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Paul VanderMeer’s winning lemon tart

The “freshman fifteen” is a staple of any memorable college experience. You’re living out of the house for the first time, and the amount of fat in the one dish you know how to “cook” is surpassed only by its MSG content. You’re just a swipe away from the dining hall’s endless array of every fried dish you can possibly imagine, and you’re the only one stopping yourself from indulging in that second, third, or even fourth dessert.

As we end our first week at Bilzin Sumberg, my fellow summer associates and I have encountered similar gluttonous temptations. Thursday and Friday mornings’ legal writing seminars were accompanied by breakfast spreads that could’ve fed a summer class twice our size. Thursday evening’s library happy hour included a plethora of delicious finger foods and beverages, both of the adult and non-adult varieties. Finally, Friday afternoon’s bakeoff featured desserts that would’ve impressed Gordon Ramsay, and I’m not just saying that because Jessica Buchsbaum was a star competitor.

The food, while certainly an added benefit, was not the sole focus of this week’s events, which engaged our minds as well as our appetites. During both group and one-on-one meetings, Susan McCloskey provided us with in-depth personalized feedback on the writing samples we had submitted earlier this year. Following Thursday’s happy hour, Paul VanderMeer, Dawn Chavez, and Alena Lowenthal gave us a brief overview of the Firm’s library. Lastly, after Friday’s bakeoff but before the impending sugar coma, Dawn explained the potential importance of print sources and how to locate them to a group of electronically-oriented millennials.

While certainly improving our summer experience, the multitude of food-related events and daily lunch outings have made the “summer-associate seven” an all-too-realistic threat. Thus, we’re very fortunate that the Firm was kind enough to provide free access to the building‘s fitness facilities in order to help ward off this constantly lurking danger. Additionally, while honing one’s legal research and writing skills admittedly might not sound like the most inherently intriguing task, the Firm’s team of experts managed to make it both fun and interesting.