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Erica Askin
Law student intern, Rutgers School of Law—Newark
“As an intern at inMotion, you have the opportunity to help women move on with their lives—and that is tremendously satisfying. As a future attorney, it was great to realize that I could be genuinely inspired by my job.”
Erica Askin interned with inMotion during the summer of 2006 after completing her first year of law school at the Rutgers campus in Newark. With a background in social work and prior experience working at a battered women’s shelter, Erica found inMotion to be a great place for her to develop legal skills while continuing her past work with survivors of domestic violence.
Erica was first trained to conduct intake interviews of women who called inMotion with legal problems, carefully screening them to make sure that their situations and issues matched the legal services we provide. In addition, Erica did legal research for our staff attorneys and helped to update our Continuing Legal Education (CLE) training materials.
A focus of Erica’s internship was assisting clients with uncontested divorces. Marta, a domestic violence survivor and AIDS victim, was especially thankful after Erica helped her obtain a divorce—Marta literally screamed with joy when Erica called to tell her the good news.
Marta had faced several years of procedural roadblocks to obtaining a much-needed divorce from her husband, who had forced her into prostitution and severely abused her physically. With Erica’s and inMotion’s help, Marta has moved on with her life and plans to remarry.
Erica states, “Working one-on-one with clients was a remarkable experience. And acquiring firsthand knowledge of the New York City legal system gave me great confidence in becoming an attorney.“ Her experience over the summer was so rewarding that Erica continued to volunteer with inMotion after the formal internship concluded.
Learn more about law student internships.
Note: All clients' names and personal details have been changed to protect their identities.
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