Week two proved to be just as eventful as week one despite a long holiday weekend. Although the firm was closed for Memorial Day, I spent a couple of hours in the office trying to get a head-start on the week since I knew the workload was about to pick up in speed. Those few hours spent on Memorial Day were useful because the first day back on Tuesday was anything but slow! I started my day with two research assignments dealing with third party personal information being used for pattern and practice discovery and a Title VII class action issue. The Summer Associates’ first seminar was also held that day on motion practice with Orlando partner, Dan Gerber. During the seminar, Dan laid out the structure of how to organize and effectively communicate a motion to a judge so we would be prepared to present our motions on Friday.

Wednesday was a big day! Dan Gerber invited me to attend a hearing on a motion for partial summary judgment first thing in the morning. I have to say, this was hands-down the coolest hearing I had ever seen! Since Dan was the moving party, he went first and walked the judge through the facts and the law that addressed his motion. I was sitting at counsel’s table frantically taking notes when I noticed how organized and easy to follow Dan was at making his arguments. He also tied his presentation together with an analogy, which I thought was a huge homerun. It must have been, because the judge ended up granting our motion! As soon as I heard the judge’s ruling, I had to remind myself to not make a huge, obnoxious smile and to keep my composure (trust me, it was difficult). After the hearing, Dan told me to type up a summary of the hearing and asked that I draft the Order granting the partial summary judgment.

On Thursday, I spent some time catching up. Although I completed quite a few assignments over the last two weeks, my assignment list doubled with new projects this week that kept me very busy. I took a break during lunch and attended the Paul C. Perkins Bar Association luncheon with multiple Orlando partners that included LaShawnda Jackson, Sally Culley, Doug Brown; Orlando’s managing partner, Frank Sheppard, and one of the firm’s founders, Bud Kirk. That evening, I prepared for my first workshop on motion practice that would be held the next day.

I arrived to the office at about 7 a.m. on Friday morning—about a half-hour earlier than usual—so I could read over my outline of arguments for the motion practice workshop. Since the other Summer Associates are located in different cities, we used four-way webcams for the workshop. Jessica and Freddy went against each other first, which meant Jeff and I had to leave the room so we couldn’t hear their arguments. Once it was our turn, I started first since I was the moving party. Jeff had a chance to address his arguments next, and then I used time for rebuttal. We switched sides after and played the opposite roles. Dan Gerber gave useful feedback throughout the workshop and also highlighted the areas where we both did a good job. After the workshop, I was invited to attend the Central Florida Association for Women Lawyers’ monthly luncheon with Samantha Duke. All in all, it was a great week!