By Lynn F. Mason
As a Western Michigan Cooley Law student, it is not
generally known how many opportunities there are to explore and expand your professional
options even prior to beginning your law school career. If you sit down and
talk to any of your professors, they are very helpful and can steer you in the
right direction because they have been where we are. So, I begin with one of
the fairest and most prominent judges in Ingham County- the Honorable Judge
Rosemarie Aquilina. She teaches at WMU Cooley Law School and Michigan State University
College of Law. If you graduate from law school and did not take one of her
cl asses, you have completely lost out and here’s why.
Students can find law school daunting at times and,
even though most of them love law school, they may often wonder why they are
doing this and why they are torturing themselves with lack of sleep, break
downs, and anxiety. Undoubtedly, you’ve heard of the freshman 15 (undergrad
students tend to gain about 15 pounds their first year from eating too much junk
food). Well, there is a 1L, maybe even a 2L and 3L 15. I’ve discovered this
first hand because all I do is study, read, and write about the law. However,
you have to find a balance and figure out if a law degree is really worth
having. After all, acquiring a JD is very expensive. Although some law schools are
more expensive than others, most cost at least $100,000. For me, I discovered
my balance by being in the courtroom. Every law student should, at some point,
just sit in on court proceedings whether it be family, criminal, or civil law.
This is one of the greatest experiences any law student can have.
This is where Judge Aquilina comes in. One of the Circuit
Court prosecutors encouraged me to observe court proceedings and, of course,
that is what I did. I found it to be extremely fascinating to see what I learned
in law school applied to real life. I guess it’s true-“They don’t make this
stuff up.” Real law was happening before my eyes. Following that experience, I found myself
corresponding with Judge Aquilina who invited me to be one of her law school
interns on a voluntary basis. Although one may be turned off by working for
free, if you haven’t noticed, in the real world, it’s not only what you know,
but also who you know. This was an amazing opportunity and I would have been
foolish to pass it up. Lo and behold, the Judge had a small number of externs, interns,
and volunteers that wrote her memos while improving their legal writing skills.
There was a mixture of MSU and Cooley students. We all got along very well and
loved discussing the law.
 Jax Kaminski, a rising 2L from MSU, was one summer
intern. She expressed how the program improved her research and writing skills
by having to write legal memos in their truest form. She said she gained a lot
of exposure by interning at the Circuit Court and seeing the law at work. We all talked about how much we learn numerous
legal theories and read cases that are vital to the history of law and
lawmakers in classes, but, to see it in action, allows the law to take on a
whole new perspective by demonstrating how a courtroom works. Jax said that she
also learned how to represent herself in a courtroom and we all joked about things
not to do in the courtroom. Yet, it’s all about reputation and credibility. The biggest lesson we learned was, as Judge
Aquilina asks, “Where’s the evidence?” A good attorney never gets in front of a
judge without good, solid evidence or, worse, no evidence at all. Yes, we saw
it and it was not pretty.
Another rising 2L MSU student intern was VanDyke
Kotorokh-Yiadum. Ironically, he said he had no intention to do any litigation
when he first began law school, but, all of his experiences thus far, were pushing
him in that direction. In our discussions,
he mentioned how being in Judge Aquilina’s courtroom inspired him to think
outside the box. VanDyke said another humorous lesson learned as an intern was
when Judge Aquilina told us to get rid of all black pens; never write in black
ink only blue (although she likes purple as well) because it is hard to distinguish
the original document from a copy when duplicates are made. The message was
clear- law students trash those black pens especially if you are going to take
family law! Then, there was JoAnne Tomaszewski who also was a
rising 2L at MSU. She stated her experience as an intern with Judge Aquilina
was a positive one. She said one of the best things she witnessed was an
improperly conducted police line-up that was presented in court. Understandably, the Judge was not particularly
pleased about the poorly conducted line-up. JoAnne stated this event allowed
her to see how the Judge upholds the law and the balance she applies to defense
attorneys, prosecutors and defendants.
All in all, my internship with Judge Aquilina was an amazing
opportunity and she must be applauded for the chance she gives law students. She
is a firm believer in helping one to succeed in law, is willing to answer any
questions, discuss the law and statutes, and, of course, proper courtroom
etiquette.
|