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From clerkships to clinical assistantships to working as summer associates at firms, summer legal work helps students gain practical skills and experiences that benefit them during law school and beyond. This is the second profile in our 2014 series featuring the summer job experiences of UW Law students.

Jarvis Idowu '15
711 Law Clerk, Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Gang Crimes Unit
Chicago, Ill.

Describe your summer work experience.
As a law clerk with the Gang Crimes Unit in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, I worked under a 711 license, which allowed me to appear in court. There are about 20 attorneys in the unit, and I bounced between them all, helping whoever needed a hand. By the end of the summer I’d had a wide variety of experiences. I presented witness testimony and the closing argument at a conspiracy to commit first-degree murder trial. I wrote, argued and won a motion to admit evidence of gang-membership. I argued for a substantial term of confinement at the sentencing hearing in a prison "shanking" case, and I used open-source social media mining techniques to find evidence in a first-degree murder of a police officer case.

What is the most interesting thing you've worked on this summer?

I was assigned to a conspiracy to commit first-degree murder trial. A confidential informant was outfitted with a hidden camera and captured the defendant planning a homicide and eventually attempting to purchase a gun from an undercover officer. The informant had been friends with the defendant and his family for nearly a decade and was romantically involved with the defendant's sister. I was to present the informant's testimony at trial. When I called him to the stand, the defendant's entire family—including the sister—were seated in the courtroom. The tension was palpable as I played more than 40 minutes of hidden camera footage in open court.

How do you think this work experience will shape the rest of your time at UW Law School?
I came to law school for the sole purpose of becoming a prosecutor. My experience this summer has only strengthened that aspiration. I intend to continue taking criminal law classes, and I’m currently enrolled in courses dealing with human trafficking and domestic violence.

What classes have been particularly useful in preparing you for the work you are doing this summer?
My experience in the Wisconsin Innocence Project was by far the most relevant. While it may seem counterintuitive that working as a quasi-defense attorney could help prepare one for prosecutorial work, my time with WIP taught me a great deal about many of the issues that affect the stability of convictions. In other words, my experience with WIP taught me what to watch out for on the other side of the proverbial table.

Submitted by Law School News on August 23, 2014

This article appears in the categories: Summer Job Series

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