Internship at Casais & Prias PLLC Law Firm

I have completed the first part of my internship at the law office of Casais & Prias PLLC. I have primarily filled a research role in the operation. Using resources pertaining to law I have been diving through statutes and case law. It is in this type of work the relationships between being a historian or a lawyer share many similarities. For law cases, you must research throughout judicial history to then structure arguments which are then reviewed by peers through the legal process. This type of work closely mirrors the process of source research, argument construction, and peer review found in the History discipline.
Since the 24th of July I have been preparing research for one of attorney Prias' cases. She is representing a defendant who was charged with 7 counts relating to civil theft, breach of contract, and conspiracy. My research would dictate whether we would go forward with a motion to dismiss the complaint altogether or at least dismiss some of the counts and prepare to contest the ones that remain. The motion she will be filing is only in response to the complaint she received at this time, so any research or argument made had to be bound by the information in the complaint itself. Reading the complaint itself and statutes surrounding bankruptcy and alter ego, I discovered the following.
Unfortunately for plaintiff, he had purchased goods from the defendant who then filed for bankruptcy which cleared the company of any possible debt it faced. To try and retrieve what he paid, this customer included a count of alter ego in their complaint. My research discovered that alter ego is the practice of mixing your company and personal finances, as well as practicing complete control over a company to the point where it's simply an extension of yourself. If you prove this against a company it allows you to "pierce the corporate veil" and pursue payment from the owner who would normally be protected. This was established in the Broward Marine Inc. V. S/V Zeus Florida case.
I was able to use my research skills from History courses and they helped greatly in digging through case law. Although the resources are more specialized for law, I was able to extract pertinent information for my notes. I then brought the case law and my reasoning for all 7 counts to attorney Prias. Using my research, they drafted their motion to dismiss 3 of the counts (pertaining to alter ego) and began their arguments. It was exhilarating to see research turned around so quickly into action.