Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Loftus

I am loving my time at the World Bank; it is incredibly rewarding to be using my (partial) law degree to do substantive work that I care so much about.

Throughout the summer, I have had a wide variety of projects, ranging from policy research to investigations to editing statements of accusation and evidence. I am currently working on drafting my own statement of accusation and evidence from an investigation that is entirely in French (which is challenging but exciting). Serendipitously, the two policy topics I was assigned to research exactly matched my corruption-related academic interests.

The World Bank’s work environment is fantastic. One of the reasons I applied to INT was because I wanted to get a sense of what it is like to work in a professional, international setting. I feel like I have obtained exactly the sort of insight I was hoping for. I can walk around the office and hear conversations in four different languages and I’ve learned a lot about the legal cultures of different jurisdictions. My experience here has confirmed that I really derive a lot of energy from working in an international atmosphere. As a result, I’ve thought a lot about what I want to do with the remainder of my time at HLS.

Like the attorneys and investigators, the interns come from all over the world (Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Germany, China, Afghanistan) and I’ve learned as much from them as I have from INT staff.

Elizabeth is one of 22 HLS students working this summer in 14 countries under the auspices of the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship. Please visit our Chayes Fellowship page to learn more!