Harshita
Bishnoi

Internship Company: Casa Cornelia Law Center (San Diego, California)

"An internship is almost necessary, especially for a law student in the current job market, where you need to take extra steps and go beyond the ordinary to do something which makes you stand out from the numerous other candidates.

"The internship opportunity at Casa Cornelia Law Centre was advertised via email by Nottingham Law School. I went along to the first meeting where we were told what sort of work we would be doing and what previous interns got up to. All this seemed very interesting and since I also had some understanding of the Spanish language I thought I would apply.

"I found out that I was successful in mid April and had to book flights and accommodation shortly after, as the internship started on the 17 June! Luckily the NTU travel bursary covered the cost of flights so I only had to pay for hostel accommodation and other living expenses.

"On the first day I was more excited than nervous but to seem professional, I thoroughly did my research on the firm's website and made myself familiar with the kind of work they did before my first day.

"My typical working day started at 10 am and finished at 4 pm. During my internship, I worked in the following departments:

• asylum
• unaccompanied children
• domestic violence.

It was extremely humbling and rewarding to see that the clients were happy that they were getting the best representation. During my time there, I also read countless factual declarations of immigrants from all over the globe and no one story was the same.

"I also enjoyed making hostel friends, meeting people from all across the world (American, English, Spaniards, Brazilians, Korean, Portuguese) from all different walks of life. A three day working week meant that I had the perfect balance between working and exploring what San Diego had to offer.

"My internship experience has already helped me, providing a major achievement to talk about in career interviews as well as increasing my confidence.

"Completing my internship has encouraged me to research further into practicing law in the United States when I qualify. I am currently looking into study for practicing, to sit the California Bar in the States when I graduate, which will make me a qualified attorney to practise law in the State of California.

"I would definitely recommend internships to other students. The experiences and skills you gain from an internship are extremely valuable, transferable and add a lot to your CV as well as help you grow as a person.

"My advice to students about to undertake an internship would be: be punctual, organised and professional at all times! Be interested by asking questions about what people do in the organisation and always go the extra mile in your work by double and triple checking."