Sara White (’16) Joins Morgan Stanley
The Class of 2016 alum developed the skills and network necessary to succeed in transactional law.
A Warren Buffet quote shared by a professor during an undergraduate business course at Florida State University inspired marketing major Sara White (’16) to attend law school: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”
“I immediately connected with this idea, and knew I wanted to help businesses build a strong reputation, and ultimately achieve success, through effective legal frameworks and law-abiding practices,” she says.
Now an associate at Morgan Stanley in New York City, White does just that. She drafts and negotiates legal documents with Morgan Stanley’s asset management and hedge fund clients to facilitate sales and trading relationships of fixed income products. She credits BU Law for providing her with a network of connections that has helped her not only build relationships, but a career she can be proud of.
“BU offered a welcoming community, where students from different backgrounds and experiences came together,” White says. “There was a strong sense of camaraderie among the student body, and a ‘can-do’ encouraging attitude amongst peers, which I felt was important to have during the challenging law school years.”
At BU Law, White was drawn to the legal workings of the financial industry. With an interest in math and an undergraduate background in general finance, accounting, and marketing, White spent her summers interning at the investment management firm Eaton Vance and State Street Global Advisors. Her internships helped solidify her interest in transactional law.
White says her courses at BU Law helped her gain the practical skills and knowledge she applies to her career today. Specifically, a course in contract drafting with Lecturer Thomas Harrison taught her the relationship between contractual concepts in a practical setting. “Taking this course in law school gave me the skills to interpret agreements at work, as well as the confidence to walk in to my first contract negotiation feeling prepared to achieve the best terms for the firm,” she says.
Heavily involved in BU Law’s community, White developed relationships with her peers and faculty. She served as president of the Student Government Association (SGA) as a 3L, and was active with the Black Law Students Association. She also participated in the American Legislative Practice Clinic in her second year, where she worked with Massachusetts State Representative Jeffrey Sánchez, chairperson of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.
White credits her experience in SGA with helping her hone her management, organization, and communication skills through working with multiple student groups and administrators at BU Law. She uses those skills every day at Morgan Stanley as she interacts with both internal and external stakeholders and manages an extensive list of clients with competing interests.
White works across several different business lines including the firm’s Legal, Credit, and Risk Management teams. Her responsibilities include negotiating and drafting new agreements, updating existing agreements to comply with federal regulations, and staying well versed in the financial products Morgan Stanley offers.
The biggest challenge, she says, is understanding the derivatives market and the regulations that are specific to financial instruments. She credits BU Law’s rigorous curriculum with giving her the tools to tackle unfamiliar and complex topics. “Although I am a recent graduate, my team has confidence in me and the skills I bring to the table, given my experience and training while at BU Law,” she says.
White says her success up to this point would not be possible without the connections she made in law school. While BU Law provided her with the necessary legal training, building relationships with her peers helped her to become a better version of herself.
“Building relationships with peers, upper-class students, professors and recent graduates is just as valuable as scoring a coffee meeting with the big-name partner at the law firm downtown,” she says, “and maintaining these relationships even after you’ve reached your goals is key to future success.”