Reform. Rather than starting with case law or courtroom mechanics, Brandi grounded the week in the deeper history and systemic context behind the work, the forces that shape who ends up incarcerated, and why reform requires understanding that history, not just the statute. Brandi then introduced interns to their cases, giving them their first real look at the clients and arguments they'd spend the week building.

With cases in hand, Program Director Jenna Sackter ran a jury selection activity focused on striking and not striking jurors, along with the fundamentals of voir dire. Interns got hands-on practice with the questions that matter in jury selection, one of the fundamentals of our democratic system.

The day continued with a lecture on direct and cross examination from Judge Adam Hunter. Hearing examination technique explained from the bench gave interns a different vantage point than they'd get from an advocate alone, a sense of what actually lands with a judge.

The day closed with a panel of formerly incarcerated individuals, moderated by Courtney Stewart, Chairman and CEO of the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens. After a day spent learning the mechanics of advocacy, this was the reminder of what all of it is actually for, hearing directly from people who lived through incarceration and reentry, and understanding what their experiences mean for the cases interns would soon be arguing.