My fifth week at the OBA

I started the week off by sitting in on a communications department staff meeting. The communications director gave an overview of the week's deadlines and highlighted what small assignments would need to be completed, along with how much progress needed to be made on long-term projects. Then, each communications staff member reported what they were currently working on and followed up with feedback they had received about assignments done the week before.

At the staff meeting, I was assigned to work on coverage of the OBA State Mock Trial Program Competition. I followed up on the six press releases I wrote last week with more detailed releases that elaborated on semi-final round competition venues and information about the teams, as well as what is in store for the two teams that will be chosen to compete in the state finals in May. The team that wins the state championship will compete in Philadelphia at nationals. Next week I will be able to report winners from the OKC and Tulsa semi-final rounds.

All of the Law Day Contest winners have been contacted and preparations are being made for the awards ceremony at the Okla. Supreme Court, which I will be able to attend. The Chief Justice will present the first place winners with their awards and then the winners and their families are invited to the OBA for a luncheon. In order to make sure all Law Day communication is effective, I made a database for the contact information of all county bar association presidents and Law Day chairs, along with all the Law Day Contest winners and their parent and teacher contact information.

My fourth week at the OBA

My fourth week at the Bar Association was filled with the usual assignments of finding past OBJ articles, archiving past OBJ issues and handling brochure orders from the public. With Law Day events coming closer, I assisted the staff in making arrangements for the ceremony to be held for first place contest winners and sat in on meetings regarding the staffing of more interview segment shoots. I worked on making the certificates for all first, second and honorable mention winners for the contest categories from Pre-K to 12th grade.

The OBA also sponsors a statewide mock trial program that local high schools compete in annually. The semi-finals are coming up and the final eight teams were recently announced. Last week, I composed six press releases - one for each school whose team advanced to the semi-finals - to announce their success and upcoming competition dates. (Two high schools had two teams advance to the final rounds.) I always enjoy the opportunity to write pieces that will potentially be picked up by the media. In the future, I would like to be a part of the of the process of sending the releases out to media contacts.

My third week at the OBA

Last week, I worked a total of more than 18 hours across Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The February issue of the Oklahoma Bar Journal (OBJ) went to press on Thursday, so the beginning of my week was spent wrapping up loose ends around the office and assisting the communications staff with odd jobs to make sure the issue was ready to go. I also did some of my usual tasks such as preparing Law Day documents for Web release, filling OBA informational brochure orders and locating old OBJ issues to send to attorneys who had requested specific articles for research. The OBA has a library with archived OBJ issues that date back to before the 1950's. When someone contacts the communications department with a request for a piece, the article is located in the library, scanned and e-mailed to the attorney. Last week, I located and sent an article to a legal professor in the U.K.!

On Friday, I got to assist with the filming of an interview for the OBA Law Day t.v. show that will air on OETA. This year, the show will feature in-depth, personal interviews that target certain aspects of Oklahoma's legal system. This interview focused on Oklahoma's Alternate Sentencing Program and featured a man who got behind on child support payments and eventually found himself homeless and jobless. The interview emphasized the goals of the Alternate Sentencing Program, such as securing employment and teaching its participants to follow strict guidelines. Each participant is assigned a court liason to monitor his/her progress and enforce the program guidelines. If requirements are not met, the participants are incarcerated, but if the program is completed successfully, many benefits can be reaped. The man being interviewed in this piece now has a home, solid employment and has re-established relationships with his children. I think the interview will be very educational to those who tune in to the Law Day t.v. show.

After helping out on the set of the interview shoot, I thought of a few tips I would suggest to interns working with professionals in a high-pressure environment:

1. Never sit down on set. There is always something to be done. If you don't see anything, ask what you can do to help.

2. Share good ideas. Even if you don't get credit, a problem could be solved because of your suggestion. All that really matters is that the job gets done right.

3. Take initiative. Even if it's the smallest chore, taking care of things without having to be asked will impress the people you're working with and save them the time of having to do it themselves.

4. Stay out of the way, but be accessible. Never make someone you're working for have to look for you. Be available and energetic, but not a bother.

5. Always say, "thank you." Remember that an internship is not always an essential staff position. Even though you do valuable work, you've been given an opportunity to have a job that is also a priceless learning experience. Be appreciative of every assignment and make sure the ones you're working for know you are.

My name in print!

Today, the February issue of the Oklahoma Bar Journal was published and I got credit for my editing work in the Bench & Bar Briefs section!

Black History Month feature

My feature article made it on the OBA's Web site! How exciting!

The article will appear on the home page through January and February, then it can be accessed at www.okbar.org under the section, "Acknowledging our Leaders."

My second week at the OBA

Last week at the OBA, I worked six hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and accomplished many tasks. It was the final full week before the Oklahoma Bar Journal (OBJ) goes to press for the February issue, so much of my time was spent working on assignments regarding the publication. Throughout the week, I became much more familiar with the office and what responsibilities the public relations staff has on a day-to-day basis.

For the OBJ, I was responsible for compiling the final version of the "Bench & Bar Briefs" section for approval before printing. The OBA has its own style manual the communications staff uses in conjunction with the AP Style Book. I keep both out on my desk when working with print pieces, because some of the guidelines conflict.

In the spring, the OBA Communications Department spends much of its time preparing for the Law Day event I mentioned in last week's post. As part of of this event, the OBA Law Day Committee judges the art work and creative writing entries submitted to the Law Day competition. This week, the winners were finalized and I created a document containing the names, grades and schools of the first, second, third place and honorable mention winners along with samples of their work. This document will be put on the OBA Web site at a later date along with photographs of all the art work entries that I took. I also finalized the Excel spreadsheet containing all the information about the entries for the OBA Law Day database.

I was most excited about getting to compose a few pieces last week. I wrote press releases about the Oklahoma Supreme Court School of the Year and Teacher of the Year Awards and about the Tax Attorney of the Year. These were the first real press releases intended for publication that I've ever written. It was a gratifying learning experience to have them approved by the public relations staff. I hope I am asked to write more in the future.

Because working on the press releases went so well, I was asked to compose an article for the February OBJ issue, highlighting Black History Month. The article covers the careers of four prominent African-American members of the Oklahoma legal profession. The research for the piece was interesting and it was a great feeling to know that what I was working on had the purpose of recognizing successful attorneys and judges.

Last week, I also filled a brochure order. The OBA provides informational legal brochures at no cost to certain establishments and charges a small fee for attorneys who wish to use the brochures for various educational purposes. I made an exciting trip to the OBA storage and mail rooms and was able to see how the behind the scenes operations work.