Mitchell Hamline School of Law

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Minnesota Court of Appeals Internal Policy Internship Program

Posted: July 16, 2019

Minnesota Court of Appeals

Internal Policy

Internship Program

Background:

The court of appeals has an internship program with the three Minnesota law schools: University of Minnesota, St. Thomas School of Law, and Mitchell Hamline.  The court has committed to taking one intern from each school every spring, summer, and fall semester.

Requirements

  1. Fall and spring interns can be 2Ls or 3Ls; summer interns must have completed at least two years of law school.
  2. All student interns must be in good academic standing. This means students must have at least a 3.5 GPA and journal experience.
  3. The students may not engage in other legal employment during their tenure at the court of appeals.
  4. The students must be enrolled in and placed through local law schools.
  5. The internships are tied to the academic semesters, and the students receive credit for the internship.

The court has the option not to accept interns who do not meet these qualifications.

 

Procedures

Preparation

  1. Before each semester (in July, December, and May), court administrator confirms with each school that it will be placing an intern with the court.
  2. Court administrator will confirm school start dates and determine a date for orientation. Spring internships typically begin in mid-January, summer internships begin in early June, and fall internships begin in early September.  Once an orientation date and time is determined, court administrator will schedule the COA conference room and notify Sue Segl and Diane Richmond.
  3. Once an orientation date is set, court administrator will e-mail the judges, copying the JAAs, to request volunteer judges to take an intern for the next semester. The Chief Judge will take an intern if there are not enough volunteers to cover the three candidates we have agreed to take.
  4. Once all students’ information is received and judges have indicated their interest, the judges will take turns selecting interns. Choice of intern is by seniority order; the Chief Judge chooses first.

 

Set-up

  1. Background check: Interns must complete a criminal background check (Minnesota Judicial Branch Volunteer, Intern or Unpaid Student Worker Disclosure and Release) and be cleared for work before the first day at court.  Court administrator will notify Janet Emerson of the name and start date for incoming interns, and Janet will email the interns a link to the background check, to be completed before the intern’s first day.

 

  1. Workspaces: Court administrator coordinates with the supervising judges to identify physical locations for the interns. Current available locations are the second-floor reading room, and two desks located in the central staff areas (one on second floor and one on third floor), and some JAA desks.  A judge who shares a JAA may have his or her intern sit at the empty JAA station.

 

  1. ITD and Applications Access: Court administrator will send an Excel chart and/or new employee form with the necessary intern information to ITD a few days before the interns start and again at the end of the semester. ITD will create login credentials for intern, which will allow them access to the COAWIDE folder and their shared chambers folder in the J: drive, as well as MACS for their chambers. Interns do not have access to CTS or Westlaw.  Because the internship is for educational purposes, the interns may use their law school-issued Westlaw credentials.  Law clerks should not share any login credentials with interns.

 

  1. Parking: The court does not offer paid parking to interns.

 

  1. Building Access: Court administrator will provide intern names and start date to Diane Richmond and Sue Segl. Diane will provide key cards to the JAAs of the supervising judges.

 

Training

At the start of the semester, Court administrator provides training similar to that given to the law clerks and prepares a packet of information for the interns based upon handouts provided in hard copy during new clerk orientation.

Intern Responsibilities

Although each chamber has its own procedures for working with interns, typically an intern will cite check, write a bench memo, draft an opinion, and do research, all under the supervision of one of the law clerks in the chambers.  An intern also may attend special term and observe oral arguments at the court of appeals and supreme court.

 

 

Interns Outside this Process

Judges are free to make arrangements for interns outside of this regular intern program.  Because we have limited desk space available, interns placed outside the regular program will have to be accommodated within the chambers of the judge with whom the intern is working.

The judge should let court administrator know that he or she is engaging an intern outside of the process.  The court administrator will need the intern’s name, start date, and where the intern will be located.  If the intern will be starting at the same time as the interns in the regular process, the court administrator will then notify the judge when the training session will be held and include the intern in the notification to ITD.  If the intern is starting on a different day, the JAA for the specific chambers will do set up, including coordinating with ITD for start date and end date, and coordinating with the court administrator for training.

 

All interns, including those arranged for outside the regular process, will have to submit to a criminal background check.  The court administrator will notify Janet Emerson of the intern’s name and start date so that Janet can send the intern information about the criminal background check.