Take 5 with Noor Sandhu
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 Noor Sandhu, a rising 2L.
UW Law: Where are you working this summer?
Noor Sandhu: I’m doing a split between Seyfarth Shaw in Seattle and Costco Corporate Headquarters in Issaquah.
UW Law: Are you originally from Seattle, and if not, where?
NS: I was born and raised between Auburn and Kent, and I recently moved over to Kirkland about four or five years ago. I stayed in Seattle for my first year of law school, but I'll be commuting for the next two years.
UW Law: What type of projects have you been working on this summer?
NS: When I was at Seyfarth Shaw for the first five weeks, I was working mainly on Costco matters in their labor and employment group because Seyfarth Shaw is Costco's main outside counsel for employment matters. I was doing a lot of organizing and research for cases, including a class action. I got to prepare for depositions on the employment side and an arbitration matter on the labor side. I also got to sit in meetings regarding OSHA matters.
Now, at Costco, I've done a little bit of everything. I've done a few memos and worked with their real estate, corporate, litigation and employment attorneys. I’ve gotten the chance to sit in on internal business meetings with other departments and witness various aspects of the company, the coolest in my opinion being meetings for Kirkland Signature products. I also have sat in on mediations and settlement conferences. We also have been on a few field trips, which have been so fun. We visited a depot in Sumner, a warehouse in Redmond, the optical lab in Auburn and the QA food lab in Issaquah.
UW Law: How long will you be working at both places combined?
NS: It will be a total of 10 weeks.
UW Law: Are there any other legal interns you're working with, or are you the only one?
NS: When I was at Seyfarth, I was the only 1L intern, and that was through the LEAD-WA program, which Seyfarth and Costco jointly participate in every year. At Costco, they’re sponsoring the Gregoire Fellows Program this year, so there's two of us.
UW Law: What type of networking opportunities have you had this summer?
NS: At Seyfarth, they do a lot of happy hours and things like that, so you get to talk to a lot of people. I also was getting coffees and lunches with attorneys and the 2L summers as well. We did a LEAD-WA happy hour where most of the companies that participate in the program came and mingled. It was fun because Seyfarth got to host it. And then at Costco, I’ve been getting lunches and coffees essentially every day. The Costco legal team also hosts an annual summer picnic which I got to attend, which was great.
UW Law: If you could plan any type of event or outing for you and your coworkers, what would you do?
NS: I played basketball for nine years for an AAU team growing up, so I would love to host some sort of basketball event. I think that'd be super fun. If it wasn't a sport, it would probably be a karaoke outing or something like that.
UW Law: Have you had any “aha” moments about the law or legal practice during your time working there?
NS: I feel like this may be common knowledge, but as someone working with a bigger company this summer, I was surprised as to how in-house counsel delegates legal work nationally and how widespread it is. For example, most of Costco's in-house team is in Issaquah, but they work with Seyfarth offices for employment matters from not only Seattle, but also Chicago, California and other offices beyond that.
UW Law: What would you say has been the steepest learning curve you've had so far?
NS: When you get an assignment and it's something you've never worked on before, establishing a deadline can be a little difficult. There were a few projects that were expected to take a certain number of days, but when working each one through, some took longer and others shorter. It was definitely something that I had to get used to.
UW Law: What do you think will be your most memorable part of this experience for you?
NS: I would say the people for sure. I don't come from a family of lawyers or attorneys — I never had those connections growing up. So, it's cool to get the opportunity to make so many connections and form bonds with a lot of attorneys. It’s not just a one-time passing through sort of situation here. It's really getting to know people and staying in touch with them in the future.
UW Law: What's one superlative you would give your office coworkers as a whole?
NS: I would say accomplished. There are so many people who have pivoted so much in their lives and when they're talking about their legal careers, they have worked at great companies, with amazing clients, and on huge deals which are all very impressive, but most importantly they are very humble about these things.
UW Law: What's one positive surprise you've had since beginning your summer employment?
NS: I have a business of my own, and so I’ve always loved the entrepreneurial side of things and working with businesses. And I had never thought of labor and employment work before. But getting to do it, I was drawn to the employment side because you're representing a company, and you get to see the ins and outs of it. So, labor and employment, but specifically employment, is on my radar now.
UW Law: Has anything in your role differed from what you expected going in?
NS: I didn't go in with certain expectations. Throughout my whole law school experience I like to think of myself as a sponge taking in whatever knowledge and experience comes around me, and I have stayed true to that this summer as well.
UW Law: What's one habit you've picked up, good or bad, during this job?
NS: I would say asking questions and making sure I'm keeping my communication open with the attorneys I'm doing work for. That's something I always try to do, but with this internship I realized that I am not going to understand everything the first time and I may even be confused at times. And that's very natural and very normal. So, I got used to asking questions and knowing that it's not the end of the world.
UW Law: Has this experience changed your career goals or clarified them at all?
NS: I think it clarified the fact that it's okay to try practice areas you never thought about initially and to not know exactly what you want to do right away. I feel like there's a lot of pressure in law school — especially with summer jobs — to be fully committed to one area of law. But hearing from attorneys over and over again that it's okay not to know what you want to do so early in your career — and hearing how they moved around but ultimately found great positions and their niches — has been reassuring. For example, I knew one attorney that was a litigator for ten years and switched to corporate transactional work and has done that since.
UW Law: If your office had a talent show, what would your talent be?
NS: Before I got into basketball, I did a lot of singing and acting, so I would probably sing something. My go-to karaoke song is “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus. I’ll go with that, or anything by Adele.
UW Law: What's one mistake students should try to avoid during summer employment?
NS: Students should try to avoid getting too much in their heads about making mistakes. Don’t get me wrong, yes, work hard and show up to your best potential, but I think the overthinking puts so much pressure on them that’s not really needed. I can only speak about my own experience, but attorneys are very understanding. And sometimes you have to go out of your bubble and invite an attorney to coffee or lunch, which can become such an educational experience for you. So, I would say, don't get in your head too much if you make a small mistake and don't be afraid to talk to people and branch out because you never know where it'll lead you.
UW Law: What's been the most rewarding aspect of your summer experience?
NS: Being able to work on such interesting projects for such great companies. It's making “little me” proud, but also my parents who immigrated from Punjab. And especially going into spaces where there aren’t a lot of Punjabi women — let alone attorneys in. It feels like I'm representing so many people, and that's really rewarding for me.
UW Law: Do you have any other plans for summer outside of your employment?
NS: I'm going to try to travel before school starts. I go to Canada a lot, so I plan to visit Vancouver with my friends. I also have a Hawaii trip planned, which will be my first time visiting. And my birthday's coming up at the end of August, so I'm hoping to do something fun for that.
UW Law: What's one interesting fact about you that people may not know?
NS: I absolutely love cooking. I grew up watching MasterChef and all those cooking shows. I would call it a hidden talent where I can get a bunch of ingredients put in front of me, and I can make something really cool and delicious out of it.