As Simone Aldredge (2L) was looking forward to summer externship opportunities, she knew that she wanted to gain in-house experience, be exposed to multiple areas of law practice, and learn more about the tech industry.
This summer, Aldredge is externing in the legal department at Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose, CA. She is currently working on a contract negotiation project between Cisco, its partners, and their customers.
Within the legal department, Aldredge has had the opportunity to learn about multiple areas of law practice. Through opportunities to sit in on high-stakes meetings, attend court hearings, and assist attorneys with their projects, she has gained greater insight into patent and trademark infringement, patent litigation, and contract negotiation.
“My transactional drafting, securities regulation, and business organizations classes at BYU Law have been most beneficial to me so far in my externship,” Aldredge said. “Going into the externship, I felt comfortable drafting and analyzing contracts and I had a good understanding of corporate business structure.”
Aldredge has had many opportunities to apply the skills she has been learning at BYU Law. On one occasion, she and another intern were able to make valuable contributions to a data spreadsheet for the in-house contract negotiation team. The team lead was particularly impressed by the initiative taken by both interns and commended them for their assured decision making amidst initial reluctance to the changes from the team.
“He commended us for being bold in deciding to create something better than what existed instead of simply accepting what we were told. We were really excited to hear his response!” Aldredge said.
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