Public Defender’s Office – District 1

Hey everyone! My name is Leanna Mahle and I am a senior majoring in Environmental Studies and Public Policy. I want to attend law school after graduating and you’ll see that my internship was a little different. It wasn’t directly related to environmental studies and I absolutely loved it.

This semester I worked with the Public Defender’s Office – District 1 here in Dare County. I worked closely with Jennifer “Jenny” Wells, Christan Routten, Natalie Evans, Avery Williams, and more to work on cleaning and organizing documents related to active cases. Unfortunately, I can’t say more about what I was doing as I signed an NDA to protect attorney/client confidentiality laws. The Public Defender’s Office is the state’s group of attorneys that people are referred to when they are unable to pay a private attorney’s fees. Through this internship, I garnered a deeper understanding of criminal law and respect for those involved.

It’s safe to say that the women and men that work in this field, work hard. There is always something to do, ranging from meeting with clients to attending District or Superior court throughout the region. It’s not an easy job but one thing that really changed my perspective of how criminal law was the effort the Recovery Court makes to help its clients.

Recovery Court is the state’s system designed to help those suffering from addiction issues establish a support system. Addiction is a hard disease to manage and some of the best treatment plans include having relatable, helpful individuals people can turn to. This is what Recovery Court tries to help with. It is a voluntary enrollment and consists of references to mental health professionals (both psychiatrists and therapists), random drug testing, and recurring court appearances. These requirements may sound strict but the overall goal is to reintegrate people and independent of drug or substance dependence. It was nice to see genuine interest in getting people help rather than sending them straight to jail or prison.

I think this internship really helped me see the ins and outs of the law. It is a job that requires a lot of time but I felt truly impactful and I look forward to exploring more in the future. I also think that seeing how criminal law works helped open my options for the future because I had initially thought I would go straight into civil and corporate law. If anyone has the opportunity to take this internship in the future, I would highly recommend it. Jenny and the people in her office are wonderful people and you’d be hard-pressed to find more helpful people to work for.