The 2011 Office of the Solicitor General’s (OSG) Legal Internship Program officially started yesterday, April 11, 2011, with 65 legal interns chosen from the best law schools all over the country.

The program commenced with a whole day orientation seminar for legal interns. Assistant Solicitor General Karl Miranda, Chairman of the OSG Legal Internship Program, presented the 65 legal interns to Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz and congratulated them for having been accepted to the program.

Solicitor General Cadiz welcomed this year’s batch of interns, stressing on this opportunity to work in the OSG to be instruments of public service.

Now on its fourth year, the OSG Legal Internship Program offers an intensive, comprehensive, and structured course designed to give interns invaluable and maximum exposure to lawyering for the government. Four of this year’s Bar examination top ten were former legal interns at the OSG: Krizelle Marie F. Poblacion from the University of the Philippines (UP) at 6^th place; Maria Christina C. Ortua from UP, 7^th place; Johanna Eileen M. Capones from UP, 8^th place; and William Benson S. Gan from the Ateneo de Manila University, 9^th place.

The OSG admits around 60 interns to its prestigious legal internship program every year. It is open to incoming third year and fourth year law students. Applicants are evaluated according to their law school grades and leadership potential. Prospective interns must also hurdle writing tests and a stringent interview process. This year, about 200 hundred law students from around the country applied to the program.

The 2011 legal interns are assigned to different legal divisions headed by an Assistant Solicitor General. They are to be trained to do legal work such as conduct research, review decisions and submit recommendations thereon, draft pleadings and observe court hearings, among others. They will also be given lectures for free on different legal topics by esteemed speakers. Aside from the work, legal interns will also visit different courts, meet justices, and give legal counseling to Bilibid inmates.

The interns are set to have their team-building activity on April 13-14, 2011 at the Development Academy of the Philippines, Tagaytay City. On April 19, 2011, interns will have their legal counseling to inmates of the New Bilibid Prisons.