Steven Kaplan

PSCI 293

5/17/13

My Internship: The Law Office of Robin M. Wertheimer Esq.

To begin with, let me just say that my time at the law office of Ms. Wertheimer has been one of the most intriguing and arguably, most useful experiences of my life. It is my honest opinion that the connections I have made there and the knowledge I have gleaned by working there, will definitely serve me in the years to come as I hopefully head down the path of becoming a lawyer. The fact I learned at my internship have truly helped to put into perspective the complex nature of the law and how it can be used to great benefit if one is savvy enough. This whole experience also helped me to put into perspective the range of skills I could offer to a perspective employer in the legal field as well as helping me to truly comprehend whether I truly was capable of being an attorney and whether I would actually like to continue down this path. I also believe that what I experienced and learned through my time at the law firm has truly helped me to also understand just what is justice and what place it has in our modern and some would say overly materialistic American culture.

Funnily enough though, actually acquiring a position at said law office was actually a combination of dumb luck and happenstance. I had just arrived home and was going to phone some of the various possible judges and lawyers that Mr. Krasner had given me for possible places to intern at when I noticed that my cellphones battery was completely dead. With that option out of the question at least until it recharged I instead decided to use the house phone to make the necessary calls. As I walked over to get the home-phone to give one of the numbers a ring though, I noticed that the phone was not where it was supposed to be. After a thorough search, which failed to reveal, said missing phones location (as I later discovered some time later my grandmother had taken it into her room and forgotten to tell anyone) I instead looked to borrow someone elses phone to make the necessary call. As it so happened my father was home and I decided to ask to borrow his phone.

It was here that the previously mentioned dumb luck happened to take effect. As it turns out my fathers phone was completely out of power, now incensed and annoyed by what had happened I of course got snippy upon discovering that in nobody else was home and that the other members of my family were not due to return for some hours. Confronting me over my behavior, I revealed to my father to why precisely I needed a phone so desperately. Unexpectedly, he then proceeded to inform me that after stumbling upon one Jay Solomon, a friend of his who he had lost touch with and not spoken to for some time prior to their happenstance meeting on Facebook, he had discovered that he was currently employed at the law office of one Ms. Robin Wertheimer. Confused as to how this matter would concern me I of my course questioned my father on this issue and received an unexpected but certainly welcomed surprise.

As it turns out, Ms. Wertheimers firm had just beginning to accept internships and was looking for prospective interns at that very moment. Upon hearing of this unexpected opportunity, I of course told my father to tell Ms. Wertheimer that I was interested and would be more than happy to meet with her as soon as I could confirm that it was in fact okay to use her, given that she wasnt one of the people that Mr. Krasner had told me to seek out for possible internship positions. After confirming through the office of political science that it was in fact possible to use her place of work as a place of employment for the internship, I set about sending Ms. Wertheimer a Facebook message to the same effect. The two of us then proceeded to set about determining when we could both meet given her various appointments and my school schedule and thusly we quickly determined that the following Friday was good for the two of us. After also clarifying the fact that it was not necessary that I wear any sort of formal business attire for the internship and that business casual was perfectly appropriate for the duration of the endeavor, we both then proceeded to part ways until the date of the previously mentioned appointment.

Upon the arrival of the date of said appointment I found myself a bundle of nerves both out of nervousness and excitement. It is here that I must insert one critical piece of information in order to best clarify why I was in such a state given the opportunity my internship presented and also why I went about the task of performing my job at the law office in the way of which I did, this fact is that I have never held a job in any capacity prior to the commencement of my internship. This fact may seem rather unusual given my age but can easily be explained with the knowledge of several key things about me, namely that my family had chosen to adopt several pets and thus forced me into the position of being a caretaker for them due to being the only one available in my house, and the fact that due to my mother suffering a stroke back when I was still in high school I was forced to stay at home and assist around the house both in the matters of assisting in maintaining the home and additionally to care for my mother until she had fully recovered from her infirmed state. As such due to the sheer amount of time that these matters consumed in my life I had never really been presented with or had alternatively been deprived of, any opportunity to actually see what sort of positions I was capable of doing as well as ensuring that I did not have any idea of what I could truly do if placed in any sort of work environment.

Given what I said before I set about trying to steady myself by trying to anticipate what I was going to be encountering during my interview. As previously stated, due to past circumstance I had never been placed in any sort of work environment and as such had no idea of what to truly expect. And while my family did help me greatly in this matter I also discovered that, as it turns out one of the best sources of information I found towards giving me a hint of what was to come during the interview, was actually one of the readings I was assigned to do as part of my internship, the work in question being The presentation of self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman. In particular the following passages:

In when an individual enters the presence of others, they commonly seek to acquire information about him or to bring into play information a bout him already possessed. They will be interested in his general socio-economic status, his conception of self, his attitude toward them, his competence, his trustworthiness, etc. Although some of this information seems to be sought almost as an end in itself, there are usually quite practical reasons for acquiring it. Information a bout the individual helps to define the situation, enabling others to know in advance what he will expect of them and what they may expect of him. Informed in these ways, the others will know how best to act in order to call forth a desired response from him.

For those present, many sources of information become accessible and many carriers (or I sign-vehicles ') become available for conveying this information. If unacquainted with the individual, observers can glean clues from his conduct and appearance which allow them to apply their previous experience with individuals roughly similar to the one before them or, more important, to apply untested stereotypes to him. They can also assume from past experience that only individuals of a particular kind are likely to be found in a given social setting. They can rely on what the individual says about himself or on documentary evidence he provides as to who and what he is. If they know, or know of, the individual by virtue of experience prior to the interaction, they can rely on assumptions as to the persistence and generality of psychological traits as a means of predicting his present and future behavior.

However, during the period in which the individual is in the immediate presence of the others, few events may occur which directly provide the others with the conclusive information they will need if they are to direct wisely their own activity. Many crucial facts lie beyond the time and place of interaction or lie concealed within it. For example, the true' or real' attitudes, beliefs, and emotions of the individual can be ascertained only indirectly, through his avowals or through what appears to be involuntary expressive behavior. Similarly, if the individual offers the others a product or service, they will often find that during the interaction there will be no time and place immediately available for eating the pudding that the proof can be found in. They will be forced to accept some events as conventional or natural signs of something not directly available to the senses. In Ichheiser's terms, 1 the individual will have to act so that he intentionally or unintentionally expresses himself, and the others will in turn have to be impressed in some way by him.

We find, then, that when the individual is in the immediate presence of others, his activity will have a promissory character. The others are likely to find that they must accept the individual on faith, offering him a just while he is present before them in exchange for something whose true value will not be established until after he has left their presence'. (Of course, the others also live by inference in their dealings with the physical world, but it is only in the world of social interaction that the objects about which they make inferences will purposely facilitate and hinder this inferential process.) The security that they justifiably feel in making inferences about the individual will vary, of course, depending on such factors as the amount of previous information they possess about him, but no amount of such past evidence can entirely obviate the necessity of acting on the basis of inferences.

Let us now turn from the others to the point of view of the individual who presents himself before them. He may wish them to think highly of him, or to think that he thinks highly of them, or to perceive how in fact he feels toward them, or to obtain no clear-cut impression; he may wish to ensure sufficient harmony so that the interaction can be sustained, or to defraud, get rid of, confuse, mislead, antagonize, or insult them. Regardless of the particular objective that the individual has in mind and of his motive for having this objective, it will be in his interests to control the conduct of the others, especially their responsive treatment of him. This control is achieved largely by influencing the definition of tile situation, which the others come to

Formulate, and he can influence this definition by expressing himself in such a way as to give them the kind of impression that will lead them to act voluntarily in accordance with his own plan. Thus, when an individual appears in the presence of others, there will usually be some reason for him to mobilize his activity so that it will convey an impression to others that is in his interests to convey.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Goffman, Erving. "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life."Comunicare Interpersonala. Wordpress, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 May 2013. .]

I found all of Goffmans statements to be very true based on my own experiences undergoing an interview with Ms. Wertheimer, though in truth I think that what he says can in fact be summarized in a far quicker and more economical fashion. Namely that everyone is always putting on a front, like an actor playing a role on stage. By doing this an individual can thus examine another and best determine how to respond to an individual and additionally, also determine the type of personality they posses and how the other individual in question based on their distinct personality, will respond to different stimuli and situations.

After arriving at a rather distinct high-rise (with the assistance of my father who due to having legal business of his own to discuss with Ms. Wertheimer chose to accompany me on this endeavor) near where the world trade center of my youth once stood I found myself whisked up 38 floors via a high-speed elevator to where the law office in question was. Oddly the first thing I saw upon exiting the elevator was a rather distinctive table, which I recognized (due to previously having attended a maritime university) as actually being made out of the hatch cover of a ship. As I later discovered this was due to the firms origins some 40 years ago under Ms. Wertheimers mother Flory, as being primarily based in maritime law and even after the firms transition away from this exclusivity, they chose to keep this distinctive feature in order to ensure that any and all possible clients who entered the firm would be aware of this. Further adding to this was the fact that after passing said table I found the area beyond the reception area to be composed of a very impressive looking conference room with various Maritime memorabilia mounted on the walls. I also discovered near the conference room was also several smaller offices and one larger sized office used by Robin herself filled both with equipment that seemed slightly more advanced and sleek looking than the equipment owned and operated by the rest of the staff in the law firm and, and some additional maritime material.

All these things actually left me a little unsure of what to expect next and I think that also might have been the point of keeping all the Maritime equipment. In any case, as I discovered the entire first day I was there primarily consisted of explaining about my life, why I wanted to be and lawyer as well as the reasoning behind going into this internship. After finding no fault in any of my answers apparently, Ms. Wertheimer then welcomed me to the firm and I found that the atmosphere of the law office in question became markedly more relaxed. Most notably, Ms. Wertheimer told me that from then on, it was okay to refer to her by her first name of Robin before then saying that while she currently had no work available for me to do, I would have plenty of work the next day once my skills were properly assessed.

After seeing this transition in office atmosphere firsthand I truly began to understand what Goffman had been going for in his work. Ms. Wertheimer had presented me with a very professional front in order to gage my possible responses to being put on the spot but in fact the person underneath was far more relaxed and mellow than the initial impression I got off of her. In fact I found the typical situation in the office to be a rather relaxed one overall, at least at first glance. In truth though I discovered that this too was a mask of sorts for the very real undercurrent of anxiety that seemed to be present amongst the new people in the office.

It seemed based on my own first hand observation that the firm typically operated in the following manner, while there was some initial guidance for individuals new to the firm, once things really got started new guys and girls had to prove that they could walk the walk with as little help as possible. The more you could without needing anyone to help you out, the better and the faster you could move up. This sort of attitude combined with the previously mentioned maritime memorabilia to really gave new meaning to the old saying of sink or swim and might also help to explain why said memorabilia was kept on even after the firm transitioned away. It was this predominant atmosphere, which I believe helps to explain why exactly I had so very little contact with anyone outside of Robin, and my fathers mutual friend Jay Solomon, who I believe was immune to the effects of this ever presented atmosphere due to having joined the firm prior to Robins arrival under the scene and as such due to his seniority was essentially untouchable to an extent.

These exceptions aside, unless someone needed something from me or I had to present something to someone, I found that there was very little interpersonal interaction (at least none that I could see) of a truly friendly nature outside of the one shared by Robin and Mr. Solomon or myself and Mr. Solomon. At the same time though I dont think this was done out of any sort of malicious intent but instead was done primarily to motivate the work force to do as much as possible as efficiently as possible and to ensure the fact that everyone at the law office was up to standards necessary to do what needed to be done for the sake of the cases and the firm as a whole. Thankfully based on what I was told by Robin as well as my fellow co-workers I seemed to thrive in this particular sort of environment. I was always seemingly done with my work ahead of time and even when I was given extra work to do during my newly found free time I always ended up getting everything done ahead of schedule. As such I was granted the distinct luxury of being able to

After that rather jarring transition and realization, I was introduced to the firms primary and current purpose of existence, namely assisting individuals with various personal injury claims for a generous but still reasonable fee. It was this basic attitude combined with the previously mentioned sink or swim undercurrent that seemed to permeate the office, that made me think back to something I had read. Namely a passage from the other work I was assigned to read as part of the requirements of my internship, the book With Justice for None by Gerry Spence in which the author both rails against and goes into detail about basic nature of the current legal and the types of lawyers that seem predominant in todays society and why that has both helped to shape our society into being based around material gain and also is caused by our materialistic society.

Yet today- there are not too many lawyers but too few-too few of the right kind, too few who are trained as fighters; too few who will represent the people. There are too few warriors and too few committed to a just cause. Like us, our young lawyers search not for justice but for what someone called "twin Holy Grails of American life-money and success."[footnoteRef:2] [2: Spence, Gerry. "Lawyers Hawkers and Merchants."With Justice for None. 1st ed. New York and Simultaneously Toronto: Times Books: A Division of Random House, 1989. P.38-39. Print.]

It was this very attitude I found which truly permeated the day to day operations of the firm and the people who work in it and I believe is also a part of the reason I think they have been so successful in this matter. This attitude though is not unexpected given the nature of those individuals who seem the most likely to graduate law school. Said nature in question is best described once more by Gerry Spences work, namely in the form of some statistics (then current, now outdated but still generally accurate in my opinion):

In a study of students who decided to abandon the law as a career and whose decision was not related to their academic potential but rather to the student's personality type, based on Jungian introversion extroversion measure, the "Thinking types" had a dropout rate of 11 percent, while the "feeling types" quit at the rate of 20 percent. An even higher dropout rate, 28.1 percent, {was} correlated with those who were especially idealistic and people-oriented. Moreover, it was discovered that the extroverted that this extroverted type was underrepresented in the law schools to begin with, compared to the undergraduate population. These researchers concluded that those law students who remained in school "are not primarily concerned with implementing individual judgments about the restructuring of society to improve social justice."[footnoteRef:3] [3: Spence, Gerry. "Lawyers Hawkers and Merchants."With Justice for None. 1st ed. New York and Simultaneously Toronto: Times Books: A Division of Random House, 1989. P. 44. Print.]

I definitely found these statistics to be accurate for the most part with some noticeable variations, namely in the form (once again) of Mr. Solomon and additionally in the form of Robin herself. Mr. Solomon joined the firm back when it was under the control of Robins mother Flory and I believe it was his influence that helped to move the firm into its current form as a means for people to acquire reparations for legal torts and injuries. While it is true that Mr. Solomon and Robin like all the other attorneys present at the firm were receiving generous compensation for their parts in assisting clients in the legal matters surrounding personal injuries and torts I believe that they at the same time they also invoked some part of the older more idealistic view of what it is to be lawyer, namely a warrior of the down trodden. A view that is still desired by the common person and, which is best described once more by Gerry Spence:

"We occupy a high place in this land. Ours is a fearsome duty-to fight for justice, for people. We can win this for them by being truthful. We can win their respect once more by being real, by caring. And the people long for the return of their warriors-for us."[footnoteRef:4] [4: Spence, Gerry. "Lawyers Hawkers and Merchants."With Justice for None. 1st ed. New York and Simultaneously Toronto: Times Books: A Division of Random House, 1989. P. 33. Print.]

It is based both on the first hand experience I acquired at the law office of Ms. Wertheimer and the knowledge I gained from the readings assigned to me during the course of my internship that I believe that the true secret of success in becoming a lawyer has been laid before me. Namely that if we prospective lawyers understand the nature of our society and keep it in mind when dealing with our compatriots, we can keep our idealistic well meaning streak and still manage to make a profit. The most notable bit of proof I believe regarding this matter is a passage from Gerry Spence:

America has changed. We are a manifoldly more complex culture, and our "national personality: is making new demands of both the legal system and legal profession. Lawrence Friedman, in his thoughtful book Total Justice says, "To understand what is happening inside the legal system, it is best to start from the outside, by looking at great general movements of social force. America has made the legal system what it is, the legal system has not made America." Our morals, our ideals, our values- and hence our laws-keep changing. Today, certain major segments of our citizenry-black, gays, and women-have gained rights that were never dreamed of a generation ago and reflect our nation's new intense yearning for equality. Although many of our citizens remain powerless to enforce their newly won rights, and many of their gains seem more a nodding rhetoric than a practiced reality, we are nonetheless, a nation that litigates-not because of lawyers, or because there is something insidious and decadent going on in the moral under-culture of the country, but because the national personality has changed, and along with our expectations of justice-a justice we demand on the job, in our schools, in our homes, on the streets within our families-a justice Friedman calls "total justice." That is not all bad. In fact, it is not bad at all. Individual rights are not bounteous in Russia or China. No profusion of lawsuits clogs the courts of Cuba. There is no "litigation explosion" in the poor countries of the Third World. That America continues to use their courts and employ lawyers tells us something of our growing appetite for human rights and suggests the possibility of realizing the American dream of justice-justice for all.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Spence, Gerry. "Lawyers Hawkers and Merchants."With Justice for None. 1st ed. New York and Simultaneously Toronto: Times Books: A Division of Random House, 1989. P. 38-39. Print.]

Keeping these facts in mind as well as my own experience I do believe that what I said before is accurate. I now believe in my heart that the true nature of the current legal system and the true nature of being a lawyer lies somewhere between Mr. Spences two viewpoints, namely his idealistic once and his far more cynical analysis of who currently composes the legal profession. And I believe by keeping this in mind, I can truly find success in this career that I am currently pursuing. To close this I believe it is best if I answer the question I mentioned at the beginning of this work. Namely, what is justice? Once more I believe Ive found that the best place to find the answer to said question is turn to the work of Gerry Spence to provide an answer to this question:

Clarence Darrow was right. Justice cannot be defined, neither can it be realized. Yet is it not our great challenge to form a system that harmonizes such noble ideals as forgiveness with such human impulse as revenge? At the heart of justice is a divine spirit. It sprouts from the same seed as life itself. And although we can neither define neither life nor justice, we are able to recognize injustice, the supreme form of which is to surrender to the status quo and sanctify the myths and fantasies that breed it, among which is the national legend that in America there is liberty and justice for all.[footnoteRef:6] [6: Spence, Gerry. "The Divine Mist-The Indeterminable Search."With Justice for None. 1st ed. New York and Simultaneously Toronto: Times Books: A Division of Random House, 1989. P. 26. Print.]

Bibliography:

Goffman, Erving. "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life."Comunicare Interpersonala. Wordpress, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 May 2013. .

Spence, Gerry. "Lawyers Hawkers and Merchants."With Justice for None. 1st ed. New York and Simultaneously Toronto: Times Books: A Division of Random House, 1989.