DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A writing workshop presented by Professor and Senior Principal Law Clerk Victoria Rosner took place the afternoon of July 21 at 320 Jay St.
Professor and Senior Principal Law Clerk Victoria Rosner. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman/Brooklyn Eagle
The workshop is sponsored by the Izetta Johnson Internship Empowerment Program and Summer Youth Employment Program and is part of a six-week internship curriculum that exposes interns to the vast professional possibilities of the court system.
“We’re here today to talk about the writing process, with a focus on analytical writing, the writing we do in the legal profession that involves critical thinking,” Rosner said.
She introduced the three steps she uses when approaching a writing project: drafting, revising and polishing.
“For the first step, you brainstorm. You throw all your ideas together,” she said. “Don’t worry about the final project product or any particular sentence.”
According to Rosner, the second step is for organizing information and looking at gaps or things that must be added or removed.
The final stage, the polishing stage, is for ensuring each sentence is how it should be, focusing on active voice, grammar and overall structure.
Interns attentively absorbed the presentation. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman/Brooklyn Eagle
Rosner says many students start with that final stage. They think about perfect sentences but forget the structure.
Victoria Rosner discussing the importance of effective writing skills. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman/Brooklyn Eagle
“The goal is to create a piece of work that is organized and easy to follow and to effectively communicate what it is that one wants to communicate,” Rosner said. “We’re not necessarily showing how smart we are with our words. We are not fiction writing.”
Interns also engaged in an analytical writing exercise in which they analyzed a person’s astrological sign by utilizing specific information provided and facts about different star signs.
Rosner said that as interns are placed in various courts throughout Kings County, they will read some form of courthouse material eventually.
Intern Isis Harrison, 21, said she sees herself working in the court system one day. “I would like to become a court attorney, but my end goal is to become a judge.”
From left: Jennifer Joly, intern Isis Harrison, Victoria Rosner and Nicole B. Smith. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman/Brooklyn Eagle
She said the workshop gave her useful insight on the writing process as well as research and analysis. “As a court attorney and future judge, those are definitely significant things that I’ll need to work toward my goals.”
As a law clerk in the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, Rosner provides legal research, analyzes complex issues of law and assists the court in the review and disposition of appeals.
She is a graduate of New York Law School, and she distinguished herself academically as an executive editor of the New York Law School Law Review. She also authored a published legal comment, reflecting an early commitment to legal scholarship and appellate practice.
Before joining the court system, Rosner served as an assistant district attorney in the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, where she handled criminal matters and represented the People in appellate litigation.