Week seven was all about the summer associates fine tuning our practical skills and revving up for our end-of-summer mock trial. My week began with a new research project regarding motions to compel, which I enjoyed because I did not have much experience with that kind of motion. Later in the day, all of the summer associates took turns taking a mock deposition of a plaintiff. Because I had never done one before, I had no idea how it would go, but partner Skip Eubanks, our mock witness, kept the deposition interesting from start to finish.
Thursday was a fun and packed day for me both in and out of the office. I spent the morning working on some of my pending assignments before the summer associates met with partners Scott Sarason and Suzanne Singer for our direct and cross examinations seminar to prepare us for our direct and cross examination workshop the following week. Their presentation was fantastic and provided great real-life examples of what they have done during trial. In my opinion, cross examination is the best part of a trial, but it takes a ton of preparation to successfully execute, so I am looking forward to seeing what I come up with for next week’s workshop. After the meeting, I immediately headed to the conference room to join everyone for a firmwide AI training. We watched a presentation on the pros and cons of using AI in a legal setting and how to prepare for the future where AI will become an even bigger part of the field in general.
Most of the attorneys and I left the office a little early to head to St. Petersburg for a Rays baseball game. Before heading into the Trop, we had a tailgate in the parking lot where I spent most of my time in a very heated battle of cornhole. Partner Rob Blank and I fought a tough battle against Robert Barton and Joe Connick, but it came down to a tie-breaker that did not go in our favor. No matter, at least we watched the Rays beat the Yankees in a game that was almost as heated as our cornhole tournament.
Friday quickly rolled around and it was time to argue the Daubert motion that I had written a few weeks earlier. Partner Samantha Duke served as the presiding judge and, as usual, I was nervous for the workshop. However, as soon as I got my introduction out, the argument came naturally to me and I had a lot of fun with it, especially on rebuttal!
One of the highlights of the week was learning more about the mock trial that is coming up in a couple short weeks. On Friday, we were paired up with our partners, and I am super pumped to be working with Erica in the Orlando office for this case! I can’t wait to see how it comes together.
