By Jacob Shimek, Justice and Legal Thought
These programs seek to train law enforcement personnel abroad and international prosecutors and judiciary to carry out just, effective law enforcement in order to strengthen legal systems internationally to both combat transboundary crime and improve the fairness of judiciaries and law enforcement agencies globally.
Since January of this year I have been interning as a finance trainee for the United States Department of Justice within the International Training Financial Management office of the Criminal Division. The Department is tasked with developing, enforcing, and supervising the application of all federal criminal laws except those specifically assigned to other divisions. The Office of International Training Financial Management specifically provides administrative financial support to the Criminal Division’s International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) and office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT). These programs seek to train law enforcement personnel abroad and international prosecutors and judiciary to carry out just, effective law enforcement in order to strengthen legal systems internationally to both combat transboundary crime and improve the fairness of judiciaries and law enforcement agencies globally. My daily activities in the office involved preparing invoices for payment, tracking data in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, running daily reports, performing reconciliations, and providing support and assistance to Financial Management Analysts. Additionally, I worked with another Federal Pathways intern in the office to organize, revise, and optimize a procedures manual comprised of standard operating procedure in order to both simplify on boarding newly hired personnel in the future and compile a simple, searchable document for immediate reference. We culled incorrect, misleading, or antiquated documents, revised write ups to be more helpful and when necessary worked with finance technicians and program analysts to draft new operating procedure write ups. I will be continuing this internship with the Department of Justice next semester and potentially beyond.
Hi Jacob, I found your work in this internship very interesting because it seems like a very enriching experience. It seems like you had very notable responsibilities and made a real impact on the agencies work. I’m also interested in taking part in a similar experience next year, and it’s eye opening to see the different types of work there is to do for the government What was your biggest takeaway from your work, in terms of understanding the role of the Justice Department?
Jacob, your project really stood out to me because you were one of the only students to intern for a government agency. As possible finance or accounting major I am very interested in having a similar internship experience in the future. It was very interesting to learn about the responsibilities and activities you had to accomplish. What was the work culture like at a government agency?
This is a really great project you were about to take part in and it seems as though you were really able to make a difference with your internship. To work for the Department of Justice must have been really incredible, and I hope to have a similar internship experience next year as part of my capstone. Your poster is very well-made and precise with the information, and it seems as though you were able to gain great experience with a federal agency.
This project stood out to me because of it's design and because it's one of the few projects that recounted internship experience from an actual government institution. I learned what this department was tasked with " developing, enforcing, and supervising the application of all federal criminal laws." I really enjoy the colors used for this poster and the clarity that all the sections are divided into. It's really easy to read and not convoluted at all.
Would you recommend this internship to someone who is unsure if they are interested in pursuing this type of work in the future?