Summer Experience: Fareed Ahmed ’28L This summer, Fareed Ahmed worked for Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. alongside the U.S. general counsel.

Fareed Ahmed ’28L

Fareed Ahmed ’28L is a second-year law student originally from Los Angeles, California. He is an ever-present member of the W&L community and can almost always be found in the law library or the Brief Stop. This past summer, he had the opportunity to work for Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. alongside their U.S. general counsel. After law school, he plans on continuing his legal career in Los Angeles with a specialization in corporate transactional law.

What did you do for work this summer?

I had the opportunity to work in a transactional scope with general counsel of Aston Marton Lagonda Ltd. on their U.S. operations.

How did you find this position?

Similarly to my peers, I initially prioritized applying exclusively to firms earlier in the application process. However, as I looked at more summer opportunities, I noticed many openings from different automotive companies seeking law students interested in corporate work. My mother has worked in the automotive industry my entire life, and that familiarity with the industry and my interests in learning more about it from a new corporate legal perspective rather than the purely commercial view compelled me to apply to the positions for some of these automotive companies, including Aston Martin.

Describe your work experience.

My work with the company was surprisingly varied and, to my excitement, much wider-spanning than I had initially expected. I treaded familiar ground with memos analyzing consumer warranty claims, but some of my other, more novel tasks included drafting commercial loan/use agreements covering third-party possession of assets, negotiating commercial facility use-license agreements, and research for a records-retention compliance project. I was able to cover so much of what transactional legal work encompasses this past summer, and I am grateful to Aston Martin for providing me the opportunity to practice in and learn about so many different areas of the corporate legal world.

I would say what surprised me most about the experience was just how applicable the techniques that I learned in Legal Writing were to the work that I was doing (thank you, Professor Weiss!). This particularly applied to the memos I produced for the company, which felt so similar in instruction and the research process to the Legal Writing coursework that I could have mistaken them for graded class assignments rather than substantive documents in the corporate legal world. From narrowing down relevant sources with Westlaw and Boolean searches to meticulously referencing the Bluebook for perfect citations, all the skills that Legal Writing taught me to hone found their way into my work and I give credit to the course for ensuring that my product was refined and well-substantiated.

What were some skills you developed this summer?

My work with Aston marked the first time that I’ve had the opportunity to really work on drafting agreements between two parties. Save for an exercise in Professor Parella’s Contracts class where we contributed ideas for which elements comprise an ideal agreement between two parties, I hadn’t had the opportunity to further explore that kind of work until this past summer. My supervising attorney assisted me with further developing my writing and language for how an advantageous agreement should be constructed, and she was a fantastic resource for describing the many kinds of provisions, clauses, and disclaimers that should be present in such agreements to ensure security. Fast-forward to four months later, I feel much more confident in my ability to draft those kinds of agreements and negotiate terms up or down to a more advantageous position for the party I’m representing, and I have my experience with Aston Martin to thank for that.

What was your favorite aspect of this summer work experience?

I was very pleased with how hands-on and practical my work with the company was. My supervising attorney was extremely informative and never hesitated to help with providing information about Aston Martin to give me the clearest, most complete picture of each project I was assigned. Every project I worked on, every document I drafted or redlined, all of it pertained to real legal questions that Aston Martin had about its operations throughout the states and was viewed by the company’s legal team for consideration about their next moves. It was an incredible feeling to know that my work product was such an important factor in determining the company’s course of action, and it gave me a real taste of the fulfillment I want to continue to feel by providing services to clients in my career.

Has this experience helped you figure out post graduate plans, and if so, how?

Entering W&L, I was most interested in legal work of a corporate nature due to my business education and experience in undergrad. However, I was aware that, until I had the opportunity to really get a taste for what being a transactional lawyer is like, I couldn’t be completely certain about whether it would live up to my expectations and so my mind was open to different fields of specialization. My summer with Aston Martin did not just satisfy those expectations; it completely exceeded them. Every document I created, whether a loan/use agreement or a facility-use license agreement or even a simple litigation brief, was some of the most engaging work I’ve completed, and not once did it ever feel tedious or underwhelming. The enjoyment I felt from producing real work that was being used for active legal consideration by such a prominent company was extremely rewarding, and I credit my time with Aston Martin for cementing my desire to dedicate my career to working in the world of corporate law.

How do you think this experience will shape the rest of your time at W&L Law?

In the short time since my summer with Aston Martin has come to an end, the experience has already shaped how I organized my schedule. I’ve currently tailored my classes to have a heavy focus towards corporate organizational structures and the methods by which transactions are governed, and I intend continue to enroll in similar classes throughout the remainder of my time at the law school.