“I wanted an international experience during my first summer after law school, preferably in a developing country. I found it in Kampala, Uganda, clerking for Uganda Supreme Court Justice Mike Chibita and traveling with the Sudreau Global Justice Institute at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law. They work with Ugandan advocates (similar to public defenders) to host plea-bargaining camps at different prisons throughout Uganda.

Since the Ugandan judiciary is building alternative dispute resolution programs to address a significant case backlog, I spent the first few weeks familiarizing myself with Uganda judicial systems and East African alternative dispute resolution systems. Then I began drafting Supreme Court opinions: two criminal and one civil. Being told to read a Supreme Court file and draft an opinion on it was daunting, but a great way to put my writing and legal analysis skills to the test.

I also spent one week in Gulu Prison in northern Uganda, working with advocates to help remandees (individuals charged with a crime and imprisoned who haven’t yet had a trial) in tents in the middle of the prison yard. It was an unreal experience.

Initially, I worked on a team of four people: myself, a Ugandan law student, a Ugandan lawyer, and a Pepperdine undergraduate student. We would receive a case file and review it, call the remandee and a translator (often a prisoner who volunteered to help), interview them, and discuss their options. We’d then meet with the prosecutor, negotiate for a sentence length and confirm the agreement with the remandee. Sometimes we were able to get the remandee the sentence length they were hoping for. Other times, the remandee would refuse the prosecution’s offer.

After the second day, I was handling cases from start to finish with the Pepperdine student, mostly capital offenses. I sometimes felt conflicted arguing for a lesser sentence, but I gained a deeper appreciation for the balance between mercy and justice.

In one magistrate case (focusing on minor offenses), five remandees had been arrested for loitering and spent four months in jail without seeing a lawyer or appearing in court. Some of them didn’t fully understand why they had been arrested. I negotiated a deal with a prosecutor, and the five guys went home that day. I will never forget watching them wave goodbye as they walked out of the prison, free men after being thrown in prison for a crime they never should have gone to prison for.

Coming into law school, I was pretty sure I wanted to work as a litigator. This summer has also helped me decide that I’d like to clerk. I’ve enjoyed my time clerking for Justice Chibita and would love to clerk for a judge in the U.S. at some point, too.

I intend to use my lawyering skills to advocate for those without the resources to advocate for themselves, whether that be committing to pro bono work or attending future prison projects as an attorney— or both.”

Read more about Poole’s experience here. 

— Hattie Poole, a 2L from Littleton, Colorado