Law Links program allows high school students to intern in legal

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Aug 3, 2002 by Alisa Bralove

Not all of the students, however, are actually interested in pursuing law as a career.

Naima Shoukat, 17, is an intern at the Legal Aid Bureau but she really wants to be a doctor. Her involvement with Law Links, she said, is just for the professional experience.

"My major interest is in medicine," said the soon-to-be senior at Patterson High School. "It was mainly for experience. How is the professional world? What is it like to be on the job?"

And even though she doesn't see herself as a lawyer, Shoukat said that she has found her work with Law Links to be surprisingly interesting.

"It's a productive summer activity," she said. "It gets you ready for the professional world and gives you experience."

Then there's Harry Morgan Jr., 16, who wants to be a veterinarian. This summer though, he's working at Gordon Feinblatt, where he gets to go to court, sit in on depositions and work in the office's general services department.

"I really don't want to be a lawyer," said Morgan, who is going into his junior year at Baltimore City College High School. "I want to go into the medical field and be a veterinarian."

His reason for applying? "It seemed like it would be beneficial for me," Morgan said. "It's been a new experience for me. I basically like everything I've been introduced to so far."

According to Sibyl Gordon, director of human resources for Gordon Feinblatt, which has participated in Law Links since 1994, the program is good for students who are interested in any kind of professional career.

"Here are young people who wouldn't have the chance to work in a professional environment. If nothing else, they get the chance to do that and they're paid for that," she said. "They really feel like they're part of it and we love having them around. It's refreshing."

Not that his co-workers have given up hope of keeping Morgan from going to the dogs -- but time is running out.

"We haven't convinced him to be a lawyer yet," said Gordon. "He still wants to be a veterinarian."