When two positions with a Silicon Valley start-up were posted on the Office of Career Services website last winter, 1Ls William Blackman and Nicholas Crews quickly submitted their applications. The two were hired and spent their first law school summer (and 2L year as they continue on a part-time basis) working with Craig Harding, former Tesla Motors Inc. general counsel, on his new venture: ZipCourt, a Web-based private judicial system that uses arbitrators to resolve disputes while parties contribute testimony and documents from the comfort of their own computers. While a small team of developers toiled away in a San Francisco office on the Web application, Blackman and Crews worked closely with Harding on everything else. In typical start-up fashion, they took on a variety of jobs such as site Q&A, researching arbitration methods, fielding press calls, writing the marketing pitch, posting updates on Twitter and Facebook, and more. “ZipCourt provided a unique opportunity to combine my legal and business interests, and in the heart of innovation that is Silicon Valley. It’s why I came to Stanford Law,” says Crews, who hopes to work with a Silicon Valley law firm when he graduates. “I’ve tried to absorb as much as possible from Craig. I’ve definitely learned to analyze situations differently. And working at a start-up, involved in legal and business matters, gave me the chance to take some of the theory I’ve learned and put it into practice, to internalize the classroom lessons.”