Most third-year law students would like to think that they know a lot about the law.  I mean, this is the last year of school for us, right?  I, like many other "3L's," decided to put all my knowledge to use by registering for the internship at the Commonwealth Attorney's Office for class credit.

 

Going into this internship I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I knew that we would get provisionally certified to speak in court, but, again, I didn't really know what that would mean either.

 

Dan and Megan prepare for trial.

My first week of work I checked in with Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dan Laren and asked if he had any projects he would like help with.  He promptly informed me that he had a trial in two weeks.  Great!  I had been here less than an hour and I was already getting to sit at the table with the prosecutor and observe a trial. 
 

My excitement soon wore off when Mr. Laren informed me that I would not only observe, but I would be giving the opening statement and conducting the direct examination of one of the police officers.  This was a totally different ball game from a Litigation Skills class where you do this stuff in front of your classmates, this was for real!
 
Over the next few weeks I worked with Mr. Laren getting the case ready to go to trial.  We had to track down the victim and make arrangements for her getting back to Lexington for the trial date, make a house call to an eyewitness, and make sure our police officers had a copy of the police report and would be ready to testify.  As the time passed and the trial got closer, my anxiety also began to rise.
 
The day of the trial finally arrived and my nerves were starting to subside.  The little bit of nerves that were left were the excited kind instead of the "I'm gonna be sick" kind.  I arrived at the office an hour before the trial was scheduled to meet with Mr. Laren and go over the last minute details.

 

Once at the courthouse I realized that my father, also a lawyer, had decided to come and watch.  This was a big deal for him as well.  As Dan and I were unpacking our materials I dropped a handful of pens and highlighters and then hear from a few feet away a chuckle from my father and he asked, "Nervous, huh?"  Besides his bit of sarcasm, it was nice to know he made the trip to be there and support me.

 

We went through jury selection and then the trial started.  The time for my opening statement came and I did just as practiced.  Maybe a little stutter or two, but I made it!

 

All in all, the trial was a great success, one of the most memorable parts of the trial was when the jury came back into the courtroom after their deliberations and I remember the butterflies in my stomach.  After a 13-hour day, the jury found the defendant guilty!

 

Because the deliberations and sentencing phase went so late, I had a total of 16 missed calls on my cell phone, mostly from my mother.  My mom, like the proud parent of a child that has taken its first step, has told everyone she knows about the trial, twice.

 

My experience at the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office has given me a chance to learn the practical side of law that no in class lecture can prepare you for.

 

Thomas Lockridge has been the Commonwealth's Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit in Kentucky since 1990.  Prior to taking this position and beginning in 1986, he served as Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney.

 

Tom served as president of the Commonwealth's Attorneys Association in 1997-1998 and received the Carroll M. Redford Award as "Outstanding Kentucky Prosecutor" in 1995.  The Kentucky Bar Association honored him as the "Outstanding Young Lawyer" in 1996 and in 1997 he was named "Outstanding Commonwealth's Attorney" by the Kentucky Attorney General.  Tom has served as a member of the Prosecutors Advisory Council, The Governor's Task Force on Sexual Assault, and the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Board.  He has served as chair of the Kentucky Multidisciplinary Commission on Child Sexual Abuse since 2002.  Tom has served as a member of the faculty at the National Advocacy Center, the Kentucky Prosecutors Institute and at forensic interview clinics for APSAC.

 

Tom is the writer, director, producer and co-presenter of "Ethics: The Movie," a prosecutor ethics training that has received rave reviews across the country.  He is a 1984 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law.