Rudman Summer Fellow of the Week: Alexandra Polymeropoulos

Alexandra Polymeropoulos, a rising 2L, is working at the New Hampshire Attorney General Office in the Criminal Justice Bureau this summer.

. 

(The following excerpts from a recorded interview have been edited for clarity and brevity.)

On the work of the New Hampshire Attorney General Office: 

The Attorney General’s Office handles a wide variety of cases, from criminal to civil cases. It could include attorneys who represent the state on behalf of a victim.  The Civil Bureau could represent a government institution that the Criminal Justice Bureau would otherwise prosecute.

The Criminal Justice Bureau in particular prosecutes the most serious crimes in the state of New Hampshire, including those punishable by up to life in prison. The department itself represents the state on all criminal appeals in the New Hampshire Supreme Court, conducts investigations, and initiates prosecutions involving a variety of different fields such as drug trafficking, financial crime, and cybercrime. There’s also the public integrity unit and Medicaid fraud. Those specialized units include the homicide unit, consumer protection, the cold case unit, and elder abuse, for example. There are quite a lot of different departments.

I am more focused on the homicide unit, which handles cases that require the highest level of mens rea, such as crimes for first- and second-degree murder.  The AG's office has investigators—retired police officers—who work alongside attorneys to gather evidence, run background checks, and identify witnesses. Then there’s the Drug Prosecution Unit, which I’ve also worked closely with. They work in conjunction with federal, state, and local authorities. Oftentimes, if there’s any indication of organized crime, the feds end up taking over those cases.

On her work there this summer: 

The work I have done spans beyond just homicide cases, including the cold case unit. I’ve assisted with grand jury investigations. I took on a major upcoming project involving sorting through an enormous volume of evidence. I’m also working on an internal guide for young prosecutors. This is all aside from typical intern tasks like writing appellate briefs or conducting research. I’ve also helped with homicide trials in terms of trial preparation. I have edited and drafted sentencing memos for a few cases and motions involving attorney and police misconduct. 

In addition to that, I started working on 91A public records production and organizing discovery. So whether I have different tasks that are associated more with legal admin work, working directly with investigators or attorneys themselves, I’ve had quite a lot to do.

On her goals this summer: 

I had two main goals when I first came in. Generally speaking, I wanted real courtroom experience, and I wanted to leave with a few strong writing examples. In both cases, I was able to achieve those goals within about the first two weeks. 

So I thought, what can I focus on now? What would make the most difference while I was here? And what I decided was making sure that students understand, especially incoming 1Ls, that everyone should consider applying to the Attorney General’s Office. It’s a highly coveted fellowship, and for good reason.  You shouldn’t count yourself out because of your GPA, because frankly what gets you here, what makes you more effective when you arrive, has very little to do with your grades. It’s all about being a hard worker, a team player, someone people genuinely want to collaborate with, someone who is easy to talk to. Ninety percent of this work involves persuading others to share information, to trust you, and to hear you out, whether it’s a witness, a police officer, a victim’s family member, or even opposing counsel. The law certainly does matter, but if you can’t connect with people, those legal skills alone won’t take you very far. 

So I would say the biggest goal for me is ensuring that I get this information out to other law students who are interested in this type of work. I don’t want them to count themselves out. I believe if you care about justice and want to see what doing it right actually looks like in practice at a wonderful office with a great culture, you should apply. I don’t think anyone would regret doing that.

The Rudman Center fellowships support students who work during the summer for government agencies or 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that perform public interest legal work.   For more on the Rudman Summer Fellowship program, visit here.