Growing up in a family mainly dominated by the legal field always caused repulsion on me when considering taking a career in law; all of this before I got my first real taste of litigation (or at least that’s what I thought). My name is Melissa Pacheco, I am 27 years old and currently a Senior at Chapman University. I am majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Law, Justice, and Social Control and, if everything falls into place, I will be walking at commencement Exercises 2021 in August and starting my new position as the office manager at the Law Firm that gave me the opportunity when I was just a sophomore starting to have a taste of the actual working field.

I started looking for internship opportunities through the regular Career Center websites like Handshake, but since none of them fulfilled my expectations, I decided to look on my own and started throwing off resumes on Indeed and Zip Recruiter as a regular entry-level employee looking for a part-time position; after a month of searching, I got a call from the managing attorney himself for an interview at a Law Office in San Bernardino. I am not going to lie, I was incredibly nervous to do this interview, but I filled myself with courage and just thought “If it’s for you then nothing can take it away”…It was like that phrase was written ESPECIALLY for me.

Image of the San Bernardino County Court House

During the first few months, my responsibilities were the basic ones in any office: attending phone calls, scheduling consults and/or hearings, and doing basic client intakes (date of birth, number of children, etc). As time progressed by and I got more familiar with each client and their pertinent in the office, my responsibilities started growing up more and more. I started drafting pleadings like Domestic Violence Restraining Orders and Dissolutions from scratch, filing and responding procedures directly with the different county courthouses, and performing Discovery requests with opposing counsel. Our firm manages various aspects of law including Criminal, Civil, and Probate, but Mr. Serrato’s main area of expertise is Family Law; therefore, during this process the San Bernardino County Courthouse – Family Law Division became my second home. Family Law includes all procedures related with interpersonal relationship and family members; this includes but is not limited to adoptions, divorces, and child custody and visitation procedures. During my internship process, the class that I mostly implemented was a mix of Introduction to Research Methods and Mindful Communication. All the techniques and profound tools of research I learned during Research Methods helped me to develop more profound discoveries to opposing counsel, and the theories of communication I learned during Mindful Communication helped me develop more structured arguments when writing the different pleadings that were submitted to both the courts and opposing counsel.

Omar Raul Serrato – Managing attorney

Omar Raul Serrato (#295975) is the managing attorney at the firm and was my direct supervisor during my entire internship process. He attended University of La Verne, College of Law and has been a licensed attorney since 2013. I learned directly from him how to draft pleadings, prepare and answer the different requests and petitions that came into the office each day, and speak to opposing counsel whenever necessary. I couldn’t have asked for a better supervisor even if I had the choice; Mr. Serrato was patient and empathetic with me during every step of the process, he guided me during the necessary steps but always made sure I had my own voice in the process and always took my opinions into consideration.

This internship changed my life in more ways than I could describe. I feel I am a completely different person today than the one I was six months ago. I am a more mature, organized, and responsible person. Additionally, I feel that my overall performance helped shaped the firm’s identity and the quality of our work. As of today, for example, I am the only employee in the firm that is fluent in both English and Spanish, and this has helped the firm attract Spanish-speaking clients (I must admit many of our clients feel more comfortable speaking in Spanish, so this is a service that is of vital importance for them). One of the most valuable stories I have while working in this firm was with one Spanish-speaking client that we helped get divorced and have a fair custody schedule for her child. Since I she only spoke Spanish, I was the main bridge between her and Mr. Serrato, so I was with her during EVERY step of the process. At the end of the process (that lasted for almost an entire year), she sent me a thank you card to the office during the holidays that said “I can’t wait for you to become an attorney. You will be a GREAT professional, you have so much passion for what you do and really care about your clients. Merry Christmas” I had to step out of the room for a few seconds after reading this because I had shed some tears.

For new students looking to intern at a law firm, during the first few months you will feel lost and disoriented, but the most important thing is always to persist and move forward, learn from your mistake, and take notes to avoid them in a near future. The legal field seems like a scary and dangerous path, but if you are passionate about making the right thing and helping people who are in deep trouble, this is the right place for you!