Jessica Ehrling, Associate in DLA Piper’s Corporate Group, on secondment in Silicon Valley, Palo Alto

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18 Nov 2019
Insights

Jessica Ehrling, Associate in our Corporate Group, talks about her secondment in Silicon Valley, Palo Alto:

Last autumn I was on secondment in the US tech mecca Silicon Valley, surrounded by unicorns and tech giants such as Google and Facebook. Already during my first week in the office I was thrown into transactions with blockchain companies, client meetings, pro bono assignments and various corporate events such as river rafting, TEDx and after work meetups.

I quickly discovered that the work outfits I had brought with me from Sweden fit best with a pair of white sneakers and that most people thought I was crazy for walking 25 minutes to work each day, but I never got a rental car.

Outside of work I explored the charming city of Palo Alto where I stayed in a great apartment with both a pool and a gym, and I attended as many tech conferences as I could squeeze into my schedule. I also visited various tech startups where free food from morning until night is a popular benefit for the employees, just like ping-pong and the latest gaming console.

I left my secondment from a Halloween-decorated office with new friends and experiences I will never forget.