David Morse - University of Idaho

Externing at the United States Attorney’s Office in Boise is an experience every law student should attempt to pursue.  The experience I gained from the many attorneys I was fortunate to work with, is by far, more than I would have had gained and had access to at a firm or other externship opportunity.  The amount of time and energy put in by the attorneys to involve and educate the externs was a pleasant surprise and candidly made the experience the most educational opportunity to date in my law school career.

As an extern, I had the opportunity to work on many criminal matters.  My supervising attorney allowed me to gain experience by not only exposing me to white collar crime (his area of expertise), but by suggesting various other criminal attorneys to work with.  As a result, I had the opportunity to also work on drug cases, sex offender cases, illegal firearms cases, and write many briefs and motions.  These experiences provided real world application to the various legal topics I had learned in school up to that point and was very helpful in tying the classroom knowledge to the legal profession.

Additionally, I had a great opportunity to take a case from the start all the way through the trial process.  I interviewed witnesses, worked with several Federal Agents and Local Law Enforcement Officers, participated in meetings with defense counsel, and assisted with the voir dire process.

Along with all the first hand experiences and great mentorship from the attorneys, the office put on two weekly educational class sessions.  One was a weekly writing workshop provided by an attorney who is a highly accomplished writer.  The second was conducted by a different attorney each week who provided an overview of a particular area of law and generally included an interesting case associated with the area of law covered.

Ultimately, the externship at the United States Attorney’s office in Boise was an exciting and highly educational legal experience.  The program is clearly an interest to every individual in the office starting with the U.S. Attorney herself and all the way through the ranks.  I felt truly privileged to be part of the program and would highly recommend this to every law student.

David Morse
University of Idaho
Class of 2016