Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has been planning her office's internship program ever since she decided to run for DA, and the coronavirus pandemic was not going to stop the program's first summer, she said Wednesday.

A group of 54 law students and 12 college students started the six-week program Monday, joining a video call with Katz and Chief Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Naiburg to discuss what Katz described as a historic moment.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz welcomes this year's interns taking part in her inaugural Brave Justice Summer Legal Internship Program. Her office's director of legal hiring, Mariela Palomino Herring, and chief of staff Camille ChinKeeFatt and chief assistant district attorney Jennifer Naiburg joined the DA in the virtual welcome. (Courtesy photo)

"We've never seen these days before, and hopefully we will never see them again," she said in an interview. "We are in the middle of a pandemic. It is historic. We are going to teach these interns and law students, and they are going to see how the courts can navigate through this pandemic, how we are able to be fluid when it comes to delivering justice for the people of Queens County."

Naiburg talked to the new interns for nearly an hour about ethics, Katz said, emphasizing that the interns should know "it's not just about prosecuting; it's about finding justice."

The interns will get a firsthand look at how the office is enacting Katz' plan for reform, including a focus on diversion and an eventual end to cash bail. They'll also see the effects of ongoing protests related to police brutality and social justice, she said.

"We are working with law enforcement every single day and the country … is evaluating how we do policing right now and what it means to police in this country," Katz said.

The DA's office has made changes to keep the internship program going despite the pandemic, including setting up socially distant work paces for the program's "minimal" in-person component, according to a news release. The interns will participate in video training and attend court proceedings virtually, just as assistant district attorneys are doing at the moment, Katz said.

While Katz didn't anticipate a pandemic reaching New York just two months after her inauguration, she said the office was ready to "deal with anything that was thrown at us" and responded well.

She's eager for the interns to provide "fresh perspective," she said.

Members of the intern group speak at least 10 languages and come from 15 law schools, according to the news release. About 10 are from Queens, and Katz said she's hoping talented interns will become ADAs and help the DA's office reflect the diversity of the county's population.

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