With an interest in accounting and finances, Jessica Volmar (1L) was pleased to find an externship opportunity with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Frankfurt, Germany, one of Europe’s major financial centers.
Volmar externed with the Church’s Office of the General Counsel, which oversees all of Europe’s Church-related legal matters. The Office’s staff is comprised of the Area Legal Counsel, other staff members, and three sets of full-time senior missionary couples.
While navigating unfamiliar areas of law, Volmar was grateful for her ability to ask good questions, a skill gained during her first year at BYU Law.
She explained that “the Office’s openness to my questions led to very interesting conversations that helped me better understand the inner workings of the Office and the issues that it addresses.”
Volmar’s responsibilities and tasks varied throughout her externship. She had many opportunities to gain practical exposure to copyright law, an area of law that she hadn’t previously encountered.
She also had the chance to work on a large employment law project requiring office-wide involvement. At one point, it was determined that it would be most beneficial to coordinate with the human resources department. Volmar was asked to meet with one of the HR supervisors, which was not only important to the success of the project at hand, but provided her with additional insight into how departments can effectively work together to achieve a common goal.
Volmar expressed how interesting it was “to see firsthand the ways that the two departments’ perspectives on the topic differed and how they were similar, especially when they have a shared common goal.”
Volmar enjoyed the unique opportunity to participate in representing the legal interests of the Church and looks forward to applying what she learned in her studies going forward.
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