JD Student Spotlight - Casey Morrison

Prior to attending law school, you interned at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and the Union County Prosecutor's Office. How did these internships impact your law school experience?

Interning at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and Union County Prosecutor’s Office prior to law school impacted my law school experience by helping me narrow down the areas of law I am interested in and the types of legal issues I am passionate about. These internships solidified my desire to one day become a prosecutor. After my high school internship at the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, I studied criminology at Villanova University. At Villanova, I became interested in race and gender disparities in the plea-bargaining process and wrote my senior thesis on the topic. As an intern at the Philadelphia DA’s Office, I participated in a case file review in order to collect and code data for use in a report about prosecutorial discretion and racial disparities in the plea-bargaining process. This project in conjunction with my college experience inspired me to be a lawyer who seeks justice rather than outcomes.

For your 1L summer internship you participated in The Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program. Tell us about this experience. What assignments did you work on and who did you work with? What are some of the memorable highlights of this program?

I had an incredible experience as a judicial intern in the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program (SCSJIP). I was placed with the Honorable Valerie Figueredo, a United States Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. As someone who has always wanted to work with a New York federal judge, this internship was a dream come true. I worked closely with Judge Figuredo’s two law clerks and my two fellow interns (not associated with SCSJIP). I performed many cite checks, helped the clerks with legal research, and wrote a Report and Recommendation on a motion to dismiss, which was ultimately submitted to and adopted by the district judge. My summer was also filled with many interesting and educational observational experiences. I observed settlement conferences, oral arguments, and initial case management conferences with Judge Figueredo. I was also able to observe plea and bail hearings as well as civil and criminal trials throughout the summer. One of the most memorable observational experiences I had was sitting in on the sanctions hearing for the lawyer who used ChatGPT to write a brief filled with fake cases. Every Monday, I, along with all of the interns at SDNY, had the opportunity to meet and listen to different judges speak about their careers and experiences during a lunch panel. The Sotomayor Program itself contained a lot of career development programming. During the program’s orientation, for example, the law school division had a speed interviewing session with six different Big Law firms as well as a legal writing workshop. One of the most memorable experiences from the program (and arguably my life) was meeting Justice Sotomayor. She came to SDNY to speak to the high school, college, and law school division interns. She shook each of our hands, asked where we went to school, and took photos with us.

What services from The Office of Career Services have benefited you the most?

The Office of Career Services has been very helpful to me throughout my law school experience. I greatly benefitted from OCI, through which I obtained most of my 2L summer job opportunities and ultimately my 2L summer associate position. Furthermore, I benefitted from OCS’s emails containing externship opportunities during the school year. I obtained my 2L externships at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and with Judge Salas through the job postings shared with us via email. I am also a huge fan of the Career Closet and got most of my business professional attire for my 1L summer externship there. (I also receive the most compliments when I am wearing clothes I got from the Career Closet!) Finally, I greatly appreciate all of the advice I have received from members of the Office of Career Services.

Tell us about your experience on the Seton Hall Law Review.

Being a member of the Seton Hall Law Review has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my law school career. As an Associate Editor, I was able to read incredibly interesting pieces of scholarship, hone my Bluebooking skills, and strengthen my legal research and writing skills. The skills I developed on Law Review were extremely transferable to the work I performed during my two externships, especially my judicial externship with Judge Salas, Gressman, and my Appellate Advocacy class. Writing my Comment was one of the most challenging parts of being an Associate Editor, but I loved having the freedom to write about a topic I am passionate about. Moreover, feeling like a part of a team where my effort and contribution will impact the final result inspired me to apply for an E-Board position for the next volume. I was honored to be selected as the Senior Comments Editor of Volume 55. As the Senior Comments Editor, I get to have a larger role in the Comment editing and publication process as well as the ability to work directly with Associate Editors in their Comment writing process. Being able to use my academic and managerial skills in this role is both exhilarating and rewarding because I get to work closely with other Law Review members and see how my work directly impacts them as well as the journal itself.

You did a semester externship at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. Tell us about this experience. Why did you choose this externship for academic credit?

I loved working at the U.S. Attorney’s Office my 2L fall semester. I decided to pursue this externship because I wanted to gain experience in a federal prosecutor’s office before graduating from law school and see what a career as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) could look like. I decided to extern in the fall for academic credit because I wanted to strike a better balance between courseload and real-world experience my 2L year. At the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO), I composed an opposition brief to a pro se defendant’s motion for compassionate release, drafted applications, orders, and corresponding exhibits for the destruction of intercepted wire communications, and observed criminal trials, sentencings, plea hearings, and bail hearings. Getting sworn in by U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger was an experience I will never forget.

How was your 2L summer internship experience at Mayer Brown? What was the most interesting aspect of being a Summer Associate? What did you like most about the law firm?

My 2L summer at Mayer Brown was the best summer I have ever had. The summer was the perfect balance of work and social events. I was able to get a lot of work in the practice area I was interested in, and I performed a wide variety of assignments in that area from legal research to summarizing a deposition. I also really enjoyed working on a pro bono political asylum case with two Litigation associates. This was the first year that Mayer Brown held a Summer Academy Program in Chicago. It was so fun to be able to travel to a different city and meet Mayer Brown summer associates from all over the country. One of the most interesting aspects about being a summer associate was learning so much about the different practice areas at the firm and figuring out where I best fit. I really liked meeting people from different practice groups at lunches, practice group fairs, panels, and firm events. Every attorney I met was so welcoming and open to sharing career and life advice. Another interesting and unexpected aspect about being a summer associate was how close I grew to my fellow summer associates so quickly. We enjoyed working together as well as hanging out with each other outside of work. I think that speaks a lot to the hiring committee’s skill in selecting those who best fit the firm’s culture. What I liked most about Mayer Brown was how collegial and collaborative the environment was. I could tell that the associates and partners genuinely liked each other and enjoyed working with one another. I liked how at home everyone made us feel, and I am so excited to return.

As a first-generation law student, what challenges have you faced and how did you overcome them?

As a first-generation law student, I had to overcome the unknown. Before law school, I did not know many lawyers at all. I had no idea what the law school application process was like, what law school entailed, or what kinds of job opportunities existed in the legal field beyond criminal law. In order to best position myself to succeed as a 1L, I learned a lot from my friends who knew more about law school than I did, I joined a lot of student organizations, including the First Generation Law Student Association, signed up for mentorship programs, and attended every networking event possible.

Tell about your experience participating in the moot court competition. How did it feel to win the competition?

Participating in the Eugene Gressman Appellate Moot Court Competition was one of the best experiences of my law school career. I wanted to strengthen my oral advocacy skills and figured Gressman would be the best way to challenge myself. I never expected to win. Not yet having taken Appellate Advocacy, my partner Elika and I did not really know what we were doing in the beginning. But we immediately worked together very well, which made the whole experience so pleasant.

Each round, I developed a greater mastery of the facts and the law on my issue and felt myself becoming a better, more confident oralist. While I was never not nervous, I learned how to better hide my nerves and seem calm and collected. Arguing before New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division judges and a live audience in the semi-finals was very nerve-wracking, but I did not let that phase me. I was most nervous for the final round—arguing for the opposite side, before New Jersey Supreme Court Justices and a United States District Judge, and against fierce competition. I just wanted to do my best and make my parents proud. Hearing Justice Noriega announce Elika and I as the winners felt like a fever dream. I will never forget that moment. The tears that streamed down my face signified the relief I felt that all of our hard work paid off. I will be forever grateful to the Gressman competition and those that facilitated it. I entered the competition a timid 2L and left as a more confident advocate, better writer, and stronger oralist.

What advice would you give a 1L or 2L student regarding academic success?

Advice I would give 1Ls/2Ls: work hard, take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way, and don’t count yourself out. I would also advise everyone to do the things that make you uncomfortable. Despite wanting to be a litigator, I have always been terrified of public speaking. But I knew that if I wanted to get better, I had to put myself in a position to do so, no matter how uncomfortable it would be at first. That’s why I signed up for the Gressman Competition. Never in a million years did I think that I would be capable of winning. You never know what you are capable of until you try.

What are your post-graduation plans? What practice areas are you interested in?

After graduation, I will be returning to Mayer Brown as a Litigation associate in their New York office. I am particularly interested in white collar defense and investigations. I am also interested in pursuing a federal clerkship after a few years working in Big Law and eventually becoming a prosecutor.