This is a photo of me outside of the door to the office that I interned with, Padhraic Harris & Co Solicitors!
Author: Sydney Ward | Majors: Political Science, English | Semester: Summer 2023
Over the summer, I had the opportunity to intern at Padhraic Harris & Co Solicitors in Galway, Ireland. I participated in the AIFS Global Experiences internship program where the program staff places the students in a local internship related to their major. I was with a cohort made up of 17 other interns from around the United States and Canada. We will be receiving course credits at our universities for completion of the internship program as well as valuable work experience. My internship at Padhraic Harris and Co. Solicitors was my first true glimpse into a career in the legal field and was a wonderful two months. I had the opportunity to learn about the Irish legal system from all employees within the office and through accompanying solicitors to Court.
One specific highlight from my time here is noticing the differences not only between the Irish and American law, but also the cultural differences in Ireland and seeing how this impacts the legal system. My main duties in the office were handling communication with clients through either phone calls or emails, sorting physical files within our filing system or on the online database, distributing and recording all mail, scheduling appointments, sending legal documents, and assisting on any current cases with all four solicitors in the office. Adjusting to a different culture was definitely one of the most difficult parts of working within a global internship. Such simple, small differences have a large impact in the day to day life of the law firm, such as how they spell specific words or even greetings within an email. At first, I would have to redraft documents various times because of a simple difference within the style of writing or formatting that I am used to from American culture. We write things very directly and straight to the point but in Ireland they add formalities and are very polite in emails. Something else I have found very surprising within the culture in Ireland that is completely different from American culture is the level of technology they use. I am accustomed to everything being computerized and very little documents or communication being on paper. However, they use much less technology. The office in which I worked has every file on paper as well as in their computer system. The paper files are very large and take much more time to search through to find a document whereas you can find it in seconds on a computer. I was also shocked to find out that students here do not learn how to type in schools. I remember spending years in elementary and middle school in a computer lab learning how to type, playing typing games, and taking tests to see our typing speeds. It seems to be common in Ireland that many people are not educated on technology or even know how to type, especially amongst the older generation.
Overall, I learned that the Irish and American legal fields are not all that different when you look at the basics, but the cultures surrounding them are what make the most impact on their variations. I also learned that I love working within the legal field and I am now confident that I am on the right path and I will truly enjoy and feel fulfilled in my future career. In the future, I will hopefully be attending law school and become an attorney within the field of criminal or civil law. I know that this internship experience will play a large role within my professional life and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and am so thankful for the Honors College at the University of Arkansas for supporting me in this endeavor.