BU Scholar Explores the Business of Law at Morrison Foerster

Boston University Scholar Cristiana Ramos has spent two summers at Morrison Foerster gaining an inside view of how the global law firm operates.

Her first internship introduced her to the technology and training systems that support the firm’s employees. This past summer, she returned as an Emerging Companies and Venture Capital (ECVC) business development intern, working with partners as they supported emerging companies and small-business clients.

Together, the experiences have shown Cristiana that the practice of corporate law extends beyond the work attorneys perform for individual clients. Technology, business development, internal operations and collaboration across teams all play important roles in helping firms serve clients effectively.

Cristiana has known since before college that she wants to practice corporate law. She is particularly interested in corporate responsibility and the role attorneys can play in encouraging organizations to support their employees. As she researched potential paths into the field, she identified public relations as a major that would strengthen her communication skills and prepare her for law school.

Boston University’s public relations program quickly emerged as a top choice, but attending college across the country presented personal and financial challenges. Cristiana would be the first person in her close-knit household to pursue a four-year degree, and moving from the Bay Area to the East Coast meant leaving the support system she knew.

Through Posse Bay Area’s partnership with BU, she found both financial support and a community that could help her navigate the transition.

During February of her first year, a family friend told Cristiana about a Morrison Foerster internship just two days before the application deadline. She submitted her materials and was selected as an information technology research intern.

Although the position fell outside her initial interests, Cristiana soon recognized how much it could teach her about the infrastructure required to operate a large law firm. She helped update key systems with new software and developed training materials that future employees could use to navigate the technology. At the end of the internship, she presented her work to hiring managers and senior leaders at the firm.

The following February, Morrison Foerster invited Cristiana to return as an ECVC business development intern. The new role built on her understanding of the firm while bringing her closer to the legal and client-facing work that first attracted her to the profession.

Cristiana worked with partners supporting emerging companies as they sought to expand and protect their businesses. Conversations with attorneys whose work involved business in Latin America were a particular highlight. Their career paths challenged some of the traditional narratives Cristiana had encountered while growing up and more closely reflected aspects of her own experience.

Her second summer also gave her a clearer understanding of how attorneys and business professionals collaborate to support clients and keep the firm operating effectively. Morrison Foerster has invited Cristiana to return for a third summer, when she hopes to continue learning from the firm’s attorneys while helping organize the internship program for its next participants.

Now a junior, Cristiana is studying for the LSAT and plans to graduate in December 2027. She is also looking ahead to semesters abroad in Sydney and Dublin before attending law school.

Cristiana hopes to become an attorney, advance to partner and potentially establish a firm of her own. As she considers the limited representation of Latina women at the highest levels of the legal profession, she sees an opportunity to build a path that has not previously existed within her family.