United States Federal District Court for the District of Maryland -Internship (Clerk's Office)

By Katherine (Katie) Pistner, Justice and Legal Thought College Park Scholar

My experience had an incredible impact on me because I was able to observe how many of the mechanisms of American democracy and justice that were established by our Founding Fathers and fought for in the subsequent years worked in harmony to ensure the integrity of the American justice system was preserved.

This past semester I had the amazing opportunity of interning with the Clerk’s Office of the Federal District Court for the District of Maryland. My poster highlights the everyday activities of the Clerk’s Office as well many of the things I learned. My experience had an incredible impact on me because I was able to observe how many of the mechanisms of American democracy and justice that were established by our Founding Fathers and fought for in the subsequent years worked in harmony to ensure the integrity of the American justice system was preserved. During my internship I gained a deeper respect for the law as I observed prosecuting attorneys build their case and then watched the defense attempt to dismantle these arguments. I also observed that judges play a large role in administering justice within our nation. I watched as the judges tried to do right by the law, the prosecution, and the defense. The judges were kind to the defense even if it was clear they were guilty and wanted to make sure they were not subject to any cruel and unusual punishment.

The most striking aspect of my internship to me was how casually the Clerk’s Office interacted with the public. We would receive dozens of hand written letters daily which we would read, decipher their meaning, and docket to their respective cases in which the case administrators would then take action to ensure the concerns in the letters were addressed and handled.

The most striking aspect of my internship to me was how casually the Clerk’s Office interacted with the public. We would receive dozens of hand written letters daily which we would read, decipher their meaning, and docket to their respective cases in which the case administrators would then take action to ensure the concerns in the letters were addressed and handled. These letters did not come from big law firms or the government, they were from common citizens and prisoners who had gotten involved in the Federal Court system and were trying their best to get themselves out. Many of the correspondents had significant amounts of research and legal citations which I was very impressed by. However, even when a letter was confusing and not completed correctly the Clerk’s Office still worked to make sure all of their concerns were heard and dealt with. To me, this aspect of protecting the citizens is where I was able to draw the deepest connection to Justice and Legal Thought. Many of the landmark cases we learned about during my two years in the program had to do with average citizens standing up and fighting for what they believed in and the Clerk’s Office was working to ensure this was possible. This internship was beneficial to me as it made me more compassionate, increased my workplace communication skills, and allowed me to gain a more in depth understanding of our Judicial System.