After months of being excited to begin the Summer Associate Program at RumbergerKirk, my first week has come and gone – it flew by! I began the week by traveling to Orlando for a couple of days for orientation before joining the Tampa office. When I arrived, I checked into The Grand Bohemian, which is by far the cutest hotel I have ever stayed and I am definitely hoping to go back sometime.
The work began on Tuesday morning when I promptly headed to the Orlando office. The Summer Associates and I were greeted with a breakfast and all of the Orlando staff lined up in the hallway to greet us. They did an awesome job of making us all feel welcomed and we got the chance to tour the newly renovated office.
Around lunch time, we were accompanied by associates Sara Kallop and Enyi Uche to a wonderful lunch at The Boheme. There, we discussed our goals for the summer and what we hoped to gain from the program. After lunch, we continued our training where several people took the time out of their day to teach us integral parts of our job such as time-keeping, performing legal research, and managing the computer system. We ended the day at Reyes Mezcaleria for dinner, and I am still dreaming about the flank steak tacos! The next day, we finished orientation by going through some paperwork and eating lunch together. Then, it was time to say goodbye to everyone as we all headed back to our home bases. I was sad to be leaving the Orlando office, but so excited to see what Tampa had in store for me.
Before I knew it, I was headed up to the 20th floor of the Regions tower to begin my time in the Tampa office. The first thing I did was head to my own office and I cannot get over the amazing view. I have to say that one of the most memorable parts of my first week was looking out of my office window and seeing manatees in the water for the first time ever!
After getting a tour from my mentor, associate Blake Bonsack, and meeting everyone in the office, I continued to work my way through some training videos. I was able to go to lunch with some of the partners and associates and it was really nice getting to know everyone a bit more.
To end the week, I completed my training videos and attended a meeting with partner Steve Klein to hear all about our writing competition. The memorandum that we are drafting is based on an actual case, so I am super excited to work on it. I cannot wait to see what opportunities I will get in week two!
