Welcome

Dear Supervising Attorney:

Welcome to the role of mentor for a law student who will soon be a fully licensed member of our profession! The Legal Intern Committee appreciates your willingness to take on this important role, and we hope that your experience will prove valuable both to you and your intern. The Legal Internship Program is the best way to assure that law students get practical learning experience in our profession and guidance to improve their professional skills.

We want to emphasize and explain two of the internship rules which draw the most questions from our licensed legal interns and the attorneys who supervise them.

Rule 7.5 Criminal Representation Limitations

If you are a criminal defense attorney, please note that you must be present with the intern during all stages of a felony case. Any time that a licensed legal intern appears before the court in the case, including rescheduling/continuing hearings, you must be present. It is not sufficient for you to be present in the courthouse. You must be present in the actual courtroom or judge's chambers.

Regulation 2

It is the licensed legal intern's responsibility to report his or her hours and to know what constitutes in-court hours. However, you must sign the report each month, so it is important that you both understand what counts toward those hours. The licensed legal intern may report hours in excess of the minimum required and only the hours of drafting, pleadings and motions are capped.

If you encounter situations for which you need guidance, please contact Debra Jenkins, OBA Legal Internship Coordinator, at 405-416-7042. If you want to get more involved with the internship program, please consider joining us on the Legal Internship Committee.

Sincerely,
Terrell Monks
Chairman, Licensed Legal Internship Committee