“Mr. Brotherton showed me that as a lawyer, I don’t have to just practice law. I can be involved in the community in so many ways,” said Foster. “Maybe I’ll start a similar community program while I’m in Japan.” Through teaching others, Foster claims her own lawyering skills have improved. “By explaining complex terms and jargon in a way that the students can understand, I was improving my skills for being able to do so for my clients and lay people. It’s been great to be able to expand my world past the one on campus which is full of lawyers and students studying law.” Along with inspiring students to give back to the community, Brotherton also teaches practical skills. “Learning personal financial and accounting skills will not only help my clients, it was something I wanted to learn
Brotherton teaching in an “unusual location”
for myself as well,” explained Joseph Probst.
– Kabul, Afghanistan
Probst is currently externing through the Center of Commercialization, helping clients create
President, Administration & Chief Legal Officer)
patents and seed money for their innovations
and Jeff (Jeffrey H. Brotman ‘67, Chairman of
and inventions. He was accepted to the
the Board) are both UW Law graduates and are
Entrepreneurial Law Clinic where he will continue
very receptive to having the students come.
to utilize the financial and accounting skills he
They attend the meeting on their own time; it’s
learned to help clients with their start-up business
not required, yet all but one of my students were
ventures. “Personally,” he adds, “I also hope to
able to be there this year.”
invest in real estate some day and now I have
By the end of the course, Brotherton’s message
a better understanding of loans and how much
to “do well while doing good” rings true for his
capital I should use when doing so.”
students, and they have all experienced firsthand
Brotherton took his winter quarter class to the
the value of a chance, the chance to learn from
Costco Annual Shareholders meeting to observe
Joe Brotherton.
business practices. Costco has high ethical standards and the students get to see ethics in action. Joel (Joel Benoliel ‘71, Senior Vice
uw law
I juxtapose Costco and Walmart in terms of
s u m m e r 2 0 11
corporate governance firsthand. “In one lecture
17