My name is Christine Hye Won Park, a rising undergraduate junior at Babson College, currently pursuing a dual concentration in Computational and Mathematical Finance and Legal Studies. As a business student from a school that exclusively focuses on business and entrepreneurship, I decided to take a rather different route and explore the legal field before my junior year. Looking back at my eight weeks as a Legal Assistant at Kim & Bae P.C., I certainly do not regret my decision.
Although I mostly assisted with corporate and securities cases, I was exposed to a significantly wide range of legal work throughout my eight weeks at Kim & Bae. The scope of my work included: (1) shepardizing cases, (2) researching case laws, regulations, statutes and court rules, (3) assisting with drafts, (4) communicating with clients, attorneys, county clerks, and real estate brokerages, (5) translating legal documents and translating in face-to-face client meetings, (6) tracing and validating cash flow for a collection case, (7) reviewing/proofreading legal documents, etc. I also shadowed and assisted the attorneys in real estate closings and consultation meetings. Outside of the office, I accompanied Jimmy to court, to a bankruptcy meeting, and to a proffer meeting, where I witnessed legal proceedings unfold before my eyes. This was all possible because of Kim & Bae’s culture that encourages its interns to tag along in scheduled meetings and court appearances to further expand their learning, while everyone in the firm was more than willing to help me gain the most out of my internship.
As a bilingual intern, I often translated legal documents, business proposals, emails, etc. from Korean to English and vice versa. From this experience, I was able to learn not only about the cases but also about different industries. For example, from translating numerous discovery emails between the parties, I was exposed to the business culture and norm in Korea. From translating various kinds of contracts, such as agreements for FX Options, Software and Hardware Development and Services, etc., I learned more about legal and business terms used in Korea, investment management products and procedures, and merchant service development. It was particularly exciting to apply my contract language, legal research, real estate, and finance knowledge acquired at school to assist in ongoing cases.
Aside from describing what I did during the internship, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to the staff and attorneys at Kim & Bae. Not only did they extensively help me learn and explore the legal field, but they also offered me guidance as mentors outside of the office. They always offered to spend time together, whether it was by inviting me to grab lunch, dinner, or to friendly gatherings, which always resulted in interesting conversations and advices. Their advices usually led to cool and unforeseen experiences, like when Izabel and I took Mr. Shim’s suggestion during a casual dinner after work, and ultimately got sworn in as New Jersey Notary Publics at the County Clerk Office.
The past eight weeks flew by in a blink of an eye, and I was able to learn and explore so much in such a short period of time. Once again, I would like to thank everyone in Kim & Bae for such an eye opening and unforgettable experience, and for the warm welcome throughout my internship. I will undoubtedly miss working with a group of witty and motivated individuals in such a lively atmosphere.
