University of the District of Columbia David A.

Clarke School of Law Summer 2013 Public Interest Fellowships Setting Goals and Writing a Goals Memorandum: A Professional Development Requirement
Dear Students: We are delighted that you are participating in the UDC School of Law's summer public interest fellowship program. We are committed to financing your full-time public service legal work, which is for many of you, the first time you will be working in a legal setting. We want you to use this experience to integrate your classroom knowledge and your on-the-job skills, to help you develop your own sense of professional identity. At its most basic, the question is: Who do I want to be as a member of the profession? To help you get the most out of the experience, we require all students receiving law school funding to meet certain professional development activities, whether you are working outside the law school or for one of our clinics. Every student needs to (1) prepare a goals memorandum and (2) make an appointment to discuss that memorandum at the beginning of the summer with Dena Bauman or Vanita Saleema Snow in an entrance interview. Then, at the end of the summer, you schedule an exit interview with one of us to discuss your experience. If you are working for one of the law school clinics, please contact Dean Forman regarding her expectations. We administer the program through Symplicity, the career management system that we use to post job announcements, advertise career programs, etc. Through this system, you can schedule meetings, find and read required materials, and find evaluation forms. Setting Goals and Writing a Goals Memorandum Why did you choose your placement? If you are like most students, you want to: apply your classroom learning to the real world; explore career interests and build a professional network; learn about and serve the community, and begin to create the "portfolio" of skills that you will need in your future careers. Additionally, learning how to identify and set goals for the internship, working effectively with supervisors and other colleagues, improving skills such as time management, and identifying and handling professional ethics issues are all essential professional skills. Identifying those goals and what strategies you will use to achieve them, will help you control your experience this summer and use your time more effectively. Every day at the internship will offer you choices about different opportunities, whether it is to observe a trial, make a jail visit, or take on a new assignment. Having a "game plan" in place will help you decide which choices to make. How do you create a game plan? In the internship class, Professor Robinson and I, ask each student to prepare a goals memorandum at the beginning of the semester. That memo outlines their goals for their internship, their longer-term professional goals, and how the internship will help them achieve those goals. Preparing a goals memorandum early in your internship is a very effective way to help you articulate what you intend to accomplish this summer. It provides a baseline to help you evaluate your experience, and to stay on track as the summer progresses. If you find, as many

students do, that some of your goals change over the summer, the goals memorandum will help you think about why that has happened, and how to find ways to achieve those new goals. A goals memorandum is also an extremely useful tool in helping you develop good relationships with your supervisors. It will help you talk with them about what you want to get out of the summer, and what you need from them in terms of obtaining effective assignments and receiving constructive feedback. Writing a Goals Memorandum 1) To start, think about your goals, and write down everything that comes to mind. Don't selfcensor, but just get your "creative juices" flowing by writing down what comes to mind. Firstyear students should be sure to write about what they learned in their community service placements and how they want to build on that experience. It is also a good idea to think ahead toward clinic, and what kind of skills and experiences you can have this summer to help you prepare. Second-year students should also include what theyve learned from jobs last summer, and from their first clinic. They should think ahead to how this internship will help them prepare for their second clinic. 2) Then, think about what kind of experiences would be helpful to you in reaching those goals. Experiences could include research and writing, attending a strategy meeting, or having "informational interviews" with people at your workplace. 3) Think about how you can identify opportunities at your office. Speak with your supervisor, with other attorneys and staff, other interns, your faculty advisor, and administrators. This will help you expand the set of possibilities. Your memorandum is not meant to be a rigid outline of tasks, but a baseline document that evolves over the summer as you gain experience. 4) How will you measure whether you are achieving your goals? How will you know if you are successful? Many students focus on what they want to do at the expense of what they want to accomplish over the summer. You wont be able to know what you accomplished unless you also pay attention to your progress. 5) What are your longer term professional goals? How will this internship help you meet these goals? If you dont have any longer-term goals yet, then write about how this internship will help you begin to define them. Using the above suggestions, write the memorandum. It can be in the form of an essay, or you could create a table with columns if that format is better for you. Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to working with you this summer. Dena Bauman Director for Career and Professional Development and Adjunct Professor of Law