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English major Rachel Abramovitz ’10 (New York, N.Y.) spent a month this summer as a legal intern with Scott Spitzer ’73, senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Bowne & Co. Inc., the world’s largest financial printer and major financial communications provider and the oldest company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
This past January, I participated in an externship with Scott Spitzer at Bowne & Co. and had such a rewarding experience that soon after, I asked if it would be possible to work as an intern in Bowne’s legal department over the summer. I had learned so much in my short externship that I knew a month there would be invaluable. To my delight, Scott made my hope of an internship at Bowne a reality and the month I spent there greatly surpassed my expectations. Every day that I arrived at Bowne’s Water Street location, I knew I would be introduced to something new and exciting.
I was included in Scott’s meetings and conference calls with topics ranging from employment law and labor relations to real estate and technology licensing. I think it’s safe to say there could not have been a better way to learn about what a corporate lawyer does on a daily basis.
More often than not I had questions about the meetings and calls I sat in on, and Scott would sit down and explain the situation, as well as its relevance to what he does at Bowne. Knowing my plans to go to law school, Scott went as far as to bring in a first-year law school exam to show me what to expect. I also got to know the two female lawyers in Bowne’s legal department, which not only lent me another glimpse into corporate law, but also gave me a female perspective.
During my internship, not only was I taught about legal matters, I was also shown the importance of relationships between the people you work with and being passionate about your career, which Scott surely is. Every time I have looked back on what I learned this summer, I am amazed by the amount that was covered in a short month, and am so grateful for that experience.