My first week at Rumberger was exciting! On Tuesday and Wednesday I was in the Orlando office for training and orientation. We covered everything from billable hours to research. After our first day, the other Summer Associates and I were treated to a fun experience at an escape room in Downtown Orlando. I am happy to say that the “Rumburglars” (our team name) broke the record for the fastest time escaping the room with seventeen minutes left on the clock! It was great to get out of the office with some of the attorneys and staff to unwind after a long day of training.

After a very productive day and a half, I was eager to get started. Once I was situated back in the Miami office, things began to pick up and I attended my first Attorney’s Luncheon in the boardroom. I enjoyed listening to the case brief presentation. To me, this was a great way to stay informed on current case decisions all while spending quality time with colleagues. By the end of Thursday, I was busy researching issues regarding compliance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and expert disclosures. To understand the issues I had been tasked with evaluating, I spent a considerable amount of time looking through the case file to understand the issues that caused the lawsuit to arise. Aside from researching procedural compliance, I began to look into creating a checklist to be used in the defense of trucking accident litigation. As I am sure I will learn very quickly, a necessary skill in practice is organization. I will never forget the one takeaway of litigation that my 1L Civil Procedure Professor drilled into my memory—Prepare for trial! Looking back, I know exactly what he meant now. As the litigation process develops in a case, it is important to make sure everything has been accounted for; this is where checklists come in handy!

On Friday, I went to lunch with a couple of associates—Maggie Sanders and Stacy Mateu. It was great getting to know them outside the office and I am excited to become more familiar with everyone as my summer at RK progresses. By Friday afternoon, I wrapped up my first week by attending the deposition of a fact witness for an upcoming case with associate Victor Sanabria. While I’ve read about and completed some “practice” depositions in my time at UM Law, listening and watching it for a real case (as opposed to a hypothetical case) was much more informative and I’m excited to learn more at our upcoming seminar!

Week one exceeded my expectations and I am looking forward to a great summer at Rumberger’s Miami office!