What did you do this summer? 

Third-year Stetson Law student Brandon Williams, pictured center, is spending his summer as an associate at a law firm in Madrid, Spain. The 26-year-old turned a Stetson study abroad experience into a springboard for a summer associate position at the Avego Abogados law firm in Madrid, Spain.

While working in a different country can pose cultural and language barriers, Williams said that the law firm made him feel welcome. He described the connections he made while working in Madrid as the greatest reward of the experience.

“When I arrived, I was welcomed into the law firm as a long lost family member,” Williams said. “Everyone here was so helpful and generous and did everything to make sure my stay in Madrid was perfect.”

A J.D. student in Stetson’s international concentration program, Williams is helping to draft contracts, assist with litigations, and translate and brief corporate documents and field projects while working at the law firm in Madrid.

“Ultimately, with my degree, in the short-term, I want to either return to Avego next year or take a job at an international firm here in Madrid,” said Williams. “My long-term plan is to finish my career as in-house counsel or general counsel at a company or large corporation like HSN.”

Williams is a St. Petersburg native who also serves as a role model for youth in the area. Williams mentors middle and high school students about how to avoid the school-to-prison-pipeline. He also works with the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope, counseling youth on expungement of juvenile records. He is a member of the Street Law program at Stetson and is part of a team of Stetson students helping to build a piece of legislation to improve contemporary expunction laws that govern the expungement of juvenile records.

The Stetson Law student previously attended the University of Central Florida and the Center for Advanced Technologies at Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg.

The Stetson Law Study Abroad Program offers study abroad opportunities for students in the Cayman Islands, Cuba, England, the Netherlands, and Spain. Visit Stetson University College of Law for more information.

by Brandi Palmer