What went well? 

I thought it was really cool to do outreach work and it was helpful contextually to see the pre-client portion of the work we do. I learned how to do intake according to the Legal Aid system, which I had only ever seen before, but never done myself. 

What could have been done differently? 

 I spent a lot of time out of the office going to the clinic facilities and prepping for that event. Because of my time spent out of the office, I felt a bit behind in my independent case work. In talking to my supervisors, they stressed the importance of not taking work home and not staying past contracted hours regularly. They framed it as a protective measure for their colleagues. If it becomes the expectation that employees work outside of their contracted hours, it exploits the most vulnerable in the office. Therefore, the more important thing to develop is time management, not extra time.

What did I learn about myself while working with others? 

I learned that for me it’s helpful to observe boundaries at work because it benefits us all. 

What did I learn about leadership? 

I learned that leadership sometimes requires that you don’t get everything done as soon as humanly possible, but as efficiently as possible while maintaining the office culture you’d like to craft. 

What do I want to focus on or develop next? 

I’m excited to wrap up a lot of my cases next week. I’ll be taking point on filing a lawsuit since my supervising attorney has a planned vacation and we ran into a client-related issue in filing.