News / The Fair and Just Journal

January 8, 2025

From Big City to Small Town: What I Learned About Community and Law as an FJP Summer Fellow

I joined the Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office as one of the few non-University of Virginia students they had hosted in years. The team consisted of less than 20 people, and there were no separate units in charge of different cases. As a result, I participated in cases of various subject matters that I had never worked on before, including: traffic violations, economic crimes, sexual abuse, parole, and bail hearings. The office building is adjacent to an elegant brick courthouse dating back to over 400 years ago. Marshals, attorneys, prosecutors, observers, and even some criminal defendants, greeted each other cheerfully in the hallway. Apparently, this court square used to be the major public forum back in the 18th century and it still serves as an embodiment of “community” today. It reminded me of the original meaning of “society,” which represents the solidity of union among neighbors, instead of the intangible, abstract notion of society that is too big for any individual to comprehend.