Law Students are Ready
to Learn at the Legislature
By Sarah Aaberg
This January, 11 University of North Dakota (UND) School of Law
students will make the trip from Grand Forks to Bismarck, eager to
begin their semester-long legislative internship at the capitol. In the
weeks to follow, these students will learn about the legislative process,
assist lawmakers, observe committee meetings, and draft legislative
documents. Serving as legislative interns places the students at the
heart of the lawmaking process, offering them the unique opportunity
to participate in the creation of North Dakota’s laws.
The prospect of being immersed in the legislative process, despite
the physical distance between the law school and the capitol,
makes the legislative internship a highly sought-after placement
for UND Law students. The selection process for the internship is
competitive and requires both a written application and an in-person
interview. A committee from the law school carefully reviews each
application before selecting the future legislative interns, looking at
each applicant’s research and writing skills, as well as the applicant’s
demonstrated desire to work at the legislature.
To allow students to relocate to Bismarck for the entire legislative
session, the law school awards each intern 12 credits towards
graduation. Students earn 10 credits for their practical work and two
credits for taking a legislative internship course, which focuses on the
three branches of government and the relationship each branch shares
with the others. State leaders, including North Dakota Supreme Court
justices, legislators, and members of the Attorney General’s Office, coteach the course. Past legislative intern and UND School of Law 2016
graduate, Annique Lockard, commented the course provided “elevento-one time with each of the Supreme Court justices, the Attorney
General, [and] local judges . . . and that just can’t happen anywhere else
in law school.”
The bulk of learning, however, comes from the students’ practical
work. Each intern is usually assigned to one Senate and one House
of Representatives legislative committee. The interns work with
individual legislators in the committees, but all their work is completed
through the Legislative Council, a non-partisan group of attorneys,
accountants, and researchers, who provide valuable services to both
the legislative branch and the public. Within their assigned legislative
committees, students participate in meetings, attend hearings,
draft legislative documents, and conduct research on the impact of
proposed legislation. This immersive experience gives students a better
understanding of the legislative process as a whole, allows them to
become intricately familiar with the work of their assigned legislative
committees, and offers them opportunities to network with state
legislators and other prominent leaders in North Dakota.
Lockard reflected on her experience as an intern during the 64th
Legislative Session. For her internship, the Legislative Council
assigned Lockard to the Senate Judiciary and Energy and Natural
Resources committees. As part of her work on these committees,
Lockard observed bill testimony in hearings, conducted research for
legislators, and drafted proposed legislative amendments. Lockard
credited her law school classes for giving her the foundational skills
necessary for the daily work at the capitol, but acknowledged “the
things [I] learned at [my] internship really were not things that
can be taught in a classroom.” Witnessing how “different people,
from different backgrounds, with different beliefs and priorities, can
sit around a table and have discussions about important laws, and
create better laws for all of us” is something you can only experience
by participating in the legislative process, Lockard explained. And
that experience was invaluable to her. It inspired her to be “a better
professional and remain an active participant in our government.”
With the new legislative session upon us, the 2017 legislative interns
will soon be off to the capitol. They are eager to start and ready to
learn. Let the 65th Legislative Session begin!
Sarah Aaberg, from Starbuck,
Minn., is a third-year law student at
the UND School of Law, where she
serves as the technical editor for the
North Dakota Law Review and the
Helen Hamilton Day Coordinator
for Law Women’s Caucus. Aaberg
earned her bachelor of arts degree
in psychology, summa cum laude,
from UND.
FALL 2016
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