Sylvia Eskander

Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons
Seattle, WA

Sylvia is a summer intern at the Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons. Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons is a private, non-profit public defense law firm with offices in Seattle and Kent, Washington. Society of Counsel's mission is to provide quality legal representation and to address each client's broader problems and to avoid future entanglements with the system. To help further that part of their mission, Society of Counsel is involved in a unique partnership with local human service agencies and neighborhood groups to provide mentoring and legal representation to youth of color who are at risk of detention and in high need of social service intervention. Through the ROYAL program (Raising Our Youth As Leaders) Society of Counsel works with representatives from Central Youth and Family Services, Youth Care, and Vision Youth to attempt to address the issue of disproportionate involvement of African-American and other youth of color in the juvenile justice system. Sylvia will be working in the dependency unit, representing children and parents in truancy and dependency hearings. Sylvia is particularly excited about working with children and educating them about the legal process and progress of each of their cases.

July 24, 2009

My time at SCRAP is flying by so fast. It seems just like yesterday that I was starting work and knew so little. It has been such an exciting month for me. I have started doing more and more hearings. Although I still have many questions at every hearing, I feel more confident since I have actually gone in front of the judge with my clients at my side. I also feel more comfortable talking to clients about their cases. I feel like I can actually listen to them, understand what they want and talk to them about what the likely outcomes of their case will be. Of course, it is still a work in progress but I do feel much more confident than I did a month ago.

I am also learning more about my work environments. I work in the Seattle office on Mondays through Wednesdays then in the Kent office for the remainder of the week. I meet and work with different attorneys in each office. In each office, the attorneys are happy to give me plenty of work to do. Although I have become accustomed to many of the things that I am asked to do in the office, I still always feel nervous about any new projects I get. Sometimes I get petitions to work on that I have never seen before with minimal instructions on what to do. One attorney once asked me at noon to put a disposition together by 2 p.m. Her instructions to me were to just think about things that our client would agree with then send it to opposing counsel by the deadline. I was so nervous. I had never put a disposition together before. I didn't know how to do it and there was almost no one around to ask (most of the attorneys in my unit were in court for the day!) I began to frantically look through the internet, searching for a template for this disposition. I even began to call some friends from law school whom I knew work for other public defenders to ask if they had come across this type of disposition before. None were actually able to help me. Then it finally came to me. I suddenly knew what to do. I e-mailed the court clerk for a copy of a form which I knew lists some of the items I would need to add in the deposition. Luckily, the clerk was checking her e-mail. She responded right away. I was able to put the disposition together and send it off. I was really happy that I was able to complete the task. Yet, although it was a big feat for me, I realize that it was only one of many, many tasks to be done at my office. Thus there would be many more chances for me to learn new things and prove myself to my employer.

June 22, 2009

I am now in my fourth week of internship at the Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons in the Dependency unit. I am having a blast going to court with the attorneys here, watching trials/hearings and helping out where I can. My biggest shock so far has been realizing that I am now working with real people and helping the court make decisions that affect the lives of so many. This may sound like a cliché but it came as a surprise to me that everything I do will have an effect on someone, maybe forever! Up until now, I have been going to classes, reading cases and taking tests about hypothetical clients. My world has been filled with Rules, Holdings and What-ifs. On my first day at SCRAP, I sat in on a trial with my supervisor. My supervising attorney introduced me to opposing counsel and his client. It is difficult to describe the strange feeling that came over me as I, for the first time, realized that this client, standing there in front of me, is real! The court will write an opinion at the end of the case about the facts of the case, the rule, the application and the holding about this client, standing there in front of me. This realization came with a lot of excitement about being able to really help these people and make a difference to each case's outcome. But I also got a huge knot in my stomach. I began to think of all the things I still didn't know and how little time I had to learn them. Will I ever know how to draft an answer to a petition or how many treatment facilities are in Seattle and which one is the best one for my client and will I ever learn all the possible consequences of being found a truant child? All of these questions and more swirled in my mind as I was looking at this person in front me who would some day wholly depend on me for all the answers. Will I ever be able to help her?!