Emily Totoro - 2L
New Jersey Office of Attorney General
Education/ Higher Education
Department of Children and Family
SPIL Stipend, Summer 2020

Last summer, I was extremely grateful to be awarded a Students for Public Interest Law (SPIL) Stipend. I spent the summer working at the Attorney General’s Office in New Jersey. During my internship, my time was split between the Education/ Higher Education section and the Department of Children and Family (DCF). In both sections, I assisted with legal research, motions briefs, client communication, and policy proposals. The work I did with the Education Section mainly focused on First Amendment speech issues concerning students at public universities. The Department of Children and Family is tasked with protecting the children who are placed in the custody of the state due to abuse or neglect. Working with DCF was both an extremely rewarding and emotional experience. It was difficult to hear the stories of each child and the trauma that they had suffered. However, it was incredibly fulfilling to know that I was helping advocate for such a vulnerable group of children who otherwise wouldn’t have a voice in the matter.