First Year Student Summer Spotlight: Paul Boudreaux

This summer I am working for Kansas Medical Mutual Insurance Company or KaMMCO for short. KaMMCO is the largest medical underwriter in the state of Kansas. I currently work for KaMMCO's business and transactional lawyer. She is also the Senior Vice President and in charge of the risk management for the company. Getting real life work experience is a great opportunity. I spent my first couple weeks drafting company policies as well as researching how to comply with Federal Regulations. In the future, I will have an opportunity to go to depositions, work with the Kansas Medical Lobbyist, and help on presentations surrounding Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH).

I've also been taking summer courses in Business Associations and Secured Transactions. Business Associations was a great class because I was able to directly apply things I was learning in class to my internship. Two days after completing the final I actually sat in on my first shareholders meeting. Business Association focuses specifically on where an individual, partnership, or corporation's liability originates. The principles learned in Business Association, as well as my undergraduate training, have made this internship experience very fulfilling so far. In conjunction with drafting policies, I've also had the opportunity to attend enterprise risk management meetings and prepare legal memorandum for outside entities. It's great to finally be working in a corporate setting, especially for a company that has such a wonderful organizational structure and supportive atmosphere. As an individual who is not completely sure that I want to do the traditional method when it comes to my legal career it is great to have an opportunity to see what kind of jobs there are outside of the firm setting.

My first year training was integral for me to get this internship and has provided me with plenty of confidence in my abilities to perform my job with absolute success. I have a very flexible schedule and I essentially make my own hours. This is a great type of setting to build around classes as now I try to make the push to graduate in two and a half years. Depending on my summer internship next summer, I will be making plans to try to graduate in the fall of 2014. I hope to do this so I can take the bar in February of 2015 and move into the job market several months early. Even if this doesn’t work out, I will, at the very least, have a lighter load my third year and possibly be able to gain more work experience. I look forward to the next couple of years as I get practical job experience in the healthcare industry and continue my wonderful education at Washburn University School of Law. I'm looking forward to the wonderful opportunities that I know lie ahead. For now I'm just trying to wrap my mind around the fact that “proceeds of proceeds are proceeds.” Sorry, a little Secured Transactions Humor.