No train today. For various reasons, I needed to take the car, and all I have to say is UGH. It's nice I guess to get the comparison between transit options one day after the other, but the thing is, I now rememeber why I hate driving so much. Can't wait to get on the train tomorrow.
Tonight is some dinner function about dispute resolution. All I know is I have to wear a suit, and I get free dinner. I'm in.
Lunch: Partner/Associate Lunch. Another summer lunch series where we meet with partners and they tell us about what they do and we get to ask questions. The lunch was in one of the conference rooms, and it was catered. Taco salad and little beef burritos. Pretty tasty.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
All Aboard
Fresh from my Memorial Day weekend, I decided to take the train to work today. OH MY GOODNESS what a difference! No worries about changing lanes, speeding tickets, following too closely, falling asleep behind the wheel, or of course, TRAFFIC. Just a nice leisurely 30 minute ride on the Metrolink, followed by a nice, leisurely (somewhat bumpy), ride on the Metro Red Line, and then a nice, leisurely, 2 block stroll to my office. If LA had more rail, I would be way less stressed.
Lunch: Some random salad bar place (I think it was called "Salads 2000," despite the fact that we are currently in 2006) underneath the Paul Hastings Building. Ashley is a huge healthy salad-a-holic, so she got a huge healthy salad. Adam had a baked potato with cheese and chicken. I had a roast beef sandwich. With salad on the side, of course.
Lunch: Some random salad bar place (I think it was called "Salads 2000," despite the fact that we are currently in 2006) underneath the Paul Hastings Building. Ashley is a huge healthy salad-a-holic, so she got a huge healthy salad. Adam had a baked potato with cheese and chicken. I had a roast beef sandwich. With salad on the side, of course.
Friday, May 26, 2006
One Down
Wow has it been a week already? Time really flies. I feel like I've been working at Nossaman for ages.
I have been commuting to and from work by car for the last week, and I don't like it one bit. I'm going to look into my transit options. There's a Metrolink station not too far from my house, and as soon as I figure out how to read the timetables, I think I'll try using it next week. Nossaman reimburses for parking or transit, whichever I choose.
One of the cool things about working in a laid-back firm is the Casual Fridays. I like the idea of wearing jeans and sneakers to work, even if it is once a week. It IS pretty funny though to see partners and other people commonly considered "stuffy" wearing jeans and hawaiian shirts.
I'm meeting up with some other Boalties after work. They're working across the way at O'Melveny and MoFo, so it should be interesting to see how they like life in the "Big Firm."
Today's Field Trip Lunch: Julia Stift, one of the tax attorneys (and a fellow Chino Hillsian) took us to Langer's, by MacArthur Park. Definitely some of the best pastrami daip I've ever had. Later found out that Karla, a relatively young and very friendly attorney with whom I was chatting about cooking and the Food Network, is actually a partner with over 15 years of experience. I guess not all of them are stuffy after all.
I have been commuting to and from work by car for the last week, and I don't like it one bit. I'm going to look into my transit options. There's a Metrolink station not too far from my house, and as soon as I figure out how to read the timetables, I think I'll try using it next week. Nossaman reimburses for parking or transit, whichever I choose.
One of the cool things about working in a laid-back firm is the Casual Fridays. I like the idea of wearing jeans and sneakers to work, even if it is once a week. It IS pretty funny though to see partners and other people commonly considered "stuffy" wearing jeans and hawaiian shirts.
I'm meeting up with some other Boalties after work. They're working across the way at O'Melveny and MoFo, so it should be interesting to see how they like life in the "Big Firm."
Today's Field Trip Lunch: Julia Stift, one of the tax attorneys (and a fellow Chino Hillsian) took us to Langer's, by MacArthur Park. Definitely some of the best pastrami daip I've ever had. Later found out that Karla, a relatively young and very friendly attorney with whom I was chatting about cooking and the Food Network, is actually a partner with over 15 years of experience. I guess not all of them are stuffy after all.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Take THAT Opposing Counsel!
I spent all day today reading pleadings. I think I have a taste for litigation (as opposed to transactional) work, because even though the binder was roughly 500 pages, I enjoyed reading every bit of it. It's like a reading a novel, where the excahnge of memos and motions etween attorneys is builds up tension, until it rises to a crescendo and each court ruling being a mini-climax.
Adam and Ashley were in me office all day, sorting through encroachment permits. Good bonding time. At one point during the pleading reading, I came across a really good argument made by my assigning attorney. I pumped my fist in the air and screamed "TAKE THAT!," to the surprise and horror of Adam.
Lunch: Just the summers and I at a random restaurant. I guess what that 2L said about free lunches isn't true everywhere. We don't have ALL of our meals paid for. Then again, $8.50 isn't too much to spare given the posh meals we get the rest of the week.
Adam and Ashley were in me office all day, sorting through encroachment permits. Good bonding time. At one point during the pleading reading, I came across a really good argument made by my assigning attorney. I pumped my fist in the air and screamed "TAKE THAT!," to the surprise and horror of Adam.
Lunch: Just the summers and I at a random restaurant. I guess what that 2L said about free lunches isn't true everywhere. We don't have ALL of our meals paid for. Then again, $8.50 isn't too much to spare given the posh meals we get the rest of the week.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Real Live Work!
Today was the first day I had real assignments. I spent all day working hard. Apparently, being a lawyer has nothing to do with law school. I'm glad I went to law school though, since I wouldn't understand half the things I was reading but for Contracts and Civil Procedure.
Lunch: CPK with the summers plus Melissa, Brandon, and Jeremy, a first-year associate. To get there, we had to navigate our way diagonally through The Bonaventure which, if you've been there, you know is like a labyrinth on crack. Luckily, we made it back without losing anyone.
Lunch: CPK with the summers plus Melissa, Brandon, and Jeremy, a first-year associate. To get there, we had to navigate our way diagonally through The Bonaventure which, if you've been there, you know is like a labyrinth on crack. Luckily, we made it back without losing anyone.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Home Depo
Today, Ashley, Adam, and I met with our summer coordinator, a nice young associate by the name of Ron Grace. Ron took is to lunch and discussed our summer calendar of events. Highlights include bowling, Roscoe's, day trip to Sacramento, two-day trip to San Francisco for a deposition clinic, theatre, and of course, cup stacking. Also noteable was a series of "Field Trip Lunches" whereby each Friday, an associate takes us to lunch to a divey hole-in-the-wall restaurant that is "representative of their personality."
After lunch, Ashley and I sat in on a deposition ("depo") being taken by Tom Long, one of the partners and an experienced litigator. Besides us, the people in the room were the witness, his lawyer, a stenographer, and Tom. It's interesting because I found that depositions are as much a game of poker as they are a tool of justice. The witness had every incentive to avoid answering as many questions as possible, and Tom was trying to ensure that the witness couldn't tell that he knew when he was lying. I fell asleep for a part of it, but I chalk that up to food coma.
Ashley, Adam, and I went to happy hour after work at a restaurant on the ground floor of the building. We thought we were staying late (6:00PM), but when we got to the restaurant, there was a table full of partners and associates who had obviously gotten there an hour or so before us. We summers got a separate table, and Tom Long later joined us. I recounted to him my story about turning the wrong way yesterday, which in retrospect I shouldn't have done because soon thereafter, Tom had created a nickname for me: "Wrong Way Yeh." Very witty.
Lunch: Cafe Pinot, across the street from the U.S. Bank Tower. Very fancy, and probably very expensive. I had a Kobe Beef burger, and we got some sort of tuna-avocado-sushi-thing. Tasty.
After lunch, Ashley and I sat in on a deposition ("depo") being taken by Tom Long, one of the partners and an experienced litigator. Besides us, the people in the room were the witness, his lawyer, a stenographer, and Tom. It's interesting because I found that depositions are as much a game of poker as they are a tool of justice. The witness had every incentive to avoid answering as many questions as possible, and Tom was trying to ensure that the witness couldn't tell that he knew when he was lying. I fell asleep for a part of it, but I chalk that up to food coma.
Ashley, Adam, and I went to happy hour after work at a restaurant on the ground floor of the building. We thought we were staying late (6:00PM), but when we got to the restaurant, there was a table full of partners and associates who had obviously gotten there an hour or so before us. We summers got a separate table, and Tom Long later joined us. I recounted to him my story about turning the wrong way yesterday, which in retrospect I shouldn't have done because soon thereafter, Tom had created a nickname for me: "Wrong Way Yeh." Very witty.
Lunch: Cafe Pinot, across the street from the U.S. Bank Tower. Very fancy, and probably very expensive. I had a Kobe Beef burger, and we got some sort of tuna-avocado-sushi-thing. Tasty.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Quasi-Lawyer Me
The summer associate job is a means for firms to recruit new blood. They treat us like real lawyers, pay us like real lawyers, and pamper us to no end, in an effort to convince us to stay. I have my own office with a great view, a secretary, and even my own personalized memo pad. Pretty nifty.
One of the things I distinctly remember being told about the summer associate experience is the free lunch. One of the 2L's told me that she never had to pay for lunch her entire summer. Pretty sweet. Of course, the firm she worked at was a little larger than Nossaman, so I'm not necessarily expecting that to be the case here. Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start working out or something because the food is tasty, and tasty food = fatty.
Today's Lunch: Chicken Marsala at The Bonaventure Brewery. Brandon and Melissa two second-year associates, took us. Not bad. Apparently the firm likes to have a lot of mixers and happy hours there, so I'll probably be seeing more of it.
One of the things I distinctly remember being told about the summer associate experience is the free lunch. One of the 2L's told me that she never had to pay for lunch her entire summer. Pretty sweet. Of course, the firm she worked at was a little larger than Nossaman, so I'm not necessarily expecting that to be the case here. Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start working out or something because the food is tasty, and tasty food = fatty.
Today's Lunch: Chicken Marsala at The Bonaventure Brewery. Brandon and Melissa two second-year associates, took us. Not bad. Apparently the firm likes to have a lot of mixers and happy hours there, so I'll probably be seeing more of it.
My First Day
What a whirlwind 48 hours its been. My parents drove up on Saturday and helped me pack. We drove down Sunday morning, got home by Sunday afternoon, I worked on CLR until midnight, woke up this morning at 6:00 AM, and left for work by 7:30.
It was raining this morning, so mind-numbing traffic is as certain as death and taxes. To make things worse, downtown LA has a series of one-way streets. Lemme tell you, one-way streets and I do NOT mix. I made a right turn onto Flower Ave, only to have a woman with an umbrella wave frantically at me and scream "nononono!" I didn't understand why she was screaming that until I looked up and saw a wall of headlights. Crap. I made a quick U-turn in the intersection, dodged about 4 cars coming crossways, and finally made it into the office at 9:30. I was supposed to be there at 9AM sharp. Not a great way to make a first impression, I suppose.
Anyway, it turns out that everyone here at Nossaman is very easygoing. My co-summers, Adam and Ashley, are 2L's from USC Law, and they were here last summer as 1L's. I spent pretty much all day learning policies and procedures, filling out forms, learning to use the phones, and learning to use the billing software. We also got a grand tour of the office, and I met 50 attorneys, none of whom I can remember at this moment.
All in all, not too bad for my first day. I didn't do any "real" work -- apparently that's coming in a few days. Except for the commute, I could get used to this sort of work...
It was raining this morning, so mind-numbing traffic is as certain as death and taxes. To make things worse, downtown LA has a series of one-way streets. Lemme tell you, one-way streets and I do NOT mix. I made a right turn onto Flower Ave, only to have a woman with an umbrella wave frantically at me and scream "nononono!" I didn't understand why she was screaming that until I looked up and saw a wall of headlights. Crap. I made a quick U-turn in the intersection, dodged about 4 cars coming crossways, and finally made it into the office at 9:30. I was supposed to be there at 9AM sharp. Not a great way to make a first impression, I suppose.
Anyway, it turns out that everyone here at Nossaman is very easygoing. My co-summers, Adam and Ashley, are 2L's from USC Law, and they were here last summer as 1L's. I spent pretty much all day learning policies and procedures, filling out forms, learning to use the phones, and learning to use the billing software. We also got a grand tour of the office, and I met 50 attorneys, none of whom I can remember at this moment.
All in all, not too bad for my first day. I didn't do any "real" work -- apparently that's coming in a few days. Except for the commute, I could get used to this sort of work...
Monday, May 01, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)