Internship Provides Alumnus with Introduction to Life's Work
For Meghan Goddard ‘04, an appointment in February to the executive team at the Philadelphia City District Attorney's Office marks a rather surprising stop on a journey that began long before she ever stepped foot on the York College campus. Though she says she couldn’t have envisioned the life she has now with her husband and son in Philadelphia when she was a student, Goddard is doing what she has always known she has wanted to do: practicing law. “I knew I wanted to be a lawyer even before I started college,” she says.
Goddard transferred to York College from Russell Sage College, a small women’s college in Troy, NY, in her sophomore year. “While I enjoyed that school, it was just a little too small,” she says. “I was around a lot of people who thought the same way I did. Central Pennsylvania was different from where I grew up; there was more of a melting pot of ideas.”
She enrolled at York College as a Political Science major. “I remember being really impressed with the Political Science Department there,” she says. “At the time, I was very politically minded. I was interested in how government functions and the role that it plays in shaping everyday life.”
Though firmly set on a career in law, her experiences at York College helped Goddard to strengthen her focus. In particular, she credits an internship at ACCESS York, a local program dedicated to eliminating domestic violence, with introducing her to the kind of work she would spend the next two decades of her life doing. There, she worked as a legal advocate and helped women and children who were victims of domestic violence file protection from abuse orders. “I loved that internship so much that I decided to take a year off between my undergrad and law school to work full-time at ACCESS York as a Children’s Advocate,” she says. “That really helped shape me. It seemed like a really interesting way that I could make a difference.”
Goddard went on to study law at Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, PA, where she graduated with honors. In her final year as a law student, she took a Criminal Procedure class that combined her passion for government work with her desire to advocate for children and victims. Her experiences in that class led to her taking an interview at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. “I had never been to Philadelphia before that interview,” she says. “My husband and I had just bought a house in York, but I told him, ‘There’s this one job I have to apply for. I don't think I’ll get it, but I have to try.’ ”
Goddard was offered that position as an Assistant District Attorney (DA) for Philadelphia, and she and her husband moved to the city. At the DA’s office, because of her experience at ACCESS York, she found herself doing a lot of trial and preliminary hearing work with victims of domestic violence before ultimately joining the Juvenile Court Unit, where she helped prepare young children who are victims of abuse to appear in court. “I decided this was work that I was really passionate about,” says Goddard. “I started doing jury trials in child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, sexual assault regardless of the age of the victim, and human trafficking.”
At the DA’s Office, Goddard had the chance to run an investigative grand jury on a child sex-trafficking case involving a Philadelphia lawyer and a 14-year-old girl before being made supervisor in the Juvenile Court Unit. “I was teaching newer DAs how to talk to kids, how to get them to testify in really stressful circumstances about the most horrific things that have happened to them,” she says. She then left the DA’s Office to work for the Child Welfare Unit in the Law Department, doing dependency work. She helped the City of Philadelphia implement the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018, which outlines requirements for holding juveniles accused of crimes and addresses racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system.
Goddard now works as First Deputy under City Solicitor of the Philadelphia Law Department Renee Garcia, to help with oversight of the entire Department. “As First Deputy, I provide general oversight to the functioning of the Law Department, responsible for hiring and related human resource matters, and making sure I am up to speed on the different legal issues of the City that are handled by our office,” she says.
It’s a lot of work, but Goddard’s passion hasn’t wavered, and she’s determined to be a strong support for the people she supervises. “During my career, I have had the opportunity to work on cases that I am passionate about, but now I am more focused on how to be the best supervisor I can be, knowing that I am overseeing attorneys who are doing really hard work,” she says. “I took a lot of time to try to cultivate my leadership skills and my supervisory skills to be more of a supportive supervisor. I think this is what’s helped me be well-suited for this role, but everyone who I’ve worked with in the Law Department is super passionate about the work, because it affects every single person who lives in this city.”
The work has given Goddard strong ties to a city she never imagined she’d call home. “I didn’t see myself in Philadelphia,” she says. “If you had told me when I was a sophomore at York College that I’d end up in Philly, I would have said, ‘Philly’s not really on my radar,’ but I love this city so much. My son was born in Philadelphia, and he’s a true Philadelphian.” Both Goddard and her husband are involved in their local community and enjoy going to their son’s baseball games and exploring the restaurant scene. “It’s so culturally rich. We love the diversity of Philadelphia. It’s one of the reasons we’re committed to staying in the city. Deep down, Philadelphians are really united in their love for the city, so getting to work for the Department that represents the city is a dream job that I never realized was my dream job. I’m really excited to take on this role.”
