Korey Cowan Joins TripAdvisor

Cowan (’18) leans on the skills he developed in law school to negotiate contracts and manage the legal needs of several business units and media brands.

Korey Cowan (’18) always knew he wanted to pursue a career related to the law. He studied political science as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, and when an opportunity arose in his junior year to join a new major in law, he jumped at that as well.

Through the program, he took courses taught by professors from the University of Arizona Law School. “The workload was about a fifth of what a normal law student would deal with,” he says, “but it was a good opportunity to see what law school was all about and see if it was for me.

While looking at schools with strong corporate and intellectual property law programming, he prioritized the east coast so he could “take a break from the 110-degree weather.” He visited Boston, and “after talking to the [students and faculty], visiting the building, and having the opportunity to see what it was like to be a student at BU, I knew it was the right fit for me,” he says.

Now a legal fellow with TripAdvisor outside Boston, Cowan leans on the skills he developed in law school to negotiate contracts and manage the legal needs of TripAdvisor’s business units and other travel media brands. In the fall, he’ll take those skills to WilmerHale to work in the firm’s transactional department. BU Law spoke with him recently about his experience in law school and how he feels it prepared him for practice.

The interview below has been edited for clarity and concision.

Q: What are you working on at TripAdvisor?

A: The type of work I do here truly runs the gamut. My interests [in law school] were corporate and intellectual property law, and that is exactly what this position gives me the opportunity to do. A lot of the time I’m working on various contracts for TripAdvisor’s hotels and restaurants business units and other travel media brands, including SmarterTravel, so I’m constantly dealing with the business needs of those groups and meeting with their contacts.

Here at TripAdvisor, I have one client and that client is in my backyard. For example, I can walk across the hall and speak to whoever I’m helping with a contract. So, finding a way to communicate the legal issues and presenting the risks so they can understand them is one of the more challenging things about this job. It goes back to what I did with the [Startup Law Clinic.*] I think that experience really helped prepare me for what I’m doing now in terms of finding a way to communicate with the client and advise them effectively.

*Formerly the Entrepreneurship & IP Clinic.

Have you enjoyed the experience of working in a corporate legal department?

I was intrigued by idea of working in house. After my second year of law school I ended up working in house at Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas as an intern for the summer, which was a great experience and exposed me to the type of work that in-house lawyers do from day to day. I knew that being in that environment was where I could prosper and grow.

It was a natural transition to TripAdvisor after law school. The company offers one or two-year fellowships to recent law school graduates. It’s the equivalent of a judicial clerkship, but for attorneys who are interested in technology and transactional law. While here, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a variety of matters with several of the attorneys in TripAdvisor’s in-house legal department—I report directly to David Morris (LAW’99, COM’00) and Brad Young (’04), both of whom are BU Law graduates.

My experience has laid the groundwork for the rest of my legal career and equipped me with the skills necessary to be a successful corporate attorney.  After the fellowship ends in October, I’ll join WilmerHale and will work on corporate law matters as a part of the firm’s transactional department.

Did you graduate feeling prepared to practice?

Absolutely. BU Law offers a lot of opportunities to do transactional law, and does a great job of getting you into a position to succeed.

After finishing your first year of law school, looking at all the courses the school offers can be daunting. The transactional practice concentration allowed me to focus in on the doctrinal courses—like corporations, tax, and corporate finance—to get baseline knowledge that corporate attorneys need. In addition to that, taking business electives like contract drafting did a great job of ensuring that doing corporate law was something I wanted to do.

What stood out about your time at BU Law?

I really enjoyed my time at BU. The first year, as everybody knows, can be the tough. But in my second year I could really focus on corporate law and intellectual property. I was a part of the Journal of Science & Technology Law, and in my third year I was the editor-in-chief. That experience was really important to me, not only because I wanted to be involved in IP law, but because I wanted to take on a leadership position while I was in law school. The journal gave me a really great opportunity to do that.

In addition, I was part of the [Startup Law Clinic] and that, by far, was one of my best experiences at BU Law. I helped BU and MIT students work through their legal needs. One thing that I took away from the clinic was just how much knowledge these students have and how driven they are to meet their goals. It was always interesting to hear about their ideas and what they aspire to do. It was a great client counseling experience, because everyone had these great ideas, but they didn’t really know how to approach them from a legal perspective.

The biggest piece of advice I can give [to current students] is to definitely participate in a clinic. I think there’s no greater experience you can have in law school than working with clients directly.