Bilzin Sumberg keeps all of the summer associates busy and on the move. Whether it be through community involvement, social events, or practical simulations like the mock real estate transaction, our calendars are often full of interesting opportunities to both learn and immerse ourselves in the firm.

Even with all of these activities, the vast majority of our summer is spent working on assignments–real assignments, for real clients.

One of the unique things that sets Bilzin Sumberg’s summer associate program apart is the ability for us to choose our own assignments. As Leah pointed out, we all met on our first day to decide which practice group we were most interested in taking our first assignment from. The next day, we received instructions from Jessica detailing how to access the assignment pool. The assignment pool listed a number of available assignments, from a number of different attorneys. We were each able to pick up our first assignment and start moving from there: Desiree took a Government Relations and Land Use assignment, Leah a Litigation assignment, and Moshe a Business Finance and Restructuring assignment. Jared and I took Corporate & Tax assignments.

 The best part of the assignment pool is that it is constantly being updated with new and exciting projects. We are nearly four weeks into the summer program and have all taken a variety of assignments from different practice groups.  This allows us to get a feel for the type of work attorneys do in each department and also allows for informal mentoring opportunities to arise: everyone that I have worked with has been happy to sit with me and give me feedback on my work product, as well as more general advice about the practice of  law. It has made taking assignments more efficient and made whole departments accessible, and is another great part of working at Bilzin Sumberg.