HWS News
15 June 2020 Alum Connection Lands Law Internships
When they began looking for internship opportunities, Ashley Mitrow ’22 and Joshua Hylkema ’21 made the Salisbury Center for Career, Professional and Experiential Education an early stop. Through the work of the Center, they shadowed Peter Troxler ’94, an attorney with Koehler & Isaacs, LLP, in New York City, and both subsequently earned an invitation to intern with the company.
“I job shadowed Peter over winter break, which was when he mentioned interning at Koehler & Isaacs for the upcoming summer,” says Mitrow. She and Hylkema worked with Troxler in the area of labor law, one of the firm’s areas of expertise.
While at the firm, Mitrow listened to audio files for cases and accompanied Troxler to the Manhattan Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). “I was able to witness and be part of trials and mediations,” she says. “The most challenging aspect was learning and understanding the law terminology used in paperwork, meetings and trials.”
Mitrow, a double major in sociology and writing and rhetoric with a minor in Spanish and Hispanic studies, had been considering a career in criminal law, but the internship has widened her view. “There is such a large variety of careers in law that it’s hard for me to be certain which one I will end up pursuing,” she says.
During Hylkema’s internship, he worked with Troxler on one of Koehler & Isaacs’ major accounts. The company serves as legal representation for the Department of Corrections worker’s union, and Hylkema was able to attend criminal and disciplinary hearings throughout the city with Troxler.
“My first week started right off with one of these trials and I hit the ground running,” says Hylkema, a history major with a double minor in music and entrepreneurial studies. “I was able to help prepare and be present for multiple administrative trials at OATH in Manhattan.”
Like Mitrow, Hylkema was impressed with the broad range of the legal field. “I was able to experience administrative law, criminal law and union law all within the same internship,” he says. “The experience was invaluable.”
Troxler finds the experience gratifying as well. “Having active HWS undergraduate internships at my firm is among the most satisfying things I have done for the Colleges,” says Troxler, who majored in philosophy while at HWS. “The interns I have had the privilege of advising have all earned a leg up by having practical experience in the legal services industry. They go to court with me, do research for me, and provide me with a layman’s perspective in helping me with virtually all facets of litigation. I believe the interns have benefited from being in an environment where they do material things for my client base and learn what it means to be in the front lines of this field.”
A few of Troxler’s past interns also include Olga Emelianova ’12, Cydney Conley ’17 and Alexandra Cirra ’17.
