During her time as a legal intern for the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office, third-year KU Law student Logan Quackenbush put the skills she learned from her professors in Green Hall to real-world use.
Quackenbush participated in the internship as part of the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program at the University of Kansas School of Law in the summer of 2024.
“Having the opportunity to do this and to work with such wonderful people who not only cared about their jobs, but their community and the next generation of attorneys really was phenomenal to me,” she said. “It reinforced that I want to be a criminal prosecutor and that I wanted to be like these people who care about their community.”
Quackenbush shared her experience with the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement for a Q&A.
What type of work did you do through the field placement?
I worked with the deputy attorney who heads the misdemeanor department with the Shawnee County District Attorney. It was all hands-on work. I wrote plea offers, learned how to write journal entries, prepped motions—motions to revoke diversion and competency motions—and got to speak on the record.
I’ve had opportunities to go see Child in Need of Care (CINC), watched felony and juvenile trials, and have helped with the extra work attorneys have. The attorneys also took time to teach me about their department. I knew I wanted to be a prosecutor, but prosecutors do a wide variety of things. So, it was nice when the attorneys would tell me all about what they do and how they work with the statutes for that specific area of law.
My supervising attorney, and the mentor who showed me what a caring prosecutor looks like in action, was Deputy District Attorney Jason McIlrath. He is the head of the intern program, and I credit my success to him.
The skills my professors have taught me were applied in my field placement. Going to school, I haven’t seen them being applied. So, I was finally applying all the skills I was taught and that was a big relief.
My favorite thing was that I got to argue sentencing for a really serious crime, and the judge ended up ruling in the state’s favor. That was exciting for me because it felt like a win, and that I was helping the community improve.
Are there skills you developed or improved working with the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program?
Every time I’d go into the courtroom, I was taking notes or filling out journal entries so that everything I did would be documented through a paper trail. I did not realize how often and that with literally everything you do, you’re going to fill out paperwork.
Now I know how to fill out a wide variety of traffic documents and take notes for the DA’s office. That’s a skill that I feel is obvious to a law student, but none of the classes I’ve taken had me do that in-depth.
I feel so much more confident and comfortable being in the courtroom and feel like I could go by myself and know what I’m doing and what I’m looking at. I’m proud that I’ve learned it, and it makes me feel confident going into a job post-grad and post-bar, where I’m the attorney.
How do you think this experience will impact the rest of your time in law school or the start of your career?
Getting to see a defendant, a victim and a witness firsthand has shaped how I view cases. When I see people, I see them at the very bottom of their lives, really going through a hard situation. You don’t get that when you just read a case. I take a minute now when I read a case and understand that these are real people who are going through something. It has truly helped me have more empathy and be an overall better person.
Also, my writing skills have improved because I’m not just sending what I’ve written to my professor. It will be going to a judge, and that is a whole different weight of expectations. I take all my writing assignments seriously, but my field placement has strengthened my professional writing skills rather than scholarly ones.
My field placement ended up turning into a job offer in the end. I still have my student license, and I’m still working with the DA and doing everything that I did over the summer. I’m just getting paid for it now, which has been really nice. It’s also helped me gain connections because I’m from Kentucky, so I don’t know a lot of people in this area.
What has been your favorite part of working with the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program?
Myfavorite part was probably that we had to take journals. We made goals at the beginning of the program, and that was something I wouldn’t have considered doing if I hadn’t done the field placement. Those goals and things I wanted to achieve were always at the forefront of my mind and something that I was constantly working towards. Because of that, I achieved those goals during my field placement. There’s just something about being able to take something off a list that really gives you a sense of accomplishment.
What would you say to law students considering enrolling in the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program?
Do it, especially if you want to be a prosecutor. This will give you hands-on experience that will be unmatched by any other experience that you could have. The opportunity to work under a practicing criminal prosecutor to build connections and have a professional mentor will be so valuable and will help you transition from law school to a working, successful attorney.
I’m really excited to go into that next chapter of life. I’ve been in school for 25 years of my life. Transitioning to not being in school is going to be really different for me. Because I did this field placement, it really curbed that nervous energy that I could experience.
It was, hands down, the best decision I made in law school. Having the opportunity to work with such wonderful people who not only cared about their jobs, but their community and the next generation of attorneys really was phenomenal to me. It just made me feel so excited to go to work every day, and that experience was something that I cherish. It reinforced that I want to be a criminal prosecutor and that I wanted to be like these people who care about their community.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
I want to say thank you to the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program for fostering an environment of hands-on learning that sets students up for success. Also, a thank you to the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office, along with Deputy District Attorney Jason McIlrath and Assistant Attorney Cody Smith, for mentoring me. This experience has been so amazing for me, and I want to give credit to those who have set me up for success
— By Casey Bacot