I don’t know about you, but I’ve been well enough behaved during the course of my life to avoid any appearances in court. I did have to serve on jury duty for a day a few years ago, but most of knowledge about court rooms comes from tv and movies. Despite my limited knowledge of the legal process, I don’t find it hard to imagine that there’s room for innovation in our courts. Center for Court Innovation is a New York City based non-profit organization that is doing just that. They act “as the court system’s independent research and development arm, creating demonstration projects that test new ideas.” Some of their projects include community courts, drug courts, reentry courts, domestic violence courts, and mental health courts.
It may seem strange to have specific courts tailored to specific issues, but I think it makes sense. Different problems require different solutions, and some times a one-size-fits-all approach just isn’t very effective. A lot of what Center for Court Innovation does seems to be related to court segmentation, but their works goes well beyond that too. They’re really about taking great ideas in court reform and putting them to the test. And if the ideas work, then Center for Court Innovation make the move to bring them into wider adoption within the New York court system. If Center for Court Innovation gets your ears perked up, then you should look into their internship opportunities. They typically offer Summer Law Internships in the summer for students in Law School, but I don’t see anything posted yet. (Here’s a posting from last year.) Additionally they had a posting for a Research Intern a few months back, and I’d imagine there are some other opportunities as well. You’ll have to do a little digging to get the scoop on what will be available over the course of the next few months, but I think that you’ll be happy with what you find (although I think the internships are unpaid).
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Have you ever been to court?
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Tags: Internships, law, New York, non-profit, research, unpaid
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