Attorney for Ski Resort?? Forum

jfb · Post by **jfb** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:37 pm

Disclaimer: I am an 0l and know nothing about this topic but am Just bored and wondering:

Has anyone ever worked or looked into working in a ski resort's legal department? It seems like this would be prettty awesome, so if anyone knows anything about this I'd love to hear some details.

lisjjen · Post by **lisjjen** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:42 pm

That sounds amazing. I haven't heard anything like that though. I'd say if such a thing exist, then that's a dream job - which doesn't mean don't try for it - it means find the kind of law in house attorneys do and practice that at an outside firm until you have experience, and then start applying from there.

NoleinNY · Post by **NoleinNY** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:43 pm

Path # 1

1. Work at a ski resort for 5 years to have fun and network.

2. Get good LSAT score

3. Retake LSAT after told you can do better by TLS

4. Go to BYU / Colorado / Utah for free

5. ????????

6. Big Law / Network

7. ????

8. Profit.

Path #2
1. Work at Ski resort for 5 years for fun.

2. Get a 179 LSAT

3. Go to HYS

4. Profit

nealric · Post by **nealric** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:46 pm

Reality check:

The only ski areas big enough to hire a in-house lawyers are really large resort conglomerates like Interwest and Vail Resorts.

If you were in-house for Vail Resorts, you would probably work for corporate HQ in the Denver suburbs. You wouldn't get to be a ski bum. It would be regular in-house type of work: Litigation management, real estate deal work (resorts make most of their money off real estate), and general corporate transactions. The substance of the work likely wouldn't be significantly different from any other in-house job. Other than a reduced-price lift ticket, there would really be no more skiing opportunities than any other job in Denver would get you.

In-house jobs generally don't hire straight out of law school. You would probably want to work for one of the big firms in the city where HQ is located. For example, working for Holland & Hart out of Denver would probably be a path to working in-house at Vail resorts. The chances of being able to plan such a career path as a 0-L are vanishingly small. There are probably fewer than 50 people in the United States that work in-house for ski resort conglomerates (that's a conservative estimate on the high side).

AreJay711 · Post by **AreJay711** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:52 pm

nealric wrote:Reality check:

The only ski areas big enough to hire a in-house lawyers are really large resort conglomerates like Interwest and Vail Resorts.

If you were in-house for Vail Resorts, you would probably work for corporate HQ in the Denver suburbs. You wouldn't get to be a ski bum. It would be regular in-house type of work: Litigation management, real estate deal work (resorts make most of their money off real estate), and general corporate transactions. The substance of the work likely wouldn't be significantly different from any other in-house job. Other than a reduced-price lift ticket, there would really be no more skiing opportunities than any other job in Denver would get you.

In-house jobs generally don't hire straight out of law school. You would probably want to work for one of the big firms in the city where HQ is located. For example, working for Holland & Hart out of Denver would probably be a path to working in-house at Vail resorts. The chances of being able to plan such a career path as a 0-L are vanishingly small. There are probably fewer than 50 people in the United States that work in-house for ski resort conglomerates (that's a conservative estimate on the high side).

Damn you and your "reality"!!!!!

lisjjen · Post by **lisjjen** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:54 pm

AreJay711 wrote:
nealric wrote:Reality check:

The only ski areas big enough to hire a in-house lawyers are really large resort conglomerates like Interwest and Vail Resorts.

If you were in-house for Vail Resorts, you would probably work for corporate HQ in the Denver suburbs. You wouldn't get to be a ski bum. It would be regular in-house type of work: Litigation management, real estate deal work (resorts make most of their money off real estate), and general corporate transactions. The substance of the work likely wouldn't be significantly different from any other in-house job. Other than a reduced-price lift ticket, there would really be no more skiing opportunities than any other job in Denver would get you.

In-house jobs generally don't hire straight out of law school. You would probably want to work for one of the big firms in the city where HQ is located. For example, working for Holland & Hart out of Denver would probably be a path to working in-house at Vail resorts. The chances of being able to plan such a career path as a 0-L are vanishingly small. There are probably fewer than 50 people in the United States that work in-house for ski resort conglomerates (that's a conservative estimate on the high side).
Damn you and your "reality"!!!!!

Come now. Don't vandalize his dreams of a golden lift ticket to riches.

jfb · Post by **jfb** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:59 pm

yea, maybe I shouldn't have posted so I could go on hoping that somewhere out there, there is a lawyer living and working in Breckenridge CO making 200k, working 9-5 next to a fireplace in a sweater and sipping hot chocolate, and snowboarding for free every weekend. oh well.

lisjjen · Post by **lisjjen** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:03 am

jfb wrote:yea, maybe I shouldn't have posted so I could go on hoping that somewhere out there, there is a lawyer living and working in Breckenridge CO making 200k, working 9-5 next to a fireplace in a sweater and sipping hot chocolate, and snowboarding for free every weekend. oh well.

Sorry.

A) If you're making a good salary (law school isn't a guarantee of 200k/yr) why do you need a free snowboarding pass?
B) Why can't you just work in Denver and go snowboarding every other weekend anyways.
C) There's no such thing as a lawyer who works 9-5
C.2) who works next to a fireplace
C.3) who works in a sweater
C.4) who sips hot chocolate at work

lisjjen · Post by **lisjjen** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:05 am

Might I add. There's plenty of other jobs in resort administration that put you on the hill. You won't be making six figures, but there's lots of other things you can do. It already sounds like you're somewhat of a ski bum, so start networking and look into business school instead.

What you say sounds like paradise, but law is not a fun job.

Cavalier · Post by **Cavalier** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:27 pm

I interned at the legal department of a ski resort after my 1L summer. It was a great experience. My favorite memory was drafting a summary judgment motion to dismiss a wrongful death suit brought by parents of a five year old who was killed after falling off a chair lift. We prevailed on the motion, saving the ski resort hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

krad · Post by **krad** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:43 pm

lisjjen wrote:
jfb wrote:yea, maybe I shouldn't have posted so I could go on hoping that somewhere out there, there is a lawyer living and working in Breckenridge CO making 200k, working 9-5 next to a fireplace in a sweater and sipping hot chocolate, and snowboarding for free every weekend. oh well.
Sorry.

A) If you're making a good salary (law school isn't a guarantee of 200k/yr) why do you need a free snowboarding pass?
B) Why can't you just work in Denver and go snowboarding every other weekend anyways.
C) There's no such thing as a lawyer who works 9-5
C.2) who works next to a fireplace
C.3) who works in a sweater
C.4) who sips hot chocolate at work

Hey now, I work in Denver... in a sweater... and sometimes sip hot chocolate at work...

But seriously, Vail HQ is down the street from my office, and I've got a few friends that work on the business side. One friend works in the finance department, gets a free pass every year, and often times has to travel up to the resorts or out to Tahoe for audits/etc. There are other routes as Lisjjen said...

Edit: More info: http://www.vailresorts.com/Corp/info/se ... tives.aspx General Counsel is an Australian chick woot! From the look of it, she had a boatload of experience before coming to Vail.

CanadianWolf · Post by **CanadianWolf** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:49 pm

Consider becoming a law professor at the University of Colorado, Utah, or Denver.

P.S. It probably won't be hot chocolate.

Cosmo Kramer · Post by **Cosmo Kramer** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:57 pm

nealric wrote:Reality check:

The only ski areas big enough to hire a in-house lawyers are really large resort conglomerates like Interwest and Vail Resorts.

If you were in-house for Vail Resorts, you would probably work for corporate HQ in the Denver suburbs. You wouldn't get to be a ski bum. It would be regular in-house type of work: Litigation management, real estate deal work (resorts make most of their money off real estate), and general corporate transactions. The substance of the work likely wouldn't be significantly different from any other in-house job. Other than a reduced-price lift ticket, there would really be no more skiing opportunities than any other job in Denver would get you.

In-house jobs generally don't hire straight out of law school. You would probably want to work for one of the big firms in the city where HQ is located. For example, working for Holland & Hart out of Denver would probably be a path to working in-house at Vail resorts. The chances of being able to plan such a career path as a 0-L are vanishingly small. There are probably fewer than 50 people in the United States that work in-house for ski resort conglomerates (that's a conservative estimate on the high side).

Damn, they wouldn't even hook you up with a free season pass?

krad · Post by **krad** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:59 pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: Damn, they wouldn't even hook you up with a free season pass?

I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the corporate employees get free Epic passes each season...

lisjjen · Post by **lisjjen** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:59 pm

krad wrote:
lisjjen wrote:
jfb wrote:yea, maybe I shouldn't have posted so I could go on hoping that somewhere out there, there is a lawyer living and working in Breckenridge CO making 200k, working 9-5 next to a fireplace in a sweater and sipping hot chocolate, and snowboarding for free every weekend. oh well.
Sorry.

A) If you're making a good salary (law school isn't a guarantee of 200k/yr) why do you need a free snowboarding pass?
B) Why can't you just work in Denver and go snowboarding every other weekend anyways.
C) There's no such thing as a lawyer who works 9-5
C.2) who works next to a fireplace
C.3) who works in a sweater
C.4) who sips hot chocolate at work
Hey now, I work in Denver... in a sweater... and sometimes sip hot chocolate at work...

But seriously, Vail HQ is down the street from my office, and I've got a few friends that work on the business side. One friend works in the finance department, gets a free pass every year, and often times has to travel up to the resorts or out to Tahoe for audits/etc. There are other routes as Lisjjen said...

Edit: More info: http://www.vailresorts.com/Corp/info/se ... tives.aspx General Counsel is an Australian chick woot! From the look of it, she had a boatload of experience before coming to Vail.

A sweater at work? With hot chocolate? As a lawyer? I have hopes of not dying a curmudgeonly old bastard after all.

krad · Post by **krad** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:04 pm

lisjjen wrote:
krad wrote:
lisjjen wrote:
jfb wrote:yea, maybe I shouldn't have posted so I could go on hoping that somewhere out there, there is a lawyer living and working in Breckenridge CO making 200k, working 9-5 next to a fireplace in a sweater and sipping hot chocolate, and snowboarding for free every weekend. oh well.
Sorry.

A) If you're making a good salary (law school isn't a guarantee of 200k/yr) why do you need a free snowboarding pass?
B) Why can't you just work in Denver and go snowboarding every other weekend anyways.
C) There's no such thing as a lawyer who works 9-5
C.2) who works next to a fireplace
C.3) who works in a sweater
C.4) who sips hot chocolate at work
Hey now, I work in Denver... in a sweater... and sometimes sip hot chocolate at work...

But seriously, Vail HQ is down the street from my office, and I've got a few friends that work on the business side. One friend works in the finance department, gets a free pass every year, and often times has to travel up to the resorts or out to Tahoe for audits/etc. There are other routes as Lisjjen said...

Edit: More info: http://www.vailresorts.com/Corp/info/se ... tives.aspx General Counsel is an Australian chick woot! From the look of it, she had a boatload of experience before coming to Vail.
A sweater at work? With hot chocolate? As a lawyer? I have hopes of not dying a curmudgeonly old bastard after all.

Well, I'm not a lawyer. Yet.

But I do work a corporate job in Denver, nice sweater, Sbucks hot choclate... It'd be much better if it were a fleece and a spiked hot chocolate by a fireplace about 5,000 ft higher in altitude, but what can ya do.

nealric · Post by **nealric** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:06 pm

I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the corporate employees get free Epic passes each season...

Meh... probably. Not like you couldn't afford one with a different job. But the real action is in the back country anyways.

krad · Post by **krad** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:16 pm

nealric wrote:
I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the corporate employees get free Epic passes each season...
Meh... probably. Not like you couldn't afford one with a different job. But the real action is in the back country anyways.

Truth!

lisjjen · Post by **lisjjen** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:18 pm

krad wrote: Well, I'm not a lawyer. Yet. But I do work a corporate job in Denver, nice sweater, Sbucks hot choclate... It'd be much better if it were a fleece and a spiked hot chocolate by a fireplace about 5,000 ft higher in altitude, but what can ya do.

What can ya do? You could work in a zepellin with your fleece and spiked hot chocolate.

Just saying.

crazycanuck · Post by **crazycanuck** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 9:23 pm

I know a guy who went to UBC (law school in Vancouver) and is now in-house at Whistler. He actually lives and works in Whistler (which I guess is intrawest? I don't know the specifics of their corporate structure), skis every day after work. He usually tries to get a quick run or two in before he gets to the office too.

The kind of work he does is mostly transactional and real estate (very heavy in the real estate).

Can't comment on hot chocolate, but I met him at a christmas party and his sweater was VERY ugly.

dextermorgan · Post by **dextermorgan** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 9:25 pm

Sounds like a bunch of miserable slip and fall work.

alirod12 · Post by **alirod12** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:46 pm

Some of this information is false, or at least too generalized. I worked for Aspen Skiing Company, and their in house counsel had a sick gig. He got a free membership to the private golf course over the summer, a free ski pass, and a solid salary. I saw him at the golf course quite often over the summer, during the week as well as the weekend.

megaTTTron · Post by **megaTTTron** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:49 pm

alirod12 wrote:Some of this information is false, or at least too generalized. I worked for Aspen Skiing Company, and their in house counsel had a sick gig. He got a free membership to the private golf course over the summer, a free ski pass, and a solid salary. I saw him at the golf course quite often over the summer, during the week as well as the weekend.

link us to this lucky fool. pics or it didn't happen.

dudders · Post by **dudders** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:58 pm

Intrawest is based in Canada, with their main offices in Vancouver.

Just move to a ski town and do small law. All the lawyers (and everyone else in town) just buys an annual ski pass for $500-$600 (or $1k if you're stuck buying your pass from Intrawest). You too, can ski on the weekends and do DUIs, MIPs, and small, bratty civils for eternity (and cry because your transactional real estate dried up and everyone in town wants you to handle their bankruptcies for free).

casper13 · Post by **casper13** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 6:31 am

Here ya go. Straight from Vail resorts website. See bolded below

Job Description

Corporate Counsel- Mountain Division-102994

Organization: Corporate

Primary Location: Colorado-Broomfield

Schedule: Full-time

Target Start Date : Jan 3, 2010

Pay Rate: DOE

Description:
This position will support the Vice President & Assistant General Counsel in providing legal advice to the Company's Mountain Division. Responsibilities will include: general legal advice to the Company's ski resort operations, private club and retail/rental operations staff; contract matters involving mountain operations, special events, and on-mountain development; legal compliance with the broad range of laws applicable to the Company's Mountain Division; and limited dispute resolution. The attorney also will collaborate with the Legal, Health & Safety, ski resort operational staff and other Company divisions to develop and oversee policies and procedures to add value and reduce legal risks to the Company. Corporate Counsel-Mountain Division will need to become familiar with every facet of the Company's ski resort operations and provide value-added, business-minded legal advice.
Support Vice President & Assistant General Counsel in providing general legal advice and counsel to the Company's Mountain Division
Draft and negotiate contracts relating to the Company's Mountain Division and supervise contract work by Contract Paralegals
Review and provide interpretation of existing contracts and propose contract modifications or alternate resolutions to potential conflicts
Support Vice President & Assistant General Counsel in public lands work with United States Forest Service
Interpret private club documents and work with club operations to resolve member conflicts and complaints
Review, revise and propose best practices, policies, manuals, handbooks, and guidelines
Drive compliance with applicable law and Company policy
Assist in the preparation and presentation of legal training to Mountain Division operations staff
Supervise and manage outside counsel
Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:
JD from top tier accredited law school
Minimum 3 years experience focused in general business advice and/or contracts.
Some experience and familiarity with real estate development and land use/entitlements and environmental law.
Active state bar license, CO preferred
High level of proficiency with Microsoft Office suite
Must be able to properly research legal questions and to provide clear and concise written and oral advice.
Must be able to communicate effectively and tactfully, in person, in writing and by telephone
Must be able to provide advice that is both practical and legally acceptable, taking into account the needs and objectives of the business
Must have a passion for promoting a positive, productive culture that furthers the company mission of "experience of a lifetime"
Must have a strong customer service orientation, with the ability to develop and maintain good working relationships with staff and executives at all levels
Must be able to work independently and as part of a team
Must have strong organizational and time management skills
Must have a high level of personal and professional integrity
Must be a competent skier or rider as position will require extensive on-mountain interaction

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