Summers in SF

Whew! I just got back today from a whirlwind trip to Nossaman's San Francisco office. My duffel bag is still sitting here next to me.

I flew up to Oakland yesterday morning at 8AM, met Adam and Ashley at the airport, BARTed over to the Embarcadero, and met the other Nossa-summers (including Nossa-Boalties Krystal and Thomas), whom we had just seen only a few weeks ago in Sacramento. This is the view from the lobby of the SF office on the 34th floor:













Nossaman flew us up there to not only check out the SF office, but to also attend a deposition clinic presented by a couple litigation partners. We learned the ins and outs of getting what you want out of a witness, protecting your own witness if she is being deposed, and learning what to ask and what not to ask. Despite lasting about 6 hours, it was entertaining since they filled the presentation with war stories about nightmare witnesses. We also got to watch several videos of difficult (read: bitchy) witnesses, and how the attorneys dealt with them. For lunch, they brought us tasty sandwiches and salad.

After the presentation, we went to dinner at Enrico's, an italian restaurant in North Beach, where we got a chance to chat with the attorneys as well as the other summers. I also got in some good Boaltie bonding time with Krystal and Thomas.

The summers:













From Left: Adam, Krystal, Ashley, Thomas, Heather, Mari, and Yours Truly

The firm shacked us up in a pretty nice hotel for the evening, then Adam, Ashley and I flew out of Oakland in the morning, landed at LAX, and got back to the office in time for a Partner-Summer associate lunch.

Lunch: Steve Wiman, a litigator, and Alan Ickowitz, a bankruptcy attorney, talked to us about their practice over salad, a particularly mustardy potato salad, and chicken and beef wraps. Alan holds a special place in my heart because he was one of the two Nossaman people who interviewed me at Boalt back in February. Steve is the head of Nossaman's litigation practice group, and so he's not too bad of an attorney either.

After lunch, Steve pulled out a video of one of his own nightmare depositions, where rather than the witness going nuts, the opposing counsel actually lost it. It was actually quite amusing to hear (the depo video focuses only on the witness-- the attorneys are off-camera) the other attorney flip out and proceed to go on a diatribe about how Steve and our firm ("your office has two floors for god's sake!"), representing an employer in a worker discrimination suit, was oppressing her client along with the legal system, judges, Congress, the President, dictatorships in other countries, and pretty much the rest of the world. Steve told me later "I think she forgot to take her medication that morning."

Judge Dredd? Not So Much.

Today, Tracy the Librarian took Adam, Ashley, and I to the courthouse to meet with Judge Hess, a California Superior Court judge. We sat in his chambers for a few hours as he talked about what it was like being a judge, how he got to the bench, and what not to do as a freshly-minted lawyer. We then got to ask him questions about anything. I asked him about his thoughts on elected judges, especially in light of the Judge Janavs controversy.

All in all, a very informative session. It definitely helped remove a lot of the mystique and mystery that surrounds a judgeship. After all, judges are people too.

After I got back, Ron, the summer coordinator, stopped by my office to give me a midsummer review of my work at the firm thus far. The verdict? "You're doing fine. Keep up the good work." Whew.

Lunch: A quick bite with the summers and Jeremy, the newbie associate.at La Salsa on the ground floor of my building. I had a Ultimo Burrito or whatnot. We ate outside, which was a good idea except for the fact that I was sitting in direct sunlight, in a dress shirt and slacks, in LA heat wave temperatures. On the bright side, my burrito never got cold.

Go Dodgers!

Today actually went by rather quickly. I'm working on a new project right now -- an insurance litigation case with Tom Long. It's refreshing to be able to go into Lexis and actually pull up cases, knowing that there's got to be something there, rather than struggle through Google and the rest of the common internet looking for random bridge facts. I would much rather have too much information than not enough.

There was an MCLE thing today, about legislative intent. I went mistakenly expecting there to be free food. There was none. Instead, I learned about how to find the legislative intent behind any bill I wanted. No soup for me, as the saying goes.

The Dodger game last night was a lot of fun. It was my first ball game, and I'm glad I got the experience. I have never been a big baseball fan, since they always looked exceedingly boring on TV. Turns out that baseball games in person are, well, a whole 'nother ball game. The firm has season tickets and about 8 seats in a primo spot near home plate. Apparently they've held these seats for decades, and partners use them when they want to schmooze clients. Jeremy came with us, and he did not hesitate to remind me that my experience was not typical of the average baseball fan, who usually has to pay high prices for nosebleed seats. For dinner, we porked out on Dodger Dogs, nachos, peanuts, ice cream, and other assorted junk food, all compliments of the firm. It was really nice just chilling out in the balmy summer evening air, with my legs up on the seat in front of me, chatting with other attorneys. I ended up having to leave at the bottom of the 8th inning so I could make it home before midnight, but I would definitely go to another game, if only for the food.

Lunch: Trimana again, except with Ashley and Adam 2. Original Adam was out of the office today doing document review in Redondo Beach, so it was just the three of us. I got a BBQ chicken wrap and fries this time, you know, to mix things up.

Long Vacations Are Never Too Long

Nossaman was especially gracious this 4th of July weekend and gave us Monday off in addition to Tuesday, so today is my first day of work this week. It's interesting because my experience has been that half-weeks always feel longer, probably because anticipation of the weekend causes the time to pass much slower.

Lunch: With with Ashley and Adam 2 unavailable (doing other food-type things with partner-type people), I and Adam went to Trimana near the office to grab something quick and cheap. Since we're going to a Dodger's game tonight, I ordered a [relatively] healthy chicken ceasar wrap and fruit instead of fries. My reasoning is that the fruit will counteract the effects of the Dodger dogs, nachos, and maybe even dessert. I guess we'll see in a few weeks.