2015 First-Year Fellow: Kelsey Flower '18

Judge John Mott '81, in whose office I worked this summer as a First-Year Fellow, is a federal judge the Washington DC Superior Court. In the 15 years he has been a judge he has rotated through several courts, including family and criminal, but has been a civil judge for the past several years. Judge Mott is given a large number of civil cases to preside over each year. Each case is not just a simple trial, but involves many meetings with the Judge in the form of status hearings, pre-trial conferences, mediation sessions, and more, which happen over the course of several weeks or months. When a case does go to trial, he will try the case, but most of his time on a weekly basis is spent meeting with parties for updates, pre-trial matters, and trying to settle cases before they have to go to trial. The Judge has a law clerk and judicial assistant to help him with the vast amounts of paperwork, writing, organization, and coordination of different people that go into every case.

Kelsey Flower '18 in Judge John Mott '81's chair in his courtroom.

The most rewarding part of the fellowship experience was meeting amazing alumni and learning about their lives in Washington DC. Both the West Wing tour and “bowling at the White House” event were led by amazing alumni who had interesting careers in the executive branch and presidential campaigning, and listening to them talk about their life paths and jobs was incredibly inspiring. I also reached out and met with a few other alumni over the summer who also have interesting career paths in Washington DC. All of the alumni I met during the fellowship were so happy to take the time to talk to me, and I really appreciate their generosity and advice. They made me excited to be able to apply the skills I learn at Dartmouth to a meaningful career.