First Week at The Firm

Welp, I have survived my first week as a summer Fellow at The Firm (TF). For the last week I have gotten my first look into what life in a small, private law firm looks like. Up until this week, my only background has been in nonprofit law firms and the culture is quite different. In the nonprofit where I worked before Peace Corps, the attorneys didn’t have to bill their hours since all our clients were hand picked pro bono cases that we were confident had a strong case. Now I have entered the world of billables and paying clients that expect you to come up with the best defense you can for them, even if the law isn’t necessarily always on their side.

I think I expected to see more of what people generally think of as the over-taxed, over-worked attorney life but I have to say I am happy that is not the case. Although the lawyers at TF work hard and do have to focus managing their time to meet their billable hour quota, I haven’t noticed or heard of anyone working into the wee hours of the night. Most of my coworkers have families and social lives and seem to maintain a healthy balance in their lives. IT is great to see this because in law school they scare you into thinking that the unavoidable future for us baby lawyers will be long hours, sacrificing family and friends and a general miserable existence. That is certainly not what I hope for in my life and it is so very reassuring to see that balance is possible even in the private sector. It is great to see attorneys, a few of whom are recent graduates from my own school, making a comfortable living, doing something that is mentally challenging while still managing to have families and free time for friends, travel and leisure. That is my definition of success and it has been nice to envision my own future after law school.

On Tuesday, I was shown around the office. It is small, just 6 attorneys and two secretaries in the local office (although TF has multiple offices spread around California). I was shown to my desk in the law library room and handed my first assignment: researching a defense for a disability discrimination case.

I spent the rest of the week digging deep into very specific cases and teaching myself to understand many facets of employment discrimination law. It is a fascinating and demanding project. Although at times the challenge of pouring through hundreds of cases to find the perfect one to support our client’s position has been frustrating, I am learning so much about how to conduct effective legal research and conceptualize and craft a memo to help the partner on the case prepare for a mediation. 

My coworkers have been so welcoming and helpful and make the work environment a pleasant place to be, although everyone is generally so busy on their own projects that we keep to ourselves, tucked away in our offices reading and writing the day away.

It has been a great start to my 10-week internship. I look forward to what the next few months have in store for me and I am enjoying coming home with no reading or writing assignments to do. It has been great to spend my evenings with Tim and Toast. We get to go on walks and take Toast to her obedience training together and enjoy our time at home, listening to and playing music, slowly cooking healthy meals and sharing wine and good conversation. This summer is shaping up to be a great one! 

Tim has been taking guitar lessons and is learning how to read music. Toast and I enjoy snuggling up and listening to him practice.

Toast (our not so tiny 45 lb. puppy) has been a champion at obedience school. She knows sit, stay, lay down, wait, touch (where she will come touch our hand with her nose), polite walking and an emergency evacuation move we can use to get her to come to us in an emergency. Such a cute, wonderful, good dog! We love our little friend.