DeKalb County Courthouse, Decatur, Georgia. (Photo: John Disney/ ALM)

Judges in Georgia state and federal courts will host virtual internships for 26 law students whose summer law firm positions had fallen through—just a month after the initiative was announced.

"I was blown away by the support we've received," said Ana Maria Martinez, the president of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation, who came up with the idea. GLLF is sponsoring the internship program.

"The judiciary's response has been fantastic. Five weeks ago, this program wasn't even in my mind," said Martinez, a staff attorney for DeKalb County State Court Judge Dax Lopez.

The virtual judicial internship, an unpaid program, is for law students who've had their summer associate plans canceled at law firms amid the coronavirus crisis. Orientation started this week for the 26 Georgia law students, who will virtually intern with a wide range of judges from June 8 to July 10.

Judges from Georgia's superior, state and magistrate courts are participating, as well as federal judges from the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia and the U.S Bankruptcy Court.

The majority of the state court judges are in metro Atlanta, including eight in Fulton County, but judges from Bibb, Houston, Toombs and Paulding counties are also hosting interns. Judge Sara Doyle of the Georgia Court of Appeals has an intern as well.

"This range of judges will provide really varied experiences, which will be great for our interns," Martinez said.

The program was open to all students at Georgia law schools, and more than 30 applied. "We made every effort we could to match all qualified applicants," Martinez said.

The interns include nine from Emory University, eight from Georgia State University, four from the University of Georgia, three from Atlanta's John Marshall Law School and one from Mercer University.

One law student from Florida State University, Marcela Sierra-Arce, who's a Georgia native, is also participating. She's clerking for Paulding County Magistrate Court Judge Martin Valbuena.

Martinez organized a comprehensive orientation program with help from Lina Machado Bejarano, a GSU Law graduate who just passed the bar exam, and Sarah Banda, a new Emory Law graduate.

Banda and Machado-Bejarano have also put together a workbook for self-guided study and a 108-page handbook for the judges and law students.

"Hopefully, this makes it easier for the judges," Martinez said.

The organizers on Wednesday added a lunch discussion about the Black Lives Matter movement and ways lawyers and law students can help make change. Lauren Linder Grunberg, the deputy general counsel at Parallel, and her husband Jonathan Grunberg of Wade, Grunberg & Wilson, who is a GLFF board member, will moderate.

GSU Law research librarian Patrick Parsons presented a refresher session Tuesday on effective legal research, and Wednesday the group focused on working with the courts.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Catherine Salinas and DeKalb State Court Judge Dax Lopez talked to the students about judges' expectations. Augusta Superior Court Judge J. Wade Padgett, the president of the Georgia Council of Superior Court Judges, then gave an introduction to professionalism and ethics, including the judicial code of conduct.

Martinez has also set up a Slack channel for the interns to communicate internally "as a watercooler space so they don't feel like they're working alone," she said. The interns will be paired off on a rotating weekly basis through an app called Donut, so the group can get to know each other virtually.

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