2025 Criminal law test – Leadership Initiatives

Emmalee Johnson

DC International School
Class Of 2025

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Learn More About Emmalee Here.

Less About Emmalee's Achievements Here.

My Law & Advocacy Training

Youth Rehabilitation Act Brief

Oral Argument Preparation

Congressional Advocacy

Mentor & Expert Collaboration

My YRA Motion

Throughout the internship, I learned about different aspects of being a lawyer and explored the importance of legal writing as a central part of the profession. As a legal intern, I wrote an Youth Rehabilitation Act (YRA) motion to remove my client’s conviction from their record.

Rebecca Bloch of The Law Office of Rebecca Bloch walked me through how to write a proper motion in legal formatting and include all relevant content.

As part of an YRA motion, I sifted through legal documents, exhibits, and case precedent and conducted client interviews. I compiled pertinent information to put into a comprehensive briefing containing reasoned arguments about why my client deserved a sentence set aside under D.C. Code § 24-906 C2.

Rebecca Bloch of The Law Office of Rebecca Bloch walked me through how to write a proper motion in legal formatting and include all relevant content.

My Oral Argumentation Preparation

The Basics Of Oral Argumentation

To help the legal team prepare their YRA Motion, I had to create a compelling argument on various sections of the briefing, including the client’s history, community involvement, and rehabilitation, but also critically evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in terms of their effectiveness in a courtroom setting and their impact on a judge.

How We Prepared Our Oral Argument

At the end of the internship, I had the opportunity to present my argument to the legal team and my peers, which included my recommendations to strengthen the case.

I presented different facts of the case and the mitigating factors that could influence the outcome of the YRA motion and conviction set aside request. This part was crucial in demonstrating our problem-solving skills and contributing meaningfully to the legal strategy.

This is important because now the legal team has a variety of different perspectives to include in the briefing and has recommendations for the client to improve their standing in court.

My Congressional Advocacy

Throughout the internship, I developed skills to effectively advocate on behalf of my client to congressional officials. To prepare for my meetings, I developed informative briefing materials with my team, which focused on improving the criminal legal system.

On Capitol Hill, we highlighted an issue within the criminal legal system to congressional representatives and advocated for possible solutions to the harrowing issues present throughout the system. My team and I worked to ensure we had facts, statistics, and compelling stories to share with our representatives. After our meeting, we followed up with our representatives to call for further action.

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