Jacob was a Undergraduate Law Clerk for the United States Attorney's Office during Winter 2026.
Briefly explain what you did and the result of your internship.
During my internship with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, I supported active federal prosecutions across the Federal Major Crimes with additional support provided to the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Sections. My work included reviewing body-worn camera footage, jail calls, and other evidentiary materials, conducting targeted legal research, and contributing to trial preparation and sentencing across more than 25 active cases.
What made this experience uniquely formative was witnessing the full lifecycle of a federal case, from early evidence review and strategy development, through plea negotiations, and ultimately into the courtroom for trial and sentencing. Seeing each stage connect to the next gave me a practical understanding of federal prosecution that no classroom could replicate. Watching supervising attorneys present arguments and evidence I had helped develop made the impact of that work concrete, each case representing a real effort to deliver accountability for victims and justice on behalf of the United States.
What did you learn on your internship that you were not expecting to learn?
I expected to learn legal skills such as how to research, how to review evidence, and how to support litigation. What I did not expect was how deeply the human dimension of the work would affect me. Federal prosecution is not abstract. Behind every case file is a real victim, a real family, and a real harm that the justice system is being asked to remedy. Feeling personally connected to that reality, even as an intern, was something I was not fully prepared for and it made the work far more meaningful than I had anticipated.
I also did not expect how much discretion and judgment are at the heart of federal prosecution. I had assumed the law was largely mechanical, that facts were gathered, statutes were applied, and outcomes followed. What I observed was far more nuanced. Prosecutors exercise significant judgment at every stage, from charging decisions to plea negotiations to sentencing recommendations, carefully weighing justice, proportionality, and the interests of victims. Watching that process up close gave me a much richer understanding of what it actually means to pursue justice, and deepened my respect for the responsibility that comes with the role.
How have your future plans changed because of what you learned from your internship experience?
Before my internship, I was already committed to pursuing law, but I still held a quiet uncertainty about whether legal practice was truly the right fit for me. I had academic preparation, interest, and drive, but I had not yet felt any kind of confirmation to allow me to pursue this path with complete conviction. This internship provided that.
I left my experience at the U.S. Attorney's Office no longer second-guessing whether I belong in the practice of law. Now, I know that I do. Watching federal prosecutors pursue justice with integrity, compassion, and quiet resolve made the path ahead feel less like a possibility and more like a responsibility. The kind of work I want to do and the kind of attorney I want to be came into focus in a way that months of coursework and preparation had not quite achieved.
That clarity now shapes how I approach everything in front of me. My remaining undergraduate coursework, law school preparation, and every legal opportunity in between feel more deliberate and more motivated than before. My goal is concrete and personal. I want to find myself again in that courtroom, contributing to something larger than myself, arguing on behalf of the American people.
Please share how your experience led to personal inspiration or insightful revelation.
The most unexpected revelation of this internship was not about the law itself, but about the kind of lawyer I want to become. Observing the Assistant United States Attorneys I worked alongside, I was struck by something I had not anticipated: they were not driven by a hunger for conviction as a personal or professional trophy. They were driven by something quieter and more profound. They simply wanted justice to be done, fully and faithfully, and they carried that commitment with a kind of calm, deliberate integrity that left a deep impression on me.
What moved me most was watching those same prosecutors treat defendants with dignity even while zealously pursuing accountability against them on behalf of their victims. There was no cruelty, no contempt, no performance of hostility. They demonstrated that it is possible, and I would argue necessary, to be a peacemaker even in the act of prosecution. That you can seek the fullest measure of justice without surrendering your compassion for the person standing across from you in that courtroom.
That revelation reshaped how I thought about my future in the legal profession. I do not want to be an attorney who only seeks to win, no matter the cost. I want to be an attorney who is just, and this experience showed me that those two things, when pursued with the right spirit, are not in conflict.
Would you recommend this internship to other students?
Absolutely and without reservation. This internship is unlike most undergraduate experiences because the work is genuinely substantive. You are not just filing papers or sitting in the background. You are contributing to real federal cases with real consequences, and the attorneys treat your contributions as meaningful. I believe that alone sets it apart.
Beyond the work itself, the exposure to the full lifecycle of federal prosecution across multiple practice areas gives you a depth of understanding that simply cannot be replicated in a classroom. Whether your interest is in criminal law, public service, or simply becoming a more capable legal thinker, the experience sharpens skills and clarifies purpose in ways that are difficult to find elsewhere at the undergraduate level.
Most importantly, this internship has a way of revealing something about yourself, at least it did for me. It asks you to sit with the weight of real human consequences, to think carefully and work diligently, and to observe what it actually looks like to pursue justice with integrity. For any student seriously considering a career in law, particularly public service law, I cannot think of a more formative place to spend a semester.
Is there anything else you would like to say regarding your internship?
I want to speak directly to any BYU student who has received an internship offer like this one and is hesitating. I understand your hesitation. I received my offer to the U.S. Attorney's Office three weeks before I needed to arrive in Washington, two weeks before my wife and I were set to get married, and one day after both my fiancée and I had received a pay increase at work. The timing was not ideal, the financial concerns were real, and the disruption to coursework, as well as our life plans, was significant. Suffice to say, I felt the full weight of all of it pressing down on a decision that needed to be made quickly.
We chose to go anyway, with faith, and figured it out as we went. That included ratchet strapping two twin beds together in our room at the Barlow Center because no married housing was available. It was not always glamorous, and it certainly was not easy. But, it was worth it in ways I am still processing.
If you are sitting with an offer and a long list of reasons why the timing is wrong, I would encourage you to look at that list carefully. Most of the obstacles that feel insurmountable have a way of becoming manageable once you decide to move forward. The opportunities that ask the most of us tend to give the most back. My wife and I were reminded of a few lines from Robert Frost, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." I implore you, do not let fear choose your road for you.
