Got Experience?
By Aaron Farmer
During my tenure as a Legal Intern in the Washburn Law Clinic I had the opportunity to take a deposition. I prepared for this deposition by combing through a few thousand pages of discovery and set out to box a fact witness into statements. Although nervous, I began asking my prepared questions. Sitting beside me was my supervising attorney, John J. Francis, who patiently followed my progress to ensure that I didn't miss any issues and helped formulate follow up questions. As the deposition progressed, I relied on skills attained through prior practice depositions in the Clinic. Surprisingly, I felt very comfortable in this semi-adversarial environment because I had already role-played it so many times.
At its core, the Washburn Law Clinic is about providing student attorneys real world skills. Instead of being thrown into my first deposition as an associate with little or no guidance, the Law Clinic required me to provide a written outline of what questions I planned on asking that was highly scrutinized by both my supervising attorney and other Clinic interns. Additionally, by role-playing the deposition before it took place, I gained the necessary experience and confidence to succeed in the actual deposition. Because of this opportunity, after graduation, I'll be ready to take any deposition without the crutch of a supervising attorney.
Additionally, Law Clinic has afforded me many opportunities to appear in court. The first few times I was very nervous and was a little tongue-tied. However, after every appearance my supervising attorney and I assessed what I did well and what I could improve on. With every Court appearance, I became more and more comfortable talking in front of a Judge. I no longer feel nervous appearing in front of a Judge due to my extensive court appearances as a Legal Intern in the Washburn Law Clinic. More than any traditional course, Law Clinic has enabled me to attain many skills that I will put to use as a practicing attorney in a few short months.
