Julia Becher

My names is Julia Becher, who will be a senior graduating in the Spring of 2025. I had a ten week internship with the Wisconsin Innocence Project through the UW Law school. I was really hoping to get this internship, and I have dreamed of a career in a similar field to this, and my experience did not disappoint. I had one other intern with me and I got along with them very well. In terms of staff, I had two main people I reported to and both of them I had a very positive relationship and even got permission to ask them for a recommendation letter in the future. In my internship, with confidentiality respected of course, I was working on and evaluating clients and potential clients’ cases for innocence. This involved a lot of reading into case files, finding unexplored connections and leads between people involved. I also went on drives around Wisconsin to track down witnesses and visit clients in prison.

I learned a great deal from this internship. I got to work directly with law professors and students, which helped inform me of my decision on going to law school. I always wanted to go, but I always had this doubt about whether I would be able to keep up with the workload. Now I know that I can and that I can excel. I have also gained the confidence to seek a paralegal job after I graduate next year. The work I was doing was like that of a paralegal and with the recommendations I have from my supervisors, I am confident I can work in that field, and enjoy it, before I go to law school.

On that note, my internship was a ton of fun. It was still a serious setting, working in a law firm, but everyone there was super friendly. Doing the work I did felt amazing; I always wanted to be in a career that helps people, and this succeeded at just that. The work was also very fun. Something about what I did gave a lot of satisfaction, even through the slow nature of post-conviction work. I was deeply disappointed when my internship ended. It was sad losing access to the people I worked with and the type of work I was doing. I can only hope that in the future I will be able to continue working with them, either in law school or as a long-term career.