When Danielle Mikaelian ’25 was an undergraduate, she worked at a major publishing company, learning firsthand how books are edited, revised, and produced. Although she enjoyed the experience, it did not fuel an interest in publishing.
Instead, Mikaelian says, she was intrigued by the legal side of the business — the way relationships were formed, contracts negotiated, and deals sealed. In short, she says, it sparked an attraction to corporate law.
“I felt I wasn’t making enough of an impact in that role,” Mikaelian explains. “And then I thought about how, as a lawyer, I might be able to affect these things in a broader way.”
That realization inspired Mikaelian to apply to law school, where she hoped to learn how to use the law to facilitate change and help people and organizations solve problems. Mikaelian says she chose Harvard Law School because of its size and breadth of course offerings, clinics, and extracurricular activities.
In short, Harvard Law gave her room to explore.
“With a wide range of clinics and courses covering every area of law, HLS provides an exceptional legal education and an unmatched platform for students to pursue diverse career paths,” Mikaelian says. “As a student, I have had incredible opportunities, from serving as a legal fellow for the Federal Reserve to delving into legal scholarship through holding editorial roles on various Harvard Law journals.”
From the beginning, Mikaelian has gravitated toward transactional law, relishing her first-year property law and contracts courses. Simultaneously, she has dabbled in a variety of subjects within corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions, entertainment and sport law, startup law, corporate governance, leadership, and even emerging fields such as AI. She currently works as a teaching fellow for Harvard Law’s Jury Deliberation in the Age of AI course.
“Harvard is a fantastic place to study corporate law,” she says, pointing to other unique offerings she has taken advantage of, including the Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project, Recording Artists Project, and the Cyberlaw Clinic.
Students can even cross-register for Harvard Business School courses, Mikaelian notes, adding that she has served as a legal advisor to several startups through the business school’s startup accelerator course this year.
“This has been an unparalleled opportunity. I’ve helped fellow students advance their businesses in a meaningful way while also learning about the different directions I could take my future legal career. I’ve also personally learned how to create pitch decks and have had the opportunity to pitch to investors alongside the teams I’ve joined. This semester, I joined a different startup the day that the team was applying to Y Combinator and learned about that process as well. All of these experiences have culminated in a thorough understanding of the startup world.”
Mikaelian’s curiosity doesn’t end at the classroom door. She has also prioritized leadership in several Harvard Law student organizations while pursuing summer internships that have expanded her worldview and knowledge of corporate law.
“Some of the most important lessons occur outside of a classroom environment,” she says. “I came in thinking I might go into corporate law, but I wanted to get a sense of what Big Law was like, and what else was out there, before the end of my law school career. I’ve taken advantage of numerous other opportunities, traveling to Panama for a sports and entertainment law conference and taking part in Google’s Harvard Law School mentorship day.”
For Danielle Mikaelian, one of the most rewarding extracurriculars has been the Harvard Association for Law and Business, or HALB.
“Serving as a board member of HALB has been the highlight of my HLS experience,” she says. “It is one of the largest, most active organizations at HLS and acts as the main touchpoint for students interested in the intersection of law and business at Harvard.”
Mikaelian started out as a first-year student on HALB’s Communications team. She then joined the organization’s executive board, becoming executive vice president of operations, and now its chief of staff. Over her three years at HLS, Mikaelian has helped organize and oversee hundreds of successful events that have brought prominent speakers and leaders from the business and legal worlds to Harvard Law’s campus.
HALB has also helped her gain a thorough understanding of corporate law, Mikaelian says. Every week features lunch talks on different practice groups and different deals.
“One highlight of HALB is our yearly international trek during spring break,” she says. “I’ve been privileged to go to London to visit places like the U.K. Supreme Court, Unilever headquarters, and Moët Hennessy Europe. Last year, we went to Dubai, visiting Emirates Headquarters and big law firms like Gibson Dunn and Freshfields with offices in the region. This year, our organization is headed to Singapore. I had never been to any of these countries before coming to HLS, and these treks have provided me with a much more globally oriented business perspective.”
Mikaelian says that her internships have also shaped her career path. After her first year at Harvard, she worked as a summer associate at a firm in New York, returning there for two weeks and spending the rest of the summer at a different firm. “As a summer associate, I found it rewarding and intellectually stimulating to help clients structure deals, mitigate risks, and achieve their goals in a strategic and efficient manner,” she says.
Despite her busy schedule, Mikaelian makes time to support fellow law students and even those considering law school. She has spoken to undergraduate prelaw clubs across the country to help the next generation of law students navigate the admissions process. Her mentorship has not gone unnoticed: Recently, she was named one of four recipients of the Ms. JD Limitless Leadership Award — the only law student to be recognized alongside national industry leaders. She’ll be giving a speech at the organization’s gala in April.
“I was grateful to be named a Ms. JD Limitless Leadership Recipient this year alongside the chief legal officers of Lowe’s and eBay,” she says. “This award reflects my commitment to gender equality, as well as my dedication to empowering those who come after me.”
As she approaches the end of her final year of law school, Mikaelian is thoughtful about what her educational journey has meant to her.
“As the first in my family to attend law school, I initially had little understanding of how law firms differed from one another or what to look for while thinking about next steps in my career,” she says. “I’m grateful that today, thanks to a wide range of experiences at Harvard Law, I feel confident about both.”
She adds that she plans to join a New York firm after graduation, initially focusing on transactional work, such as mergers and acquisitions and real estate. For now, that is.
Because, just as Mikaelian approached law school with an open mind and a desire to learn, so she will approach her legal career. “I’m privileged to be going to a firm with a rotation program. I’m excited to rotate through a few different groups before solidifying my future practice area.”
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