Greetings! I’m excited that you have come on board the second leg of a ten (10) weeks journey. Indeed, another week is done already. In this post, I shared some background about my 10 weeks legal internship and how the first week would have transpired. If you haven’t already seen it, you can get the insights here. As for the second week, believe me – it went from predictable, to unpredictable REALLY quickly. You’ll know exactly what I mean, if you saw this article about my first year law school exam results.
With that bit out the way, here’s how the second week of my legal internship went…
Monday – Legal Internship: Concert Tickets + Plums + Finished Proof Reading Bill
Monday was as wonderful as the feeling you get when you’ve finally finished proofreading a Bill. As I put my pencil down, I thought, “reading is such an essential skill.” I also considered how imperative the skill of legislative drafting and editing is as well. Oftentimes, its the little ‘unassuming’ things in life that actually holds true as cornerstones.
In addition to the feeling of completion, I was out for a juicy treat – as I came across some plums that I hadn’t seen in ages!
What do you call these plums? Comment to let me know. Two persons I asked, said they just call them plums. So where on earth did I get the name “Hog Plums?”
In a way, I think Monday was sweeting me for Tuesday! As a matter of fact, I now had sights on the weekend to attend the Humming Birds & Friends Musical Concert. Thanks to my supervising attorney – I got tickets to attend. (Bummer: My weekend plans were dampened, and I didn’t attend. I’ll certainly be on the look out for their next staging).
Have you been to any of their concerts? If yes, tell us about your experience in the comments!
Notably, I was now eager to take on another assignment. However, I took some time to look over the Bill and read through a section of the Intern Manual that was relevant to the task at hand. I decided that by Tuesday, I’d declare the task finished – just to be sure.
Tuesday – Legal Internship: Writing A Memo + Exam Results + Another Orchid!
Oh my days… What an interesting mix of surprises and pleasantries. Whoo! Okay, Tuesday saw me fired up, and ready to take on the next assignment. Remember, I felt this way from Monday, but wanted to do some double checking before calling it ‘done’ on my first assignment.
I visited my supervising attorney to update her on the progress of the assignment and also made queries about little things pertaining. She advised me to write an internal memorandum bearing the observances I made from the proofreading exercise and submit same to the attorney who is overseeing that matter.
Immediately, I got cracking. I went through the document, making notes of the observances made. I then printed the memorandum and packaged it with the Bill for submission. After this, I received some insights about the next assignment, which I’ll tell you about later.
For now, let me just say “another one!” Another orchid that is – I think I may very well be into orchids now.
Along with legal tutelage, there’s this amazing attorney who keeps my orchidology in check too! 🙂 She is a plant enthusiast and a kind ‘gifter’ of these wonderful nature babies. So now, I have in my collection, a Vaughnara Jairak Kiss and a Dendrobium. You should see how they flower online – I can’t wait to see mine bloom. That reminds me, there are two vital lessons on the path of growth –
1) we don’t all bloom at the same time and;
2) nothing in nature blooms all year round – and neither do we.
I made mention of that quote here, when I articulated my law school year one exam results. Those were released on Tuesday. I won’t bother going over it here, considering there is an entire article dedicated to that.
Wednesday – Legal Internship: New Assignment
This one is close to home (considering I teach!) 🙂 It should be an interesting read – Jamaica Teaching Council Bill (which is up for some amendments). This has been in the news, so its fascinating to see how much better I’ll be able to understand the discussions, since I’ve been tasked with reading it through – in preparation for an upcoming task. A few of the news headlines and links are below.
JTC Bill to make distinction between registration/licensing etc
Revocation of teachers’ license to be final under JTC Bill
Teachers need not fear JTC Bill penalties…says Campbell
Related Post: Law School + Being a High School Teacher in Jamaica
Thursday – Legal Internship: The Office is Out of Office! Gooo Team!
This was a breath of fresh air! It was amazing to see the camaraderie, as office members rallied around to support the Debate Team from the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs (comprising 3 members).
Side Note: The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel actually falls under the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, even though the Office is physically occupying space at the Ministry of Justice. Initially, I thought it was under the Ministry of Justice, but that soon became clear to me when I realized the Debate match was between – The Ministry of Justice and The Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs. It was even clearer when a colleague and fellow blogger brought it to my attention. Look out for what happened on Friday, when we both became enthused that the other also blogs!
Right, so the Debate match was held at a venue outside the office (somewhere up Saxthrope Avenue in Kingston). The Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU) Public Sector Debates, that’s what it’s called – and this was the quarter finals match. The moot debated: “Be it resolved that policy decisions should be informed primarily by the majority views of citizens.” Team ‘Justice’ won with 286 points, while the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs amassed 270 points.
It was a well played match with interesting points. This and other matches can be found on the TIU Youtube Channel.
Friday – Legal Internship: Another Blogger in the Office + The Work’s On
Meeting up with fellow bloggers is an awesome experience. Plenty people are into vlogging as opposed to blogging. Some do both. When my colleague, who is a Legislative Editor in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel mentioned that she blogs and is also a published author, I was so excited! We had to connect further!
We exchanged web addresses (blog address) and she shared insights about her books.
If you are interested in testimonials, devotionals, down to earth inspiration, then her faith based Christian motivations are ripe for the picking. Have a look at her blog! I certainly did, and have been visiting regularly for inspirational devotionals. That’s the Faith and Life Blog.
In addition to this, realized that my desk started looking like work was coming in. 🙂 Yep! Plenty Bills to read, and I have the wonderful opportunity of seeing and reading through files (some that are closed and some current) to get a more thorough understanding of the process of how a bill becomes law. This is pretty amazing stuff.
Legal Internship – Week 2 – Closed
Two weeks down! Eight more to go!
If you are interested in seeing how this 10 weeks legal internship folds and unfolds, then subscribe to get the articles straight to your email or stop by weekly for those updates.
Until the next article, take care and keep Rooting For Growth!
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