From clerkships to clinical assistantships to working as summer associates at firms, summer legal work helps students gain practical skills and experiences that benefit them during law school and beyond. This is the sixth profile in our 2014 series featuring the summer job experiences of UW Law students.
David Stead ’16
Legal Intern
Trupanion, Inc.,
Seattle, Washington
Describe your summer work experience.
I worked as a legal intern for Trupanion, a Seattle-based pet insurance company. The job involved many different aspects of law but mainly involved the corporate practice – contracts, business formation, and other executive board functions.
I initially focused my summer job search on firms in the Pacific Northwest. But after my interview with Trupanion’s general counsel and learning about the positive influence the company has with pet owners around the United States, I decided Trupanion was exactly where I wanted to work. It was nice to have dogs around the office during work hours, too.
What is the most interesting thing you worked on this summer?
One highlight was seeing everything that went on behind the scenes to take a company public on the New York Stock Exchange. On my first day of work, I reviewed our S-1 [a form used by companies planning on going public] and spoke with executive board members about taking Trupanion public. I spent most subsequent days either on the phone with outside counsel or working directly with general counsel to finalize the paperwork for our stock market launch in July.
I was also on board to help form a new nonprofit corporation, organized with Trupanion and an outside group, to better the veterinary practice. From this experience I learned how to form a corporation in Delaware while meeting the tax exempt requirements of a 501(c)(6) corporation, how to collaborate with several different parties from across the country to create bylaws, and also how to work with teams inside of Trupanion to finalize the project.
How do you think this work experience will shape the rest of your time at UW Law School?
This experience put a lot of classroom knowledge into context. For instance, when forming a new corporation, I applied knowledge from my business organizations class and my contracts course. Putting classroom knowledge to practical use will surely help me succeed in my future studies at UW, too.
What classes were particularly useful in preparing you for the work you did this summer?
Contracts and Business Organizations were the most helpful for me. Anyone interested in working for an insurance firm would find these classes extremely beneficial.
Submitted by Law School News on September 26, 2014
This article appears in the categories: Summer Job Series
