Pre-law internship program marks 20 years

A program that sponsors internships for pre-law undergraduates entirely through the support of Harpur alumni is celebrating its 20th year.

The Harpur Law Council Pre-Law Public Interest Internship Summer Program, created by the Harpur Law Council in 1998, has provided more than 65 Binghamton University undergraduates with a rare internship opportunity.

“We’re taking undergrads, we’re putting them in internship positions that normally would go to first- or second-year law students, and they’re performing every bit as well as law students,” said Sheldon Goldfarb ’73, Harpur Law Council Steering Committee member and chair of the Development Committee.

Undergraduates who are selected for the program are placed in a legal services organization or agency in the public sector. Interns receive a stipend from $3,000 to $4,000 and one academic credit, funded completely by members of the Harpur Law Council and other law alumni.

This year, nine students will participate in the internship program. Placements include American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, NYC Department of Education, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of Chief Counsel, in Arlington, Va.

In 1998, however, the program started with one placement, at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and one intern. Her name was Simone Sterling ’98, and she currently sits on the Steering Committee, along with Goldfarb.

“I think the internship is what helped me get into law school,” Sterling said. “I’m grateful for that. The fact that there was a stipend attached to the rigor of the program itself was significant for me.”

Sterling said her experience as the first intern in the program exposed her to legal training and lawyers in a way that prepared her for law school and for a career in law. She now works in risk management at a financial services firm.

Sterling’s experience, including her decision to involve herself on the Law Council as an alumna, is common among past interns in the program.

“Binghamton has been such a great, big part of my life and this program has been such a great, big part of my life,” Sterling said. “It has matured immensely to something that is beyond what I think anybody on the Steering Committee would have even imagined 20 years ago.”

For the alumni that founded the Harpur Law Council, the Public Interest Internship has been central to their mission from the start.

“We try to serve as some form of networking for alums, but more importantly we try to play a role with students,” said Richard Alpern ’69, Harpur Law Council chair emeritus. “We thought that it’d be a great opportunity for those interested in a career in law, to see what it’s like. It’s different from reading about it, watching something on television. But being there, actually seeing what kind of work it is, is something that’s very important.”

The initial Steering Committee decided to place the interns in the public sector to remain in line with the mission of a public university, according to Alpern. The internships are not only for students interested in the public sector, however.

“The goal of the internship is not to necessarily help [the interns] select a field of law,” Goldfarb said. “The goal of the internship is to give them a sense of what it might be like to be a lawyer.”

Over the years, that has meant many different things. After doing research, writing memos, assisting investigations, sitting in on trials, and even drafting opening statements, some interns dove headfirst into the legal field once their internship ended. Some found that the field wasn’t for them.

“And that’s also valuable,” Alpern said.

All, however, have maintained a standard of hard work and professionalism that both Goldfarb and Alpern said makes them proud. They said they feel that the quality of the undergraduate students they select lives up to the impressive network of law alumni from Binghamton University.

“In almost every [placement], there are alums that are not members of the Law Council,” Alpern said. “We know people in various agencies who are alums, and they are delighted to host the students and to help Binghamton students to, as I like to say, get a leg up.”

Take Chelsea Desruisseaux ’16, for example. A case analyst at the Innocence Project, Desruisseaux is a past intern who will host an intern of her own this summer.

“I am fortunate to have two Bing alum in my department with me,” Desruisseaux said. “I had such a good experience in my internship, and I know how difficult looking for jobs can be and how important having an internship on my resume was for me.”

As for the “leg up” Desruisseaux was able to gain from her placement, she said that her trial experience as an intern at the New York City Department Of Education in the Administrative Trials Unit three years ago directly helped her get her current job.

“[The Law Council] is able to introduce students to different areas of the law. It’s incredibly beneficial, especially to students who may not be able to intern due to financial reasons,” Desruisseaux said. “So, it’s an amazing thing that I get to host someone who’s in the internship program and maybe be a mentor to them, because getting into the legal field can be hard. I’m happy to help navigate someone through everything.”

On June 6, the Harpur Law Council will host a networking reception to celebrate the program’s 20th year. Law alumni will be able to connect with their peers, current and former interns, host agency representatives, program supporters and alumni currently in law school.

The event will be held at the Princeton Club in Manhattan and is sponsored by the Harpur Law Council of Binghamton University and the Alumni Association Metro NY Chapter.