Take 5 with Juliana Bologna

 

As soon as finals wrap up, UW Law students travel near and far for summer employment opportunities that offer them a chance to move beyond the classroom and see the law operate in practice. Their jobs span the gamut of law firms, government offices, nonprofits and private businesses throughout the country — and abroad. They collaborate with practicing attorneys, work with clients and delve deep into real-life legal work.

Throughout the summer, we’ll check in with rising 2L and 3L students to see the impact they’re making through their work and to invite them to reflect on how these experiences shaped their personal growth.

This week, we met up with Juliana Bologna, a rising 2L.

UW Law: Where are you working this summer?

Juliana Bologna (JB): I'm at PACCAR at their corporate headquarters in Bellevue.

UW Law: Are you originally from Seattle, and if not, where?

JB: No, I'm originally from California. I grew up in Los Angeles, although I was born in Boston. But I don't really count that.

UW Law: What types of projects are you working on?

JB: I'm supporting their in-house counsel and working on a variety of projects. I'm working on a big project with our main employment lawyer on non-competes in Washington. Those are essentially getting banned next June, and so we're preemptively trying to go through all the paperwork and prevent any issues from arising.

And then I also support our main litigator with drafting memos. Legal research is a huge part of my role, as well as writing memos for our CEOs. The topics vary depending on the attorney I'm assisting and the specific project I'm working on. For example, I may be looking at jury verdict forms in South Carolina one hour but then looking into how to improve our in-house AI bot to handle the next project that we need to work on. It's just kind of whatever they need.

UW Law: How long will you be working there?

JB: The end date I have on the paperwork is mid-September, but depending on a variety of factors, I might go into the school year with it.

UW Law: Do you work as part of a team, and if so, how many people do you work with?

JB: The in-house department is pretty small considering how massive the company is. I'd say my direct team is around 20. Day to day, it’s probably closer to seven people.

UW Law: Are you the only legal intern?

JB: They have a big internship program, but I'm the only legal intern. I don't know how many interns they have — I think it's around 100. A lot of the interns are engineers, they probably make up half, and then a third are corporate in some form. And then there's other interns in my building doing HR, finance and marketing, things like that.

UW Law: If you could plan any type of event or outing for you and your coworkers, what would you do?

JB: Topgolf is nearby, and I think that would be funny to do.

UW Law: Have you had any “aha” moments about the law or legal practice during your time there?

JB: How much everything interconnects, especially with all our 1L classes. I think within my first 10 days here we touched on eight or nine of the 10 subjects from 1L year. I guess this would happen anywhere, but at a global company, civ pro is coming into play, torts, products liability, employment law is coming into play — it all comes together.

UW Law: What will be the most memorable part of this experience for you?

JB: Going to the plants. I don't think anyone else in their legal internship is doing that. And I don't think anyone else got to drive a semi — three, actually. So, I might not be going in court but learning how things are done behind the scenes is cool.

And seeing how the expert witnesses and the in-house attorneys turn complicated truck information into easy-to-understand terms — and having the patience to do that over and over again with people who don't have any knowledge in the field — has been valuable.

UW Law: What's one superlative you would give your office coworkers as a whole?

JB: Supportive, because in every aspect they have been personable, and everyone's role is valued. I had no idea what my first legal internship was going to look like, but I'm getting real projects and respect right off the bat, while also being told constantly “It's okay, we understand. You don't know everything yet.” But having that faith to say, “Okay, now you're going to redline the senior attorney's work,” is kind of crazy, which was also very intimidating at first.

UW Law: What's the most lawyer-y thing you've caught yourself saying at work so far?

JB: “What does jurisdiction look like in this? Do we have personal jurisdiction in this?” I'm typically asking questions about jurisdiction because anything that I'm researching is obviously going to be really affected by that.

Civ pro as a topic was difficult for me to learn as the first subject in law school. So, for that to be one of the most applicable subjects right now at my job is kind of hilarious.

UW Law: What’s one positive surprise you've had since beginning your summer employment?

JB: They have a lot of faith in me, but if I don't understand something, I haven't been made to feel bad about it at all. Having that support right off the bat was really reassuring.

UW Law: Has anything in your role differed from what you expected going in?

JB: I didn't expect as much responsibility as they've given me. I don't know what I was expecting but in hindsight that was probably the best thing they could have done because I was forced to make sure I could do it.

UW Law: What's one habit you picked up, good or bad, during this job?

JB: Elevator talk.

UW Law: What are some practice areas or types of law you've been exposed to that you hadn't considered before?

JB: Employment law, for sure. It’s never been my personal calling, but I think it's important for in-house attorneys to have exposure to that because it shows how the company operates from a legal standpoint. And also corporate litigation. It’s not completely off the table for me, but it's probably not what I’m going to be going into.

UW Law: Has this experience changed your career goals or clarified them?

JB: Definitely clarified that my end goal is to be in-house. I think it's really cool to be part of a smaller team of a big corporation with the same end goal in mind. And working with other departments would be really good for me personally because it keeps the mind fresh. Talking to the engineers is very different than us talking to HR. Learning how to have those types of conversations and turning legal concepts into easier-to-understand conversations, I think, definitely clarified I want to go in-house down the line.

UW Law: If your office had a talent show, what would your talent be?

JB: I don't know how entertaining it would be, but I line dance and I have for a couple years. So, I'd probably pull out my most impressive line dance or try to teach them one.

UW Law: What's one mistake students should try to avoid during their summer employment?

JB: It's not just a summer job. This is a career advancement stepping stone, and there's always opportunities and connections that you're not aware of at the time. Keeping that in mind and giving it your all is really important.

UW Law: What are you looking forward to once school starts in the fall?

JB: Taking classes that are specifically tailored to intellectual property and corporate law. I'm doing copyright, trademark and sports law, which I think will be really cool. And I'm also doing an AI law course, which I think is a newer one. And also the Tech Law Clinic, so I'm excited to see what that ends up looking like in practice. I'm also in the tech journal, so working on those.

UW Law: What's one interesting fact about you that people may not know?

JB: I learned how to ski in college. I like to joke now that, other than law school, that's the hardest thing I've ever done and learned how to do.