What is your job/position?
I am an associate attorney in the corporate transactional group of the Salt Lake City office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. My practice at K&E focuses on mergers & acquisitions, private equity investment and other complex business transactions. In other words, I advise investment managers in their acquisition of, governance over, and eventual exit from private company portfolio investments.
Describe the path that took you from your American Studies degree to your current career or life situation.
I graduated from BYU in 2016 and began law school at the University of Chicago Law School in the fall of 2016. During the summer after my first year of law school, I worked as an intern for Justice Thomas Lee in the chambers of the Utah Supreme Court. Though I enjoyed my summer experience at the court, I determined that I wanted to pursue a transactional/corporate law practice rather than becoming a litigator. During the summer of my second year in law school, I worked as a summer associate in K&E's Chicago office in the corporate group. After graduating law school in spring 2019 and passing the Illinois bar in the summer of 2019, I started as an associate attorney at K&E Chicago in the fall of 2019. In fall 2021, I transferred to the SLC office of K&E.
What are the specific competencies you cultivated as an American Studies student that you now use in your professional life and that set you apart from your colleagues?
One emphasis of my American Studies major that resonates in my professional day-to-day is interdisciplinary fluency. As an American Studies major, I had the opportunity to take courses in various departments (e.g. history, English, political science, econ, church history, etc.). Each lens approached the subject matter in different ways and emphasized different skill sets and approaches to problem solving and writing. This prepared me well for my current role as a corporate attorney focused on mergers and acquisitions where we act as the quarterback for a deal process in which a variety of attorneys and other advisors with different subject matter expertise participate. I often act as a liaison between our client and other experts, and need to translate the analysis provided by a labor lawyer or tax lawyer into a format digestible for a layperson. Though I am not an expert on certain technical areas of law, I need to know enough to spot issues and ask the right questions. I really enjoyed wearing different hats in the academic context of my American Studies major, and recognizing that helped me pick the practice area I did and also left me better equipped to play a similar interdisciplinary role in my professional context.
Other important competencies that I cultivated as an American Studies major include close reading and written communication skills. Though as a corporate/transactional lawyer I do not spend any time doing legal research or brief writing, contract drafting and analysis is a huge part of my job, and I credit my American Studies major for establishing a foundation on which I could build those abilities. Though reading, interpreting, and drafting provisions in a stock purchase agreement is a very different task than writing an essay on a cultural text, they both require some of the same skills—focused/detail oriented reading comprehension and clear, thoughtful drafting. Writing skills are also very important for corporate lawyers in other contexts, including formal and informal communications with clients and others.
What are some of the surprising ways in which your American Studies degree has helped you in your professional or personal life?
My first job interview with Kirkland & Ellis was with a corporate law partner who also did American Studies in undergrad. He liked that I could explain how my degree was relevant to the job and he ended up becoming instrumental in me securing the job offer!
What do you wish you had known as an American Studies student? What advice would you share with current students?
My advice is to be deliberate about using your undergrad experience to prepare for grad school and career opportunities, but try not to obsess over or get distracted by that. Your time as an American Studies student is a unique time in your life to pursue your academic passions and engross yourself in the history and culture you are studying. Though not every course will necessarily provide a direct, discernible skill you'll use on a daily basis professionally, that's OK. Your American Studies education is a chance to learn to think critically and carefully about the world around you, which will help you become a well-rounded individual that can find success in whatever career/life path you choose.