As Summer Associates at Bilzin Sumberg, we have been blessed with both an innocuous and nurturing work environment. At times, the legal questions we face can be more overwhelming than the near-lethal scent of the Axe/ Drakkar Noir body spray cocktail that Geoff bathes himself in after the firm-wide yoga classes, and we are lucky to be able to turn to our mentors for guidance (Shout-outs to Craig, Naomi, Phil, Veronica, Mildred, Carly, and Brandon). Thankfully, all of the mentors abide by the policy that “no question is a dumb question”. (Unless you are asking who got the highest score on the July 2015 Florida Bar Exam.)
Our mentors have been especially helpful in navigating the plethora of hearty assignments placed on our metaphorical plates. Every day we are presented with brand new opportunities to practice in unique areas of the law (even though Lauren’s calling might actually be professional poker) . Our assignment pool spans the legal landscape and work is constantly rolling in from partners in Litigation, Land Use, Corporate, Real Estate, Business Finance and Restructuring, and Tax. This variety has motivated and energized us throughout the daily grind (picture this, not this). Although a great deal of our work involves billable assignments incorporating serious client interaction and written work-product, that is not all we have taken on this summer.
We have also worked on non-billable assignments (for the casual reader of this blog post, a non-billable assignment is something that is not charged to a client but is usually more productive than this). Personally, I recently had the opportunity to research Fair Use in Copyright for a blog post commenting on the recent onslaught of copyright infringement suits brought against artists like Madonna, Led Zeppelin, and Robin Thicke. Some of the other summers have been involved in preparing CLE presentations (with a comedic twist) that will be presented to lawyers throughout the year. Thankfully, Jessica had the foresight to match Elise with her mentor Brandon so that he could help her out with some jokes (especially considering that the last time Elise made anyone laugh they fell off their dinosaur… get it?!). The wide range of billable and non-billable work has given us a well-rounded perspective of how the firm is building a sustainable and charitable practice in the national legal market.