Internships at AEI: Joan Soo

1. Tell us something people don’t often know about you.

I am fluent in both the Japanese and Korean languages and have lived, studied, and worked in Japan and Korea for several years.

2. What did you learn from the internship – best takeaway?

The best takeaway I obtained from the internship came from observing the team’s management of clients and the clients’ queries and legal needs during meetings. These opportunities to sit in for client meetings and hear more from the lawyers about their processes and preferences in managing files gave me valuable insights into how I would like to develop my own legal practice skills and client management skills.

3. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge I faced during the internship came from having to learn how to quickly navigate an area of law which I was initially unfamiliar with, but which I found highly interesting. The legal work handled by the firm dealt with many aspects of corporate and commercial law, and required me to have an understanding of the needs and activities of clients across various industries.

While my internship gave me a taste of how challenging the work can be, I believe that over the course of the internship I overcame the challenge of the initial unfamiliarity through diving into the various pieces of work that the firm allowed me to try my hand at.

4. What advice would you give future interns?

My advice to future interns would be to:

1. Expect to get significant hands-on experience. AEI is a firm that gives you real opportunities to do real work; and

2. Come with an open mind. You’re going to learn, not just about the law, but also about what it means to be a good lawyer.

5. Did you enjoy your time?

I certainly did enjoy my time here. It was personally enriching to be able to learn from a team that is committed to the work they do, has strong experience in their field of practice, and that cares deeply about delivering to clients legal work that meets rigorous standards. What is clear to me after my internship is that the team has shown me a high set of standards of legal practice that I would like to emulate and demand for myself from my future legal career as well.

I think that interns looking for an opportunity to find out more about corporate practice would also similarly enjoy an internship with this team.