Madison Onsager ’21

United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington, Seattle, WA

This summer I worked at the United States Attorney’s Office as a student volunteer, taking on both generalized office work and specific projects. I worked primarily with the Complex Crimes and Drug Crimes units within the office, but also did administrative and support work for other attorneys. My more general duties included working to serve subpoenas, scanning subpoena returns, filing documents for different cases, and proof-reading documents before they were filed. One of the early projects that I took on was listening to a series of recorded calls which had been made by an inmate in a federal prison. For each of these calls, I created a summary of the contents and specifically pulled any case-relevant information that could indicate wrongdoing or accomplices.

As I grew more comfortable in the office, I began to work more closely with specific attorneys, one of whom became a mentor figure to me. I worked on two separate ongoing cases with her. The first case dealt with mail fraud and money laundering; I was able to join the attorney in meeting with the police officer who had led the initial investigation of the case. Later, I wrote the complaint which will soon be used to charge the case, with guidance from the lead attorney and background information from the investigating agent’s affidavit. The second case dealt primarily with wire fraud, and for this case my work was focused on the evidentiary discovery which had already been made. I trawled through massive documents full of text and messaging records between criminals who had yet to be charged and tagged the different conversations with participants and topics. Afterward, I pulled the most incriminating information from each of the relevant conversations, structuring it so as to lead to the clearest depiction of self-acknowledged criminal activity, so that the agents and attorneys involved had an idea of what admissions each defendant had previously made.

This summer was an overwhelmingly positive experience for me. At the start, I confess I had something of a jaded eye towards criminal prosecutors, given the myriad flaws in the justice system that I’m aware of. However, this office’s repeated emphasis on seeking justice over winning trials and the many times that I heard attorneys express sympathy for the situations that had led defendants to committing crimes were very reassuring. Once, while I was sitting in on court, I viewed a sentencing recommendation for a drug offender whose addiction had repeatedly compromised his probation. Even as the prosecution presented its argument on sentencing him to jail time, it was with a repeated emphasis on having provided him with other options beforehand and a continued willingness to accept a lesser sentence if he would consent to treatment for his addiction. I also was able to view cases that fell within “DREAM Court,” a post-plea program which focuses on prioritizing treatment and community reentry for lower-level drug offenders whose offense was motivated by substance abuse issues. The fact that this program is both non-adversarial and rehabilitation-focused is wonderful, and I wholly support its mission. I was also able to have conversations with attorneys who had personally joined efforts to create more attention on reentry and rehabilitation programs. While I recognize that some of this was due to the office having access to federal resources, it was still inspiring.

This internship absolutely made me aware of the large-scale impacts federal prosecutors deal with. The drug trafficking case I worked on dealt specifically with fentanyl, which is incredibly deadly and has been an increasing cause of drug overdose in Washington in recent years. Thinking about the human impact of trafficking in large quantities of such materials, given that three milligrams of fentanyl will result in an overdose, helped me reconcile my reservations about the human impact of imprisonment to some extent. Simultaneously, I greatly respected this office’s focus on combating drug trafficking over drug use given how class and race are so entwined with the justice system. Other cases that came through the office dealt with data security and areas that are still being defined by law due to leaps and bounds in technology. The latter case made me realize how these federal attorneys had to consider how their arguments for such cases might set precedent for how the issues could be handled or charged going forward.

With the summer law clerks, also geared up for Simmunitions Training.

This summer has tangibly impacted how I plan to approach the rest of my time at Williams and my professional future. Experiencing daily life in a legal office has demonstrated to me that I could be very happy practicing law and witnessing courtroom procedures from arraignments to jury trials has furthered my interest in criminal law. While I have yet to experience the world of policy, this has greatly helped me refine my future plans. I have new intentions to take classes in economics based on recommendations from my coworkers and am now considering law school as an option even if I decide to focus on a career in policy. I have also discovered a new interest in areas of law particular to developing technologies alongside my preexisting interest in environmental issues. Speaking with attorneys in the office has left me with suggestions I plan to keep in mind for the far future, such as pursuing internships with the State Department and whether I wish international travel to be a part of my career.

To the Estate of George Mead, which offered me this opportunity, please accept my most sincere thanks. I would not have been able to take on this internship without this support, and by your generosity have had a genuinely transformative experience. My gratitude also goes out to the ’68 Center for Career Exploration not only for this program, but for shaping my journey of personal and professional discovery through Williams. I am truly appreciative of all of the work done by ’68 Center staff, for myself and for all of the others who have benefited from their guidance.