To say that the first week at RumbergerKirk was exciting would be selling things way too short. After the Memorial Day holiday, the first week started off with a trip to the Rumberger Orlando office. While waiting in the airport, I met the other summer associate in the Miami office, Katherine Becerra. We planned to stick together just in case the experience was intimidating. In the end, we had nothing to worry about because everyone made us feel right at home.
The trip to Orlando wasn’t all work, though. Along with learning about the firm, we were also treated with lunch, dinner, and happy hour! This was a great opportunity to meet more of the associates and partners in an environment outside of the office. This was by far my favorite part of the trip!
The next morning was my first day in the Orlando office, where I met the other summer associates from Tampa, Orlando, and Birmingham. With all of us together, we met with the nearly everyone in Orlando during office-wide breakfast. This was a great opportunity to ease into the day before learning about the firm and how to do all that stuff they don’t teach you in law school like filing systems, billing, and just generally how to work at a law firm.
On the way home, with Florida being Florida, the flight back to Miami was delayed for hours because of the weather—but even that couldn’t dampen my excitement to start working the next day. On Thursday, I started my first day at the Miami office, where I toured the firm and was surprised to see my own name on one of the office doors. This was definitely a great first impression! After touring the office and meeting my neighbors, I met with all the attorneys during the weekly attorney’s luncheon. These luncheons, while fun and filling(!), are also informative. Each week a different attorney briefs a couple of cases for those attending the luncheon—something all of the summer associates will also have the opportunity to do.
The rest of Thursday and Friday was spent actually working, which is more exciting than it sounds—I promise. Right off the bat, I had two assignments to work on that would culminate in a written work product due the following week. It was exciting to speak with the partners, figure out what they need, and then sit down to do the work. In just my first week, I had the opportunity to work on briefing an issue for the court and a research assignment on a motion for sanctions. After the research assignments, I was asked to actually draft the brief and the motion. So far, things are off to a great start!
