The student’s perspective: What I learned in-house this summer

As the summer draws to an end, so does the placement of another summer student within our legal department. We have been very lucky to have very high-calibre law and articling students through our summer program and through the Law Practice Program.

In their role, the students have had to conduct research, worked with my team to prepare legal documents and, in one specific occasion, argued a case based on a last-minute direction by a judge. In all of these circumstances, engaging summer and articling students within our department has been a mutually beneficial experience for ourselves and the students.

The same is true for our current law student, Beverly Sarfo, who has spent two summers with us. This summer, as a result of staffing changes and her bilingual ability, Beverly was asked to take on the carriage of our small claims and Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Program files. Working with our team, she has been a critical resource for us and, in turn, she has had a tremendous developmental opportunity.

I asked Beverly what she has learned from her experience here this year and, most importantly, what advice she can provide to law students and articling students who are looking for an opportunity or starting at an in-house department like mine. Her advice/comments/perspective as a summer student are as follows:

“Finding a summer position for many students can prove to be difficult. As the first in my family to go to law school, I didn’t really have anyone to show me the ropes. Nonetheless, I am a true believer that everyone knows someone that knows someone in law and, as a student, if you are diligent enough and persistent enough you will find something. After first year, when I was looking for a job, I leveraged my relationships and found my way to Nissan, where I have spent two amazing summers working under Mr. Fernando Garcia, the legal department’s general counsel. While not a traditional law firm role that so many seek after first or second year, working in-house has provided me with an unparalleled learning experience in understanding not only the law but also the business operations of the client. This will be invaluable knowledge as I seek an articling role in private practice.

From my perspective, three things are key when working in-house as a summer student:

1.    Be observant. It is critical to pay attention to your surroundings. By doing so, you will learn a lot about the client’s business. During my two summers at Nissan, I sat in on many meetings where business decisions were being made. I learned about what executives look for when hiring external counsel; I reviewed proposals from firms and analyzed what made one firm’s proposal better than the other’s.
Outside of these meetings, I kept myself busy — when I had no assigned work, I took the opportunity to review contracts and ongoing litigation files, read up on various laws that affected the business and tried to teach myself as much as possible about Nissan’s transactional work and changes in the industry.

2.    Be prepared. Since I had been observant and learned as much as I could during my first summer, when our arbitration/small claims specialist received a promotion during my second summer, my boss trusted me to take carriage of her many ongoing small claims and arbitration files.

Remember, in-house legal departments are often small and their employees are extremely busy. As much as everyone would like to help and hold your hand, sometimes there is simply no time, but the better prepared and self-directed you are, the more you are able to help, learn and, when necessary, be able to jump in and make a positive impact on the business.

3.    Leverage your connections. What you do outside of the office is also very important in helping advance your career. Aside from working with Mr. Garcia, I also had the pleasure of working with Scott Mitchell (assistant general counsel). During the summer, I took every opportunity to follow them wherever they went in and outside of the office. I was able to sit in on mediation and arbitration hearings regarding everything from franchisee to HR matters. I even followed them to social events, met counsel from different corporations and expanded my network.

Engaging a summer student can be very beneficial for both the student and employer. Obtaining a summer/articling position with an in-house employer is not easy, and as Beverly notes, it often requires networking, creating opportunities and, sometimes, a bit of luck.

But the key is even if at first all you find are closed doors, keep pushing and do all you can to open those doors. Once you get your foot in, learn as much as you can, in and out of the workplace, attend social/networking events and get to know your company, the players within it and the industry. Make the most out of the opportunity as you never know what opportunities will arise from the experience.