I spent this week shadowing in legal at World Wide Technology. I met with different people within the department–compliance officers, paralegals, and attorneys, mostly. I really enjoyed talking with each person and learning about what they do. I was also quite fascinated with how they got to their position. It really made me realize that there really is no single path. There was one attorney who went to college at 29 and finished law school at 40. Another joined the Department of Defense to escape the Vietnam draft and worked in intelligence for years before deciding to get a joint MBA and law degree to get a unique perspective on the field.
I was also struck by the kindness of everyone there. I was so welcomed, even though none of them had known me before. Everyone was so down-to-earth and generous with their time and advice. I appreciated that so much, and it really set a great example to me for how to treat younger, inexperienced people than I.
I can’t believe that my project is over. Seven weeks of this project whizzed by in a way that classes or summer never have, and it’s actually scared me a little bit that the rest of my life will go by this quickly. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this, and I’m pretty excited about my presentation as well.
Thanks for reading seven weeks (or in the teachers’ cases, four years) worth of my rambling. I promise I’m done.