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Bryant University
Suffolk Law School
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Matt is a JD candidate at Suffolk Law School graduating in May of 2023 and is pursuing a career in Soft IP. He hopes to counsel clients in trademark law and dive headfirst into contemporary legal challenges such as digital copyright. Previously, he has worked in a startup, corporate digital marketing, higher education advancement, and Suffolk Law School's IP Clinic. In his free time, Matt plays bass guitar, listens to music, and enjoys fantasy genre TV and games.
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Matt is a JD candidate at Suffolk Law School graduating in May of 2023 and is pursuing a career in Soft IP. He hopes to counsel clients in trademark law and dive headfirst into contemporary legal challenges such as digital copyright. Previously, he has worked in a startup, corporate digital marketing, higher education advancement, and Suffolk Law School's IP Clinic. In his free time, Matt plays bass guitar, listens to music, and enjoys fantasy genre TV and games.
I appreciate that I had the opportunity to dive into substantive issues in my first week. The work so far has helped develop skills in research and writing for diverse audiences. The issues I have touched so far are ones that I find personally interesting and that has made the week feel especially fulfilling. Megan and Allie ended the week with a spectacular display of talent in acting out a mock intake meeting--quite the diverse skillset on this team!
Megan asked me to write a memo about a specific area of copyright that I did not have much exposure to in the past. The research and writing process was a good exercise in managing time while researching and writing in a clear and efficient manner.
Megan asked me to research and draft a blog post for the firm's website. Fortunately, the topic was one that I had a lot of familiarity with so I could focus on honing my writing. After a round of feedback, I adjusted my tone and word choice for a non-lawyer audience. Explaining the law to people who are not lawyers is certainly a skill worth practicing.
If you receive a project and you are unsure where to start, do your best then see where you end up. In my experience, getting feedback is most helpful when you can show someone what you have already done. That way, the help you receive is more specific.
This week brought less diverse tasks and more of a deep dive on two issues for the same client. I got the chance to stretch some creative problem-solving muscles which I enjoyed and the client's social mission made me feel even more satisfied with my ability to contribute to their success.
Sometimes problems don't have great solutions, but you still need to seek the best outcome for the client. My first task this week gave me a chance to make the best of a tough situation and by the end of the assignment I was pleasantly surprised with what I came up with.
One skill I have little experience with is drafting agreements. When asked to draft an agreement this week, I thought I might find it really challenging. I did produce something that felt like decent work, but it can be hard to evaluate yourself when you don't have the experience to know what "great work" looks like.
This week I was reminded of the importance of open-mindedness. As a current law student, I feel that a lot of my thinking ends up being framed as "problems & solutions." I found it helpful where I was less certain in my work this week to take things one step at a time, focus on what I did know, and be holistic in my thinking.
I am starting to feel settled in with the new (digital) environment and am seeing more of what the typical day at a private law firm looks like. I find it exciting that the work is similar to what I expected and I am enjoying my tasks. It is a rewarding feeling when I am able to connect my interests, studies, and work.
I had the opportunity to help with drafting an operating agreement for a California LLC. I had worked with hypothetical operating agreements in the past but this was my first time working with real client information and considering the needs of an individual in my drafting. In the end, the final product that the client saw was quite a bit different than the draft I sent to the supervising attorney, but that just meant I had a lot of learning opportunities!
I once heard a practitioner say "attorneys never write contracts from scratch." While I am sure there is probably some hyperbole to this, it was certainly more helpful to internet search for examples and templates when completing this project than it would have been to reinvent the wheel. I would suggest that other first-time agreement writers focus their energy on improving on and adapting others' work for their particular circumstance.
This week definitely forced me to stretch time management muscles balancing midterm exams and my duties at L&M. It was a situation that demonstrated the value of flexible remote work because I was able to complete my study tasks and work tasks in a schedule that made sense for me. Ultimately, I was able to complete both and this type of multi-tasking was probably in itself a valuable skill to practice in a legal internship.
I conducted case research for the pending pair of Supreme Court cases Twitter v. Taamneh and Gonzalez v. Google. It was interesting to me to compare what might be substantively helpful in a brief for a law firm versus the type of brief I would write for myself in law school. There was a greater focus on questions related to client impact and thinking about how it would inform client strategy. When I met with Megan and Noah to debrief, I learned more about the best ways to communicate my research and took away skills that will make me more competent the next time I have a research task.
When researching for another person, organize information in the first place in a way that is conducive to sharing what you have learned. When debriefing from my assignment this week, I struggled to wade through the information I had recorded, which makes me think any audience would have had the same challenge. Next time, I would write a summary of my work in simple language, for no other reason than to explain the issues back to myself. If I understood the issues in simpler terms, I could communicate them more easily.
I am feeling more comfortable with my ability to field tasks that are outside the areas of law I am already familiar with. I have not had much exposure prior to my clerkship experience to the issues that most directly affect small business clients, such as financing, and I was able to sample some work in that area this week.
I was asked to learn about SAFE agreements and prepare a client-facing document that could be used as a resource for them in their negotiations with potential investors. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to recall my lessons from the Venture Capital class I took in my undergraduate schooling when researching the terms used in the agreement. In some ways, I felt that my lack of deep knowledge on the subject was a boon to my ability to explain the agreement in simpler terms. Truthfully, I imagined explaining the agreement to myself.
Trust in your ability to comprehend new ideas. I have had minimal practice experience, however, when I compare my legal work to other professional work I have done, there has been significantly less overlap in skills and information required to complete projects. This leads me to expect that being able to learn new ideas and skills often will be key to success in this industry.