Knudson School of Law Students Participate In South Dakota's Public Service Pathway Pilot Program
Aidan Mullaney, Kylee Van Egdom, Ryan Kroger, Casey Abfalter-Dial, Emily Whitney, Karli Viher, Thomas Potts, Mayson Sheldon and Teagan McNary were accepted as the first students to participate in PSP at the end of their 2L year. Now, with only two months until graduation, they have each completed the minimum 500 hours in an active working environment.
For the duration of the fall semester they were placed in public service law offices across the state including:
- Minnehaha County State’s Attorney’s Office
- Minnehaha County Public Defender’s Office
- Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office
- Brown County State's Attorney’s Office
- Federal Public Defender’s Office
This program emphasizes experiential learning, which is one of the key tenets of the USD Knudson School of Law. The nine students making up the inaugural class of the program will feel the impact of being elevated from student to practicing legal professional well into their careers as South Dakota’s lawyer leaders.
The following are descriptions of their favorite moments from the fall semester’s placement period:
“My favorite moment was attending an evidence view for an attempted murder case,” said Kylee Van Egdom, whose placement was in the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“I handled the direct examination of five witnesses and attended over 40 witness meetings while preparing for this trial. I overcame a lot of self-doubt when I delivered the opening statement, and I put in a lot of time preparing witnesses. One of my favorite moments was getting a guilty verdict in the murder jury trial and receiving hugs from the victim's family afterwards,” said Karli Viher, whose placement was in the Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“My favorite memory was when a magistrate judge came to my defense during bond court. During this hearing, I was told that I was ‘full of it’ by a pro se defendant, after reading what the state's bond recommendation was. This judge had seen me a handful of times in court, but that was the first time that I spoke in her courtroom. It was nice to see her defend someone with whom she previously had little interaction with,” said Thomas Potts, whose placement was in the Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“My favorite memory was completing my first court trial which ended up being in an all-day civil custody matter with the Abuse and Neglect Court. It was a difficult experience, as it was an emotional day, but it was a rewarding experience and further cemented my desire to work in civil law,” said Ryan Kroger, whose placement was in the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“My favorite placement memory is getting a very intense and troubling case dismissed, and being able to inform the client about the dismissal,” said Casey Abfalter-Dial, whose placement was in the Minnehaha County Public Defender’s Office.
“My favorite experience would be the trials that I got to partake in. I had no background in trial advocacy before my placement, which made those experiences scarier but so rewarding. I always walked away from them with something to work on. Receiving and implementing feedback is something I know I have gotten better at because of my placement. I know it’s a good skill to have in the legal profession,” said Mayson Kaye Coyle, whose placement was in the Brown County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“I don't have any one favorite experience, but I really enjoyed one of my court trials on a case involving reckless and exhibition driving. I not only got a conviction on every count, in front of a judge that tends to be somewhat sympathetic to the defense and against an accomplished defense attorney, but I also was able to argue for a pretty harsh sentence near the maximum allowed for the case,” said Aidan Mullaney, whose placement was in the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“It’s really hard to pick just one favorite moment from this experience. There was one trial in my office during my time there, and I really enjoyed being part of the process. I was able to meaningfully participate in strategy conversations, and it was cool to see the 'behind the scenes’ of how attorneys think and put together a case,” said Teagan McNary, whose placement was in the Federal Public Defender’s Office.
“My favorite memory was receiving positive feedback from clients. One client called me ‘the GOAT’ and another said that I was the best attorney he has ever had. This feedback really stuck out to me because it meant I had done a good job for them, which is the most important. Making them feel seen, heard and understood was a goal of mine going into criminal defense, so it made me feel good that I accomplished that goal for them,” said Emily Whitney, whose placement was in the Minnehaha County Public Defender’s Office.
After graduation, all nine students are required to complete two years practicing law in South Dakota’s public sector to maintain admission into the state bar.
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