Chandler Moore ’18 Jeffrey A. Boggess Law Clerk Intern – This past summer I had the esteemed opportunity to Clerk for alumnus Jeffrey Boggess ’89.  As someone interested in practicing the Law I found the opportunity both encouraging and motivating.  Upon my first day of the internship I was observing a jury trial over a case regarding an attempted murder, what is more exciting than that?  The weeks following I was prepping documents, observing mediation, and calling clients.  The experience was so special because it took my interest of practicing the law and my experience from pre-law classes with Professor Himsel and actually put those skills and lessons to practice, what I saw was a perfect, although bumpy at times, translation of learned skills from the classroom to the law office.

What I was able to experience throughout my weeks at the law office was the day to day life of a small town attorney.  The truth I found, rather quickly, is most of the work is done out of the Courthouse and in the office.  I would arrive to work each day with post-it notes of tasks that I was assigned, these tasks would range anywhere from looking through medical records for a Personal Injury case to prepping documents to be produced for a Guardianship hearing.  One of my most noteworthy tasks during my internship was preparing an exhibit of screenshot text messages for an all day hearing.  I sifted through hundreds of text messages looking for keywords, I printed out hundreds of the text messages and then stamped them so that they could be used as an exhibit.  The next day I went to Court to observe the hearing and my work was used as a significant argument for our side.  It was encouraging to see my work used in front of the Putnam County Judge.

On top of all of my unique experiences this summer it was great to hear the stories and experiences from my boss, a fellow Wabash man, who holds his Wabash education as important and lasting today as he ever has.  I cannot thank Wabash College, my boss, Jeff Boggess, and the Lilly Endowment Fund enough for the great opportunity I had this summer.  I would encourage any underclassmen to go out and find internships in your areas of interest and really observe the day to day practices because as I learned, any experience at all is absolutely priceless and so important for your development as a student and a man.