It was a rainy Friday morning, as Saron Musa found us a coveted street-side parking spot at the corner of NW 17th Ave. and NW 16th St., in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Allapattah.

Come to think of it, looking at the freshly paved roads, wide and clean sidewalks, and brightly lit pedestrian areas, it seemed like Allapattah may have graduated past the “up-and-coming” stage already. (This seems to also be born out in crime statistics, which show total crime in Allapattah down about 30% over the past 5 years.)

After parking, the biggest concern for Saron, Danielle Hall, Nathifa Parker, and I was staying dry. However, it didn’t take long for us to spot the “red carpet” to our destination. In this case, the “red carpet” was a hot-pink overhang that spanned the majority of the first level of the newest addition to the resurgence of Allapattah—No. 17 Residences.

Continue Reading No. 17 Residences: Where Vision Meets Hard Work

I logged off my computer, changed into comfortable shoes, and headed to the elevators. With our first in-person event underway, I was thrilled to see my fellow summer associates, explore Brickell, and bring out my competitive side.

The summer associates met in the lobby to leave for the Scavenger Hunt that would include associates from all of Bilzin Sumberg’s practice groups. After seeing the evening traffic in Miami, we realized that a taxi ride or a walk to Brickell City Centre would make us late for the social event. Lucas quickly chimed in, “let’s grab a scooter!” After slight hesitation, we checked the time and opened an app to select our electric scooters. We whizzed through the streets of Brickell while laughing and trying our best to avoid any injuries.

When we arrived, Jessica passed around our tablets and dished out our instructions. Our first task: choose a team name. With the mention of cotton candy floating around, we landed on Team Carnival. We hurried through the tutorial and shuffled to the escalators to begin our first challenge. We didn’t know all of the trivia questions about Florida’s official dessert or the number of alligators in Florida, but we knew that we were determined to win. Team Carnival snapped photos and recorded videos of Alex Barshel pausing for the mannequin challenge, Hannah Lidicker showing us her best dance moves, Nathifa Parker presenting some impressive yoga poses, Lucas Pizzutti putting his vocals to the test, and all of us admiring Brian Trujillo’s intelligence. The other two teams, The Winning Team and Power Squad, proved no match for Team Carnival’s skills to outhunt and locate the stores around the shopping mall.

At the end of the evening, we all gathered around a table at Luna Park for appetizers and great conversations. I learned about Saron’s favorite movie, John’s money saving hack, and Franco’s transition from a law student to an attorney. That evening, my team took home the best treasure possible, bragging rights and a stomach full of joy.

The last thing on my mind when I entered into finals season last fall, at the end of my first (and entirely online) semester of law school, was where I would be working in the summer. My first finals season was filled with stress and a total lack of familiarity with the law school system, and the prospect of my first real legal job seemed extraordinarily far away. In a surprise twist, I survived and before I knew it, my spring semester was over and so was my 1L year. Better than that however, was that I even had an offer for a summer job! Jay Sakalo barely finished offering me the position of Summer Associate, before I excitedly blurted out “I accept” into the phone. What seemed to be the worst part was over; I had 1/3 of law school under my belt and had an offer from a formidable law firm in Miami, but soon all the voices from my classmates, professors and acquaintances started creeping into my mind, saying how working at a firm is miserable, with long hours, mundane work and unappreciative bosses; efficiency was maximized and humanity minimized, and soon I began thinking to myself “Lucas, what have you gotten yourself into?” I can tell you, this is not a great feeling especially when you just finished your first year and know close to nothing about anything having to do with the legal profession. As a first-year, I had no experience, little knowledge and a metric ton of anxiety about starting my first job, where I fully expected to be buried under a mountain of infinitely complex work I had no business dealing with, not to mention all of the non-legal logistical work, like keeping track of my time.

I’m coming to the end of my third week now at work and I can confidently say that every one of those people who told me horror stories were wrong. My experience here has been one of support, understanding, and fulfillment. Jessica Buchsbaum and Betsi Cobas have worked tirelessly to make sure we were ready to go and gave a comprehensive orientation where we learned everything we needed to know. When we started picking up assignments, the attorneys have been nothing less than awesome, giving us meaningful and interesting work while going out of their way to help us whenever we need it. People at the firm, be it my mentor or an associate or a partner or staff, have consistently gone above and beyond with offering advice and assistance. Most importantly, the folks here have made us feel welcomed, which is immeasurably kind of them. I’m sure I speak for the other Summer Associates when I say thank you to all, we won’t let you down.

Trivia Night with the Litigation Practice Group

Wednesday night the Summer Associates had our first social event with a Practice Group. Trivia Night, hosted by Carl Boccuti, had us split into groups of 4-5 with the Litigation Practice Group to compete for the ultimate prize, bragging rights for the rest of the summer. The questions included everything from Rihanna’s birthplace to the current location of the Parker Probe. The deciding point came down to figuring out the three youngest U.S. Presidents. After four rounds of challenging questions, the Best Looking Team (comprised of John Trach, Kenneth Duvall, Kayla Hernandez, Melissa Pallett-Vasquez, and Lori Lustrin) took home the gold!

Throughout the game, we were put into breakout rooms to choose our answers and input them into the answer sheet. My team consisted of Lucas Pizzutti, Brianna Sainte (my mentor), Desiree Fernandez, and Shalia Sakona. After some discussion, we decided on the team name “B.L.S.S.D.” as an acronym for our first names and hopefully a predictor of our performance. Woven into the discussions about our answers were some anecdotes. We got to learn more about one another, like Brianna’s budding plant collection, Desiree’s past visits to the Brandon Mall, Shalia’s recent visit to Mexico, and Lucas’ science knowledge. At the end, we took home the silver medal just barely missing the Best Looking Team.

In the main room, you could hear everyone’s reactions to the correct answers being read aloud by our moderator. The different cheers, “oohs,” and laughs simulated what it would be like to have a trivia night in person. A difficult feat, but something that was accomplished by Jessica Buchsbaum’s and Betsi Cobas’ incredible planning skills. Everyone ended the night congratulating the winning team and reflecting on a competitive and hilarious virtual trivia night.

I know this event left me excited to spend time with more Practice Groups and I can’t wait to continue the trend with the Corporate Practice Group in a few weeks!

Brian Adler and David Jessup Jr.

Dr. Maya Angelou left us with the following words: “[P]eople will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Small gestures can have a tremendous impact. Collectively such experiences create a culture. Before I started as a summer associate at Bilzin Sumberg this month, a small yet validating gesture led me to submit an application for employment to the firm.

It was March 2020, days before the world shut down. My day had a rocky start with a “Breakfast with the Bench” event at 7:30 a.m., where a law student’s nightmare came true: I spilled coffee on my white shirt—the same shirt I needed to wear to my interview at another firm later that day between my second and third classes. #MiamiTraffic made the prospect of returning home to change my shirt a pipedream.

But, it wasn’t the Miami traffic that got me; it was the interview at the firm. I received a less-than-warm greeting from the receptionist before waiting thirty minutes for the interviewing attorney. While the interview went fine, upon my departure I was informed by the receptionist that parking wasn’t validated for interviews. So, I returned to campus and entered class late in my stained shirt, with $21 less in my pocket. Continue Reading Go Where You Are Validated

(L to R Jessica Buchsbaum, Betsi Cobas, Lucas Pizzutti, Saron Musa, David Jessup, John Trach, Nathifa Parker, Joseph Beguiristain, Joy Spillis Lundeen and Danielle Hall)

Last Friday, the summer associates and I had the honor of meeting Bilzin Sumberg Partner and Construction Group Leader, Joy Spillis Lundeen. Joy, a recent addition to Bilzin Sumberg, is regarded as the reputed go-to person for all things construction and has an impressive roster of clients.

Born and raised in Miami, Joy reflected on the dramatic changes to Miami’s skyline since her childhood and recalled the excitement she felt, and continues to feel, when admiring the City’s continued development. Interestingly, her passion for construction was largely inspired by her upbringing. Growing up, Joy’s family owned a leading, Miami-based architectural firm that contributed to the development of many well-known structures throughout South Florida. This familial backdrop inspired Joy to study architecture in college and when contemplating an area of law in which to specialize, construction seemed to perfectly align with her interests. Since then, Joy hasn’t looked back as she continues to trail blaze through an often male-dominated construction field.

Continue Reading Constructing Our Future-One Attorney Spotlight at a Time

The summer associates attend their first virtual event (L to R Carrie Waggoner from Flowers for Dreams, David Jessup, Lucas Pizzutti, John Trach, Saron Musa, Jessica Buchsbaum, Nathifa Parker, Joseph Beguiristain and Danielle Hall).

With nearly an entire week under our belts—and feeling adequately oriented—the Bilzin Sumberg 2021 Summer Associates had our first social event!

Like nearly every other aspect of life coming out of the pandemic, the summer program is operating in a hybrid-model. Since that entails continued inside time, Jessica Buchsbaum and Betsi Cobas brilliantly devised a way for us to simultaneously bring a piece of the outside in, exercise our creativity, and laugh with each other along the way. It was certainly a proverbial “three birds, one stone” achievement on their end.

With a box of supplies delivered in advance to my door, I joined a zoom session with Joe Beguiristain, Danielle Hall, David Jessup, Saron Musa, Nathifa Parker, and Lucas Pizzutti. Over the following hour, we each built our own little terrarium worlds; complete with arid succulents, moss, and an air plant.

While it was fulfilling to create a mini-garden with my own hands, I began wondering if there was an intended metaphor with the event. The terrarium could represent our summer program; a micro-sampling of life as an attorney. By creating our own terrarium, was it representing the summer associates crafting their own experience; selecting assignments we find interesting in the assignment pool and creating our own, unique 8 weeks? With Jessica, Betsi, and Jay Sakalo designing the summer program, the layered symbolism was quite likely.

Beyond the realization that this was now a “four birds, one stone” situation, it was the first chance to get know my fellow summer associates after work hours. To no surprise, I discovered that they are every bit as pleasant, funny, and engaging out of work as in it.

As we wrapped up the evening, we all basked in our collective creations; eager to see what the terrarium (aka the summer program) will look like in 8 weeks when we conclude. I am confident we will all be proud of our creations in the end.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

This year, we kicked off the Summer Associate Program at Bilzin Sumberg with a warm welcome from Jessica Buchsbaum, Betsi Cobas, and Jay Sakalo. The Summer Associates and I logged into our next virtual orientation session, and we were honored to see John C. Sumberg, Chairman of Bilzin Sumberg. During the Summer Program’s welcome remarks, Mr. Sumberg shared a few of his experiences and honed in on the importance of becoming involved in the community, building your reputation, and feeding your passions.

As the week flew by, Ed Lintz, Founder of Ready to File Writing, brought energy to our legal writing program. Within moments of finishing introductions, “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift blasted through our speakers, and the countdown began. Catapulted into Zoom breakout rooms, we had fifteen minutes to draft the introduction for a motion to dismiss. The two-hour session went quickly as we learned elements of a copyright claim, drafted a music licensing agreement, and discussed email etiquette at the firm. Ed kept us on our toes by looping pop sensations Taylor Swift, Madonna, and 3LW into our assignments.

We continued with our orientation sessions centered on conflicts, billing, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law. But, the icing on the cake was a virtual meeting with my mentor, Ilana Drescher. We discussed goals for this summer, but most importantly, we updated each other on our lives while munching on lunch. As we jump into assignments and networking sessions, I plan to keep a quote that Jay mentioned at the forefront of my mind–“you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” So, here’s to three-pointers all summer long.

(L to R Jessica Buchsbaum, Betsi Cobas, John Trach, David Jessup, Lucas Pizzutti, Saron Musa, Joseph Beguiristain, Danielle Hall, Nathifa Parker, Jay Sakalo)

Today, we are excited to kick off our summer associate program!

This summer looks a little different than previous summers but we are excited for a hybrid program of mostly virtual programming with a few in person opportunities.  We know the Bilzin Sumberg culture will continue to transcend our physical office and we’ll be able to make the most of those in person gatherings.  The summer associates can expect our signature summer associate program – great balance of substantive work, training, mentoring and  social events.  We welcome back Danielle & John and welcome Joe, David, Saron, Nathifa and Lucas.  We know you’ll enjoy getting to know them more in the coming weeks!

The summer program has been filled with professional development courses through PowerSummer, jigsaw puzzles, coffee breaks with attorneys, negotiation sessions, attorney spotlights, and so much more! As we wrapped up our last week of the summer associate program, we were tasked with closing the deal for the Mock Real Estate Transaction, keeping a secret for a surprised client spotlight, and bringing the heat in the kitchen. 

For the final social event, the litigation department at Bilzin Sumberg joined the summer associates for a virtual culinary class made possible by an Airbnb Online Experience. Natalia Luna and Jazz hosted the Authentic Mexican Salsa course and left us with a taste of their music and city before the night ended. As I shuffled around the kitchen preparing three different salsas, Melissa Pallett-Vasquez served as the narrator for the evening and encouraged all of us to spice up our dishes. Although we were in separate kitchens, all of our salsas looked mouthwatering, and the culinary class created an unforgettable experience.

For the last event of the summer associate program, summer associates were shipped Laurent-Perrier Champagne to celebrate our hard work and determination throughout the four-week program. Partner and Practice Group Leader, Jay Sakalo, led the Summer Associate Farewell Toast with a congratulatory message to the summer associates for finishing the program and endless gratitude towards Jessica Buchsbaum and Betsi Cobas for creating a phenomenal virtual program. Although the countless Zoom meetings have come to an end, we have gained invaluable connections and experiences this summer that will last beyond the program. 

Farewell until next summer.