Monday, December 16, 2019

Fall Semester Update

Spooky Season is here and by that, I mean that finals are around the corner; can you believe it? —because I certainly cannot. This semester has been super different for me, I went from having only classes to juggling two externships with three classes.

I am currently interning for the Loyola Center for Conflict Resolution (LCCR) and for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. At the LCCR, I intake clients and conciliate conflicts (conciliation is mediation by phone). On the other hand, at LAFLA I research about different topics, such as country conditions. For those who are not familiar with immigration law, one of the elements of asylum is a “well-founded fear of prosecution” and by researching about the client’s country conditions we can offer some proof of that well-founded fear of future prosecution.

Putting aside the technical stuff, this semester has been challenging but in different ways. See, I am from Ventura, meaning that I commute from Mondays to Thursdays. As we all know, LA traffic is ABSOLUTELY the worst and since I come from Ventura… well you can imagine. So, unfortunately, I spend about 3-5 hours commuting per day. Thus, some days by the time I get home I am so exhausted that I barely have time to skim some pages. However, as I said before, Law School is not impossible. Some days are harder than others (oh, Tuesdays); but hey, that is part of the ride—right?