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Cindy Andresen
(aka "CA 8/97" on our pages)
Overview:
In cooperation with the student members of Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College's International Law Society, during the summer of 1997 Capriotti & Associates sponsored a law student from Germany.
Using an H-3 visa, which permits temporary employment to aid a person to gain training, Cindy worked side-by-side with us for 6 weeks.
With the goal of learning the U.S. immigration laws, she was instrumental to our being able to improve the existing assortment of informational pages we maintain on the web. She worked hard to explain the very technical law and procedure in her second language, English.
We wish to thank Cindy for her invaluable contribution to the WWW information available to you.
More about Cindy and how to contact her:
Cindy was born in Flensburg, Germany, on the 2nd of May 1975. She studied law at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany. She has graduated and is a recent mother.
Experience:
Internships with :
- - the local court in Flensburg, August 1995
- - the prosecution of Flensburg, September 1995
- - the municipality of Kiel, September / October 1996
- - Capriotti & Associates, Portland, Oregon, USA, July, August 1997
Seminars: She already attended the following seminars in Kiel:
- - " Law and Biomedical Advance " held by Prof. Dr. R. Dworkin ( Law
- School in Bloomington, Indiana, USA ), during May and June 1996
- - " Judge and Jury in the English Court System " held by Prof. Dr. L. Blake
- ( University of Surrey, England ) in May 1997
Email address:
Send Cindy an e-mail message: CLICK HERE
Here are some of Cindy's thoughts about her experience with us:
My Internship with an International Law Firm in the U.S.
- by Cindy Andresen
1. In the beginning...
During winter 1996/97, I learned about the STEP program ( which supports European law students in doing their legal placement in another country ) from ELSA ( European Law Student Association). At that time, I already attended a course and a seminar dealing with U.S. American law and I was very interested in the U.S. legal system. Although there were only three openings in the U.S. when I applied for a legal placement, I was one of the lucky few.
After having received the good news from Mr. Capriotti at the end of May, the difficult part started: preparing everything in less that one and a half months. Obtaining a visa was a run against time. A J-1 visa wasn't possible because ILSA/ELSA was not yet approved as a qualified J-1 sponsored organization. This made a H-3 visa necessary, consuming more work and time. Fortunately, everything went well, just in time, possibly due to the miraculous talents of Mr. Capriotti, and on the 11th of July 1997, I boarded a plane in Duesseldorf with the destination of Portland, Oregon, and an H-3 visa stamp in my passport.
During my stay in Portland, I lived with a Lewis and Clark's law student's family and really enjoyed this kind of living. I was welcomed heartily and was integrated into the life of a U.S. American family. Further, I experienced every day the special transportation system Portland has to offer: a light rail (called MAX). It connects the northeast metropolitan area with downtown Portland and makes traveling without traffic jams pretty easy and fast. The whole transportation system in Portland is well organized and, even compared to European standards, very good. Buses and MAX operate Downtown in a fareless square until late at night.
2. The work of an International Lawyer in Immigration Law
Mr. Capriotti has not only focused in international law in general but especially in immigration law and, of course, related topics. Therefore, his clients look for immigration options, naturalization, information on non immigrant visas, and consular process. His work does not only include giving information and advice to his clients concerning their immigration situation. He prepares petitions and applications for all kinds of visas. And, thus, assists clients in all kinds of steps involved from consular process and obtaining a visa stamp to citizenship. Besides, he is also involved in all the other parts faced by an international lawyer like appeals, trials or even assistance in removal / deportation procedures.
Further, Mr. Capriotti works on a case-by-case basis with lawyers who work primarily in other fields of law. Sometimes, their client's individual cases make it necessary to consult an immigration attorney, for example to explore the options of work visas for a big sales company, or even to explore the immigration consequences of a criminal conviction for a client in a criminal case. Recently, Mr. Capriotti has expanded his services on the latter topic, especially by offering written opinions to criminal lawyers so they may adjust the defense to potential consequences on their client's immigration situation.
Finally, Mr. Capriotti also works as Adjunct Professor in Immigration Law at the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College.
3. My Internship
My work as trainee for Mr. Capriotti included various tasks, making the internship even more interesting. First of all, I learned the basics in immigration law. I sat in on client consultations and assisted with application/petition preparation. Briefly, I got to know basically the work of an immigration lawyer, got the chance in assisting in a lot of legal tasks, doing some small tasks on my own and, thus, learned a lot about U.S. immigration law in a very short time.
I even had the chance to attend two classes at the law school. I experienced slightly their way of teaching and learning, their campus and could compare it to the German system. In Germany, law students attend lectures at university. University is divided into various faculties, one of them being the law faculty. Therefore, we don't have special law schools. Further, our teaching system differs slightly: big lecture-rooms (sometimes holding up to 500 students), usually no final exams at the end of each semester but a first final state exam usually after four years, no time limit for your studies, etc. Finally, German law students usually have to absolve three legal placements before being allowed to take the first final state exam.
Secondly, this internship included the work on the law office's web pages, giving them a new design, updating or modifying existing pages and creating new ones. To sum up, I not only experienced the main work in a U.S. law office and was part of it but also was focused on an important new medium: the INTERNET.
4. Summary
This internship gave me a lot of new and valuable experience. From a legal point of view, I learned personally more about the work of a U.S. lawyer, the U.S. law system, immigration law in detail and law schools. Further, I was able to extend my knowledge and experience with regard to work on web pages and on the internet in general.
Socially, my first stay in the USA, and especially in such a beautiful and nice city like Portland, added much to my experience, not to mention the cultural aspects I got to know.
In short terms, I'm glad and lucky to have been able to practice this kind of internship and I can't say anything other than to recommend this kind of training.
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DISCLAIMER:
The information given in this Web site is intended as general information only.
It does not substitute for the services of an immigration attorney in a specific case.
© 1995-2003 F.J. Capriotti III. All rights reserved.
