Off The Hill & On The Job

After a month at the CA’s office, I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in about every type of case, but most of my work is in homicide and felony drug cases.  Being able to work on a capital case as an undergrad is a surreal feeling and the experience is invaluable. The cases that bother me the most are the crimes against children. I have so much respect for the prosecutors who deal with those cases on a daily basis. I’ve also been writing statement of facts for our briefs (which thanks to the H-SC rhetoric program only have the occasional formatting error). I’m looking forward to seeing what the next month and a half brings–I can honestly say, I could not have had a better internship this summer.

During my second week with Advance Auto Parts, I was given the opportunity to tour one of the company’s distribution centers.  I had been using various data from different stores and distribution centers around the country for analysis (auto accidents, slips trips and falls, etc.).  It was very interesting to actually be able to go to a place that I had been analyzing purely on paper.  After touring the distribution center for an hour or so, I was not surprised that there are roughly 10 to 20 reported accidents each year.  There were many machines being driven around at all times. Parts were also flying down conveyor belts that lined the ceiling. It was actually shocking that there are not more accidents in a year.  There seemed to be a kind of organized chaos throughout the center.  It looked like everyone was running around without much direction, but everyone seemed to know what the other was doing. Thirty trucks were being loaded simultaneously from all sections of the giant warehouse.  The trucks typically deliver parts to a store within one day of the order. 

This tour made my next few days of work easier.  I am in charge of creating an emergency procedure flip chart that will be used in all stores and distribution centers.  The purpose of the flip chart is to give workers some guidance and instruction during an emergency.  The chart has instructions for emergencies anywhere from robberies to tornadoes.  The tour gave me a better understanding of who would be using the charts and how they could help.  I hope to have the flip chart ready for distribution by the end of the summer.

This summer I will be interning with a new investment banking firm based near the Capitol in Washington, DC. This firm has four partners, one of whom is a 2007 alumnus of Hampden-Sydney College, and specializes in communications, data analytics, aerospace and defense technology, and intelligence and cyber technology. The firm originated from two bankers who left another investment bank in DC to pursue bigger and better deals. Because of the firms relative novelty and smaller size, I have already been able to be active in all parts of initial investment banking deals. Within five minutes of walking in the door at Aperture Capital I was handed balance sheets and income statements for a potential target to put together a historic and projected profit and loss statement as well as a historical and projected balance sheet with net income, EBIT, and EBITDA ratios and percent margin calculations.

After lunch I sat down with two of the partners on a conference call with the other partners of the firm to discuss new potential targets for M&A transactions as well as a few IPO-able opportunities. Discussions ranged from analyzing of the direction of the military/defense/intelligence industry to breaking down each of the target companies and calculating estimated deal values. The conference call allowed for a crash course in military and defense technology as well as the processes followed for initiating a M&A deal especially with firms that have either never utilized the services of an investment bank or are skeptical of using an investment banking firm to broker their sale or acquisition.

After the initial targets were selected, no time was wasted in putting together preliminary pitch books to present to the target companies. I worked directly with one of the partners of the firm to draft a PowerPoint presentation detailing the strategy and direction that Aperture Capital wants to take with the target’s M&A transaction. This includes everything from an introduction to the firm to the firm’s estimates on the direction of the industry to potential buyers or sellers in the transaction and how the firm will pitch the deal to other buyers/sellers involved.

It’s been a pretty busy first day but I’m thankful that I was able to start interning at the very beginning of this long and fairly tedious process.

-Alan

I am interning this summer in the Risk Management department of Advance Auto Parts’ corporate office in Roanoke, Virginia.  My first day was fairly slow paced.  I arrived a week earlier than the other two interns with whom I am working.  It did not surprise me that my first day was some what slow because my internship is unpaid, and I arrived so early.  The first half of my day was spent being shown around the massive corporate office.  It will take me a good amount of time to remember where every department is located.  I spent the other half of my day trying to analyze a massive list of auto related claims that occurred to a company vehicle in 2012.  It was shocking how many collisions occurred in just one year.  I quickly learned that I have to become more efficient in using Excel to make my days easier.  I have been working for a few days now.  My skills have already gotten much sharper and will hopefully continue to improve.  I have now been assigned my own project that is designed to improve the safety response times during emergency situations  in the stores nationwide.  I am excited to have a chance to create something that will be displayed across the country.

On Monday I was with an ACA on a few cases in Circuit Court.   The cases seemed pretty typical; what was not typical was one the defendants being tried ran out of the courtroom, ran one block over, and jumped into the river.  Interesting day to say the least.

Just a blurb from a news outlet:

(Danville, Va.) — A 46-year old Danville man scheduled for a Circuit Court trial Tuesday morning left the courtroom and jumped into the river.
Anthony Falden was set to go to trial on a charge of possession of cocaine.  Police say he left the courtroom, walked to the Martin Luther King Bridge, and got on the Riverwalk trail.  From there, he jumped into the Dan River.
Police negotiators tried to get Falden to grab a buoy they tossed his way.  They said Falden would grab the buoy, but then would let go.
Police got in contact with Falden’s family members by cell phone.  When his daughter showed up, Falden came out of the water.  He was a hundred yards downstream of the bridge.  The incident lasted about thirty minutes.
Falden was not hurt, but he’s being taken to the hospital for an evaluation.  Additional charges are pending.

My first day with the Danville City Commonwealth Attorney’s Office was not at all what I expected. I can’t go into much detail about the cases in which I get to participate, but the gravity of some of the cases was daunting.  I have to say, I am grateful for this internship and the opportunity to have such “hands on” experience.