Note from Attorney Adolph: As some of you may know, we have had the pleasure of welcoming Derek as an internship this summer. We are grateful for his dedication and time this summer. Below is a picture of Derek manning the Adolph Legal booth at Hops on the Hill this year.
Whether it’s the first year of kindergarten or the last year of grad school, people all across the country are gearing up for another school year. I am one of those people. My name is Derek and I’m a third-year law student at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. This summer, I was lucky enough to have an internship at Adolph Legal and I wanted to share my thoughts on the experience and, in a way, internships in general.
First and foremost, I want to express just how valuable this experience has been for me. At this point I know readers may be thinking this is a little “gushy”, but I can assure you I am a real person, this isn’t just an advertisement, and I wasn’t bribed to write such a positive review. I really do mean it. From my experience at Adolph Legal, I learned that running a law firm requires two things: law expertise and office management. Law school teaches you a good deal about the subject of law. It can teach you about things like adverse possession, codicils, and estoppel, but it doesn’t really teach you about the finer details of running or working in a firm. Thankfully, the staff at Adolph Legal helped give me practical experience with the legal aspects of practicing law and office management.
As well as teaching me about the practical side to life at a firm, this internship helped introduce me to areas of law that I may not have otherwise had the opportunity to experience. In the majority of law schools, every first-year student learns the same basic material: contracts, property, torts, civil procedure, criminal law, and property. In the second year of law school, each individual student has a great deal of discretion over their remaining years in school. Personally, I became drawn to the transactional side of law. E-commerce and bankruptcy called to me. I never really considered working in or learning about family law, which is what I spent the majority of my time on this summer. My experience at Adolph Legal leaves me with two thoughts in this regard. First, I found out that I really do enjoy family law. Second, my newfound attitude about family law will be a reminder that trying new things can lead to great opportunities.
Finally, I want to thank Adolph Legal for providing me with a great summer. Everyone at Adolph Legal strives to be professional and sincerely wants to help others in the community. Whether it’s sponsoring community charity events or ensuring that legal work is correct and prompt, the staff at Adolph legal place a large importance on making sure things are done the right way. If you spend any time around Adolph Legal’s staff, it is evident that these values are a central mission of the firm and won’t be changing anytime soon.