Diego Rondón Ichikawa (1L)
Attorney General's Office - Labor & Industries Division
Seattle, WA
Diego is working for the Washington State Attorney General's Office with the Labor and Industries Division (AGO L&I). AGO L&I mostly represents the Department of Labor and Industries through litigation of appealed citations or client advice. He works specifically with a group called Employment Standards that focuses on issues like wage claims, child labor, farm workers, and prevailing wages (set wages for public projects). So far, Diego's time at the AGO L&I has been spent researching legislation for client policy concerns and interviewing employees, employers, and Department agents for litigation. His group litigates in different jurisdictions at different levels all over the State.
August 1, 2011
The more time I've spent at the AGO the more interesting my work load has gotten. Last week I got to draft a trial brief on an extremely interesting issue that combines my new passions in law: immigration and labor & employment. The jist of the issue was whether the state could enforce wage laws for undocumented employees or whether state law is preempted by federal immigration law. Having just barely completed one year of legal training, seeing my work submitted to the court on behalf of the AGO was suuuper exciting and empowering. I hope my research and writing showed well enough that the worker was entitled to his wages. I'll have to wait what the judge has to say . . . Other than basic research writing, it's also really exciting having more direct human contact with parties, witnesses, and clients. Our office is unique in the sense that we ultimately have one client. It has been great getting to meet and work with the different people that work at our client agency.
Although most of my work here has been limited to Employment Standards (wages, prevailing wages, leaves, etc), I was asked to participate in a multi-agency task force on human trafficking and research the topic for an attorney. I was super excited to have the opportunity to participate and work on such an important subject. I was quite surprised at the diversity of the task force. It's extremely enlightening and makes me extremely hopeful to see a room full of state and federal law enforcement, state and federal prosecutors, state and federal agencies, non-profits, and concerned citizens get together to advance the collective interests addressing human trafficking in the state.
I'm writing this on the eve of my last day at work, and I can't believe it's already coming to an end. I'm amazed how much I have been able to learn, and I have been extremely grateful for all the experiences I have received. I know for a fact that my experience with the AGO will have a great impact on my practice and my ability to a great advocate for my future clients.
My time with the AGO has also taught me that there are certain limitations to the law. Not coming from a traditionally legal background, it took me some time to adjust to the concept that attorney's ultimately must abide by what the "law" says and not necessarily what is "right." There were times during research where I would come across laws that were intended to protect a certain group of people; however, poor drafting or other reasons made it so the law did not allow for the full protections or relief. Ultimately, the attorneys had to abide to the written law, even if it does not address the kind of relief the law intended to provide.
I'm very thankful to PILF for the great opportunity, and my experience with the AGO really has increased my passion for public interest law!!
June 26, 2011
The month that I have now spent at the AGO L&I has been an amazing experience. The great benefit of working at a government office like the AGO is ability to experience a variety of legal issues and skills. So far, I have had the opportunity to write advice and research memos; draft motions, interrogatories, and questions for depositions; and attend hearings at the Court of Appeals, Office of Administrative Hearings, Superior Court, and the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals.
I just finished a memo about the domestic violence leave act. It's a relatively new law that allows employees that are victims of domestic violence to take leave from work to partake in legal proceedings or get to safety. It was really interesting getting to research the legislative history and similar laws other states have. Another memo I'm in the process of writing pertains to a first year 101 class, contracts. I'm glad I didn't have a full brain dump of contracts after my finals in the spring and was able to apply some of the basic principles to my research.
Also, my ability to speak Spanish has come to be extremely useful at work. A lot of employees that are claiming their owed wages are Spanish speaking so I get to interview witnesses, employees, and employers. The process can seem bureaucratic and intimidating for an English speaking person so I can only imagine what it must be like for a non-English speaking person. However, it's great to know that most employment laws in Washington are designed to protect 'workers,' and a workers 'status' in this country has no weight in their ability to receive their wages, or workers compensation.
The attorneys at the AGO L&I are extremely collegial. They hold weekly brown-bags where attorneys ask each other questions and brain storm solutions. I really love how open all the attorneys are and how willing they are to help each other. A lot of the attorneys come from social justice backgrounds and truly believe in upholding laws that are designed to protect workers. One of the best parts of the internship is talking about random topics during coffee every morning.
