2022

Prelaw Student Interns With County District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau

Max May ’23 has been observing trials and conducting legal research for prosecutors near his hometown on Long Island, New York.

By: Meghan Kita  Friday, July 29, 2022 07:17 AM

Max May ’23 outside the Nassau County Court House

When Max May ’23 selected which bureaus in the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office he’d most like to intern with, homicide was near the top of the list: “I wanted to be active and engaged, and I knew with something like homicide, that it would be pretty interesting, hands-on stuff,” says May, a political science and history double major who began a full-time internship with the DA’s homicide bureau at the beginning of June. 

“You’re not going to fall asleep during these trials,” he adds.

Last summer, May interned with the intelligence division of the Nassau County Police Department, where he saw the police and the DA’s office work hand-in-hand. He’s interested in going on to law school after Muhlenberg, so this summer’s internship felt like a logical next step.

May’s days vary depending on whether the homicide bureau has an ongoing trial. On trial days, he’s in court, observing. On non-trial days, he and the three other interns in the homicide bureau assist with legal research for the prosecutors. He’s in person, at the office or at the courthouse, Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, the approximately 40 interns throughout the DA’s office hear from attorneys and other employees from different bureaus about what they do, sometimes in person and sometimes virtually.

May says the research skills he has developed in both his political science and history courses have served him well in this internship. He sees this experience not only as a nice addition to his resume as he begins law school applications but as an opportunity to test drive a certain type of law.

“One of the things I really wanted to see is if this is something that I would want to do going forward. Would I want to work in the public sector and be a prosecutor?” May says. “Whether you do an internship and you’re like, ‘This is exactly what I want to do,’ or you do it and you’re like, ‘I don’t want to do this at all,’ they’re equally valuable.”