Author: weicarriesheng

The World of Work (WOW) fellowship supported me to pursue my summer internship at the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, an office that promotes justice. During my time in the Asset Forfeiture Unit, I observed people helping each other wholeheartedly, respectfully and closely. I was able to get comfortable with and involved in my working environment quickly. With my supervisor and team members’ assistance, I learned how to get work done productively and efficiently. I was able to help draft various types of legal documents such as complaints, motions to dismiss, and motions for default judgment. I was able to conduct legal research to find current statutes, languages of the statutes, and case law via LexisNexis, West Law, Google Scholar, and Hein Online, among others. I also assisted my supervisor with data reconciliation for transparency purposes. This experience as a whole has been very beneficial to me.

In this blog, I will give some advice to people who want to pursue careers in law but have zero relevant experience in related fields. Please note that I cannot speak for other interns in Middlesex DA’S office because we all were assigned to different places. Some are in district courts, some are in superior courts. Some are in the Woburn main office, just like me, but in different units. I can only speak as an intern for the Asset Forfeiture Unit. However, I do have various experiences working in different legal fields.

In summer 2018, I was an intern in an intellectual property litigation team in Allbright Law Offices in Shanghai, China, and dealt with civil disputes over trademark, copyrights, and other matters of intellectual property rights. In spring 2019, I worked for Senator Mike Barret of the Middlesex 3rd District in the Massachusetts State House and dealt with mainly legislative matters. In summer 2019, I am now working in the asset forfeiture group, which is part of the Special Investigation Unit in the Middlesex DA’s office. For those who want to pursue law as their future career, there are some tips based on my personal experiences. I will start by comparing my work in a law firm, the State House, and the DA’s office.

I. The Law Practice

Working in a law firm is very similar to working in the DA’s Office, as both require dealing with civil litigation–the former in intellectual property and the latter in forfeiture prosecutions that are related to crimes. Under this big umbrella, both trained me to be a “typical” paralegal. This means I was expected to do basic things that all paralegals know how to do, including tracking and maintaining client files, listing and analyzing case evidence and information, conducting legal research, and drafting legal documents.

II. The Legislative Experience

Working as a legislative intern, on the contrary, does not require one to know how to draft legal documents such as a motion to vacate, nor require one to be familiar with litigation or prosecution at all. The tasks for me were more administrative and legislative, and I was mostly assisting the senator’s staff with data entry, special projects, and constituent services. I sometimes researched policy issues related to the senator’s legislative proprieties. I regularly attend legislative hearings and events. However, I spent more time on administrative work than anything else. As a college intern, my ability to contribute to changing the language of bills was limited. Although I was eager to make a big impact on legislation, it was merely impossible.

III. The Legislative Experience vs. the Law Practice

In conclusion, for those who like politics or handling administrative matters, the State House is a good choice. There, you will learn about various things including, the structure of the government, how to select committees and what their roles are in passing bills, what the tensions are between the House and the Senate, and where the fiscal year budget comes from. For those who are more interested in law practice, I’d say either a law firm or a DA’s office would teach you a lot.

IV. The Law Firm vs. the DA’s Office

Then, what’s the biggest difference between working in a law firm and working in the DA’s office? How do I know which one fits me better? My answer is that as long as you like what you do, you have good supervisors, and there are adequate training and/or resources that allow you to acquire knowledge, then, it is a good one. I loved both topics of intellectual properties and crimes (all forfeitures in the DA’s office are related to crimes), and I was lucky to have a great supervisor each time. A big thank you to my current supervisor Paris Daskalakis, who has always been knowledgeable, supportive, and well organized. Both of my teams were small (2-4 people per team), which allowed efficient communications and cooperation among team members to happen easily. For those of you who are interested in law practice, try to do some research about the places you are applying for to see what their mission is, to figure out what a typical day is like, and to learn about the people who work there. For me, a  good working environment is more important than what field of law it is.

Most importantly, no matter what field of law you want to pursue, you always should have a fire in your belly that drives you and motivates you to serve people. I think that commitment and dedication are needed in all legal fields. And always seek justice, no matter which side you are on (i.e. the prosecutor v. the defense attorney). You should do the right thing to help people.

– Carrie Sheng

Brandeis has taught me many things that encouraged me to apply and prepared me well for my internship in the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. Among all, and in this blog, I would like to discuss how Brandeis helped me build a strong academic background; why it matters that much; and how it has contributed to my work in the internship site.

Entering Brandeis, I first majored in Philosophy and Studio Art, and then shortly followed with the third major in International Global Studies with three minors in Legal Studies, Art History, and East Asian Studies. The diversity of the courses that Brandeis provides and the flexibility of its academic curricula have encouraged me to explore different fields. I benefit from it not only as I have three majors and three minors, but also as I am able to connect all these fields of study with each other.

Among all the major or minor-related courses I took, some taught me to carefully read important texts to extract and evaluate arguments from them. Some taught me critical thinking skills such that I have formed my own ways of critically engaging with and building on the existing texts. Some taught me to develop creativity such as to extend theories beyond their original scope. Others taught me to conduct deep research in fields like history, art, and law. A part of my responsibility working in the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office (MDAO)-Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) is to conduct legal research, critically engage with the existing legal languages, and connect them with the philosophy of this office.  All these academic learning and researching abilities that Brandeis trained me prepared me well for my role in the DA’s office.

Besides academic learning and researching abilities, attending Brandeis also taught me many other important qualities, such as organizational skills, time management skills, and interpersonal and communication skills. Other than the majors and minors, I have three on-campus jobs. With my intense schedule and rich experiences on campus, I learned how to manage my time wisely, how to handle stress, how to be a good listener, a collaborative team member, a strategic thinker, and a resourceful leader. With that background, I was able to adapt to different situations and work in my internship’s fast-paced environment.

AFU is the only civil litigation part of the DA’s office; the others are all criminal litigation units. It deals with asset forfeiture; in other words, it deals with criminals’ illegally-gained property and monies. Therefore, a very common task of mine is to work on Excel charts, making sure the case numbers, the defendants’ names the property amounts, and the police departments that seized the property are right, and that they match with each other for transparency reporting purposes. I usually need to check various sources to make sure the information we have is correct, which includes but is not limited to the Mass Court Website, the MDAO’S own data management system, and the actual case files (the police reports, etc.). Once the basic information is verified, what I do next is to track the monies that MDAO has or has not received judgments on. All these tasks require the ability to concentrate for a long time, and strong research and problem-solving skills. For example, what if the information on the Mass Court Website does not match with that in MDAO’s data management system? Which information is the right one, and how can I ensure that piece of information is the accurate one? Good communication skills are also needed as communication and teamwork is always the key to getting the job done correctly. I have gained these basic skills and abilities prior to this summer internship at Brandeis, while this internship further developed these skills.

-Carrie Sheng ’20

The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office (MDAO) serves the largest county in New England. It prosecutes more than 39,000 cases a year divided among 12 district courts, 4 juvenile courts, and 2 superior courts across 54 diverse cities and towns. Its core mission is to protect and serve the people who work, live and raise their families in Middlesex County. Interns work directly with Assistant District Attorneys, Victim Witness Advocates, Paralegals and others to pursue this mission through exhaustive investigations, unassailable prosecutions and compassionate victim advocacy.

MDAO can be generally divided into five units: Appeals & Training Bureau, Child Protection Unit, Elder & Disabled Unit, Homicide & Unsolved, and Special Investigations Unit. I was assigned to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU)-Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU). This unit deals with asset forfeiture, which is a powerful tool used by the Commonwealth against criminals and criminal organizations to seize their ill-gotten gains or their assets connected to criminal activities. AFU is a part of SIU, which investigates and prosecutes organized crime such as public integrity, corruption, cybercrimes, and drug trafficking.

My major tasks for the summer are to: (1) Draft legal writings such as complaints, motions to dismiss, motions for default judgment, oppositions to motion to vacate, and draft and respond to discovery requests; (2) Reconcile/audit data through DA’s office files, MDAO’s data management system, and Mass Trial Court Website; (3) Conduct research, draft and update 50-state-survey on asset forfeiture; (4) Assist trial attorneys with casefile storage, trial preparation, and general administrative support; (5) Request, track and update receipt of case-related documents; and (6) Review reports and evidence, i.e. 911 calls, turret tapes, video recordings, and jail calls.

Sometimes, other units in the DA’s office would “borrow” me for other projects, such as jail call monitoring and translation. In addition, as a non-legal intern, I have also done two mock trials for legal interns, one time as a witness and the other as a juror. What’s more is that all the interns in the office, no matter legal interns or non-legal interns, will receive training on a regular base. So far, I have received training in Asset Forfeiture, Victim-Witness Advocacy, Children’s Protection, Juvenile Prosecution, Reflections on Policing, and Appeals Court Training in selecting cases, drafting and finalizing opinions, and selecting judicial clerks.

Among all of what I do, my favorite part so far is to do forfeiture intakes. Each intake includes a police report, and each report contains the narrative of the story. It is interesting to read those stories (a large portion of them are of drug dealers), some exciting and some terrifying. I am shocked by what people have done and what people could do when I see the list of the crimes they committed based on the defendants’ criminal history. I feel sad and heartbroken when I see stories such as child abuse. However, I know my sad feelings will not stop or prevent these things from happening. All I can do is keep doing what I am doing, including but not limited to what’s listed above.  I believe that every single step matters in serving better justice.

-Carrie Sheng ’20