Law Grad Interns at White House

The University of San Francisco’s Jennifer Baker, JD '09, interned in the Office of the Counsel to Vice President Joe Biden this past fall, working alongside Counsel Cynthia Hogan and her two deputy attorneys.

In addition to assisting the counsel's office with legal research, writing, analysis, and advising the vice president on legal matters, Baker participated in activities sponsored by the White House Internship Program – including a weekly speaker series featuring White House senior staff members and a long-term service project working with students in Washington, D.C. public high schools.

Baker applied for the internship when she learned that her start date at O'Melveny Myers in Washington, D.C., where she secured a job offer after completing a summer associate position there in 2008, would be deferred for several months due to the economic downturn.

Baker was in the Dorraine Zief Library studying for the bar exam when she learned that she had earned the opportunity to participate in the highly selective White House internship program. "The week I found out was maybe the least productive week of studying I've had in three years of law school," Baker said. "I was checking my phone and e-mail religiously." She hopes her experience at the White House will give her greater insight into government lawyering, and she plans to join O'Melveny Myers in 2010.

"I am so grateful for such an extraordinary opportunity," Baker said. "I know that the skills I learned in the internship program and the contacts I made in D.C. will be invaluable no matter where my legal career leads in the future."

Read about Baker's path to the law and the White House in "Fortuitous Furlough,"  published in The New Lawyer supplement to the Daily Journal.