Hi everyone!
After posting about completing the Latham & Watkins virtual internship with InsideSherpa, I got a lot of LinkedIn messages asking for more information about what the internship entails, how it’s conducted and what I learned from it. So, the rest of this blog is dedicated to answering those questions.
It should be noted that I have no official affiliation with Latham & Watkins or InsideSherpa. These are completely free resources that anyone can access and complete! I’m just blogging about my experience on the virtual internship and I hope you find it useful!
The structure of the internship
This internship is made up of 4 modules –
- Kicking off the transaction
- Reviewing the customer agreement
- Offering advice to shareholders
- Negotiating the transaction
Here’s a summary of each module (I’ll be keeping it fairly brief and generic so as not to spoil it for you!):
1 – Kicking off the transaction
The first module in this internship is about starting the transaction. This involved looking at the background information of the two companies in question and analysing the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). You are then asked to create an issues list of the initial NDA position, the position after the edits and then whether the changes should be accepted or rejected.
2 – Reviewing the customer agreement
This part of the module involves looking into the due diligence process and focuses on the “no conflicts” representation. You are then asked to analyse excerpts, determine whether any of them should be disclosed and then write an email summarising your findings.
3 – Offering shareholder advice
Under this module, you are asked to review a section of the Delaware General Corporation Law to determine whether there will be an issue with another party being involved in the transaction. You are to construct an email with your findings.
4 – Negotiating the transaction
This is the final module of the internship and it involves analysing a particular clause (an “earn-out”) to go into the final agreement. You are then to prepare a one-slide PowerPoint presentation summarising the main points of the clause.
How the internship is conducted
Each of the 4 stages comes with a video presentation explaining the task and then there are some additional documents for you to download and read. After completing the task (filling out the table, writing an email or creating a presentation), you upload your file on the platform.
After uploading your work, you will be able to see the model answer to compare against your own. You can edit your own work as many times as you like! It was really interesting to see which parts of the task I could have improved on or which bits I was successful in completing!
My takeaway from this internship
This internship was clear and insightful, but definitely challenging. However, the internship organisers recognise that some of the tasks that are being asked are completely new to us, so they really do take the time to explain how each particular part of the transaction works. This internship was interesting and will certainty give you a good overview of what happens in such transactions!
You also don’t need to complete the internship in one day and in one sitting like I did – you can complete the internship at your own pace, according to your own schedule! You also do not need to have any particular M&A knowledge going into this internship as the tasks are clearly detailed.
So, I hope his blog has been useful in giving you a summary of the internship and has encouraged you to have a look at what’s available on InsideSherpa! Good luck!
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