PIJD Newsletter

During my 2L summer, I had the opportunity to complete a judicial externship in the Family Division of the Santa Clara County Superior Court, working with Judge Lowney. The Family Division handles some of the most consequential matters in a person's life, divorce, custody, child support, and domestic violence restraining orders, and witnessing these proceedings gave me a vantage point I couldn't have gotten anywhere else in law school.

My work included drafting a bench memo analyzing the doctrine of laches in a post-judgment dispute over a 529 education savings account, as well as a memo examining attorney's fees in family law enforcement actions. Beyond legal research and writing, I observed hearings ranging from contested custody matters to domestic violence restraining order proceedings, which deepened my understanding of how family courts balance legal standards with the very human stakes in front of them. This externship built directly on my academic focus on family law, dependency law, and domestic violence advocacy, and let me see that work from the judicial perspective rather than from behind counsel table.

What I'll carry with me most, though, is the mentorship I received from Judge Lowney. He didn't just teach me family and judicial law, he generously shared his perspective from his years as a District Attorney and his advice on stepping into practice post-bar, from how to think on my feet in a courtroom to how to build the kind of judgment that only comes from years on both sides of the bench. That combination of substantive legal instruction and honest, practical guidance about the profession I'm about to enter is exactly what I hoped this summer would give me, and I'm grateful for it. As a 3L, I'm heading into my final year with a clearer sense of the kind of public interest lawyer, and eventually, perhaps, judge, I want to become.