This post will not be quite as savory as the last (I dream about that Nutella cake), but I promise to deliver a topic just as deliciously exciting: regional transportation! I’m looking at you, fellow land use law enthusiasts (yes, they exist).

Last Thursday I accompanied my mentor Eric Singer on a tag-along to the 2013 Transportation Summit for the Miami-Dade region. The event brought together community stakeholders including elected officials, citizen groups, national experts and residents of the Miami-Dade area to engage in an important dialogue about the future of the region’s transportation networks. Eric and I arrived to the summit in style via the Metromover, of course.

Bilzin Sumberg is involved in many local development and transportation projects and it was great to see the firm keeping a finger on the pulse of the community by sponsoring and attending this type of conference. I also appreciated Bilzin Sumberg’s attention to my own goals. I’ve been interested in these types of growth issues for years and was pleasantly surprised to have the firm so quickly provide this opportunity to dive into the action here in Miami.

Continuing the day’s theme of community involvement, that same evening the summer associates were invited to attend the Miami Dade College Alumni Hall of Fame awards ceremony on behalf of Bilzin Sumberg, a sponsor of the event.  A live jazz band, dinner, and a promise to release the audience before the Heat game began made for an enjoyable evening.

In the five short days of my first week at Bilzin Sumberg I witnessed first-hand the firm’s strong commitment to the citizens of the Miami-Dade area and I look forward to playing a role in Bilzin’s presence in the community. Stay tuned for our Community Service Project Day at the end of the month!

 

The award winning bake-off entry

It is that time of year again! The Bilzin Sumberg Summer Associates are back to inform and entertain you with our blog posts. Members of the original cast (Amy, David, Kyle, Michael, and Shalia) are preparing for the Florida Bar Exam and we wish them the best of luck. I am back for my second summer with a new set of spectacular summer associates: Carly, Eryca, Naomi, Adam, and Om.  We are all excited to spend the summer at the firm.

As a returning summer associate, I am so happy to reconnect with the attorneys I met last year and get started on new projects. This week, I was reintroduced to the firm’s protocols during orientation. Aside from the classic trainings with our IT department and librarians, the annual bakeoff between Jessica Buchsbaum and Paul VanderMeer happened this week. 

Last year, to Jessica’s dismay, Paul’s fruit tart won the grand prize (read: bragging rights). This year, Jessica captured the voters’ hearts and bellies by incorporating the one ingredient no one could resist: Nutella. Although Paul’s vanilla crème brulee and chocolate tarts were delicious, Jessica won the bakeoff with her strawberry Nutella cake.

During orientation, we were also given an overview of what this summer has in store for us. The summer calendar is filled with opportunities to get to know attorneys and their practice groups. Some new additions to the calendar include bowling at Lucky Strike with the Corporate & Tax group and the women attorney’s Nordstrom event. Next week, we are taking a tour of Miami on a yacht with the Land Use and Real Estate groups. Overall, the summer is off to a great start.

First Day! L to R – Om Pandya, Eryca Schiffman, Veronica Gordon, Naomi Alzate, Carly Grimm and Adam Fischer

Today we officially welcomed the 2013 Summer Associates!

Most of the day was spent in orientation, but they’ll be picking up assignments tomorrow and blogging by the end of the week.  This year, I am most excited about the changes to our real estate mock transaction – maybe you’ll even see a blog post or two about the revamped program. 

Right now, the focus is on getting them integrated, acquainted with their mentor, and settled.  And there are plenty of assignments awaiting them. . .

In preparation for our 2013 Summer Associate program, we’ve been working on a project that will be a useful tool for our incoming summer classes.  This project quotes anonymous evaluations of previous summer associates by Bilzin attorneys over the last few years and is broken down by topic.  These topics include attitude, time management, preparation & organization, attention to detail, communication, writing and oral presentation.  This chart of “The Do’s & Don’ts of a Successful Summer” will provide a glimpse of what the attorneys like and don’t like in terms of the topics listed above.  However, it does not include “off the record” type tips like the ones listed below.

  1. Stay current with firm news – read the posts on the firm website, firm blogs and any news on the firm intranet.  It’s always good to know what’s going on around you and this helps with conversation topics as well!  It also helps to read the local newspaper to see if any attorneys are quoted or to have a few cocktail reception talking points of interest.
  2. Get Involved – Get to know all levels of attorneys and staff  where you spent your summer, participate in all offered events as well as events with your mentors and fellow summer associates.
  3. Be Well-Rounded – Try to not be too much of anything and be open-minded about practice areas and assignment types, don’t shy away from something because you don’t know how to do it.
  4. Immerse yourself in the Magic City – Don’t just learn about the firm’s or organization’s culture; learn about the Miami culture too.  Go to different neighborhoods and try doing fun things outside of work that aren’t already part of your awesome summer event lineup!
  5. And last but not least, genuinely care about your summer – If you care about your job, it will show in your work product and people will notice.

We are so excited to welcome our new summer class within a month! Our team has prepared what will undoubtedly be a memorable 9 weeks of summer at Bilzin and we are looking forward to a very successful summer.

The Dodge Squad

Last night, the Bilzin Sumberg Dodge Squad squared off against three other South Florida law firms in a dodgeball tournament to raise funds and awareness for United Way of Miami Dade. 

We risked life and limb (both as players and spectators), but our awesome coaches Al Dotson & Bryan Hawks made sure everyone brought their A game and team spirit.  We also had some very special guests (including Zo!!) on our team – Kyle Morabito from last summer and Adam Fischer, an incoming 2013 summer associate. 

While we weren’t able to bring home the championship, the evening benefited a great charity and we all came together with the common goal of pounding other law firms with foam balls.  The proceeds from the event were significant, so our community was the real winner.  Besides, we always have next year!

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We are excited to have concluded our recruiting for the 2013 Summer Associates and are looking forward to another great summer.  The future bloggers (aka, our incoming summer associates) are:

We’ve settled on the date for the start of the summer program in June and have encouraged the summer class to get in touch with each other; hopefully, they’ll have the opportunity to get to know each other before the summer starts.

Now that we’ve concluded our summer recruiting, we can focus on building the summer programming and thinking about mentors.

Adam Lustig, Eryca Schiffman (2013 Summer Associate), Michael Levine and Adam Fischer (2013 Summer Associate)

We are  pleased to share that we concluded our 2L recruiting a couple of months ago, and will have five 2L law students in the 2013 Summer Associate Program. 

A full blog entry will be posted when our summer class is complete – we began our 1L interviewing this month.

Last week, we had an opportunity to introduce the first year associates and some of the 2012 Summer Associates (our first bloggers!) to a few of the the incoming summer associates (future bloggers!) at the firm’s year-end party. 

I think everyone enjoyed the company, the venue and the food!  It was a nice opportunity to appreciate how lucky we are and to wish everyone a happy, healthy and bright 2013!

Here are some additional photos from the party:

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First Year Associate, John Atkinson, reads to preschool students as part of the Read for the Record program.

. . .and practice makes perfect.  So, last week 12 attorneys and managers read – to preschoolers – the book Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad by David Soman as part of Read for the Record, an international event aimed at raising awareness about the importance of reading to young children. 

We’ve written about the value of community involvement and pro bono during the summer associate program here and here, but it was nice to see some of our first year associates taking that to heart as they start their legal careers. 

It was also really fun to see John Atkinson interacting with preschool children.  I can assure you that was the first time these junior associates read about ladybugs during the workday!

Each of the twelve volunteers read to a class of children at Catholic Charities Sagrada Familia Childcare Center, a center serving low income families in Miami, and United Way Impact Partner.  Our participation was part of our involvement with the United Way of Miami-Dade.

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L to R: John Atkinson, Kathryn DeMarco, Rena Kelley, Daniel Tropin & Brandon Rose

Whoops!  I meant, Five Law School Graduates Enter a THE Bar.  It sounds like the start to a corny joke, but it’s not. 

We are delighted to announce that five of our first year associates were sworn into the Florida Bar this afternoon. 

The Honorable Ellen Leesfield administered the Oath of Admission in a private ceremony in her courtroom.  Judge Leesfield spoke to our newest associates about maintaining professional integrity and developing a strong professional reputation early in their careers. 

The post-ceremony lunch with family and spouses was a nice way to celebrate a big day.  Congrats to our newest bar members!

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The 2011 Summer Associates show up for work! L to R: Wendy Francois, John Atkinson, Rena Kelley, Kathryn DeMarco and Brandon Rose

In my previous posts, I’ve discussed how our attorneys enjoy the summer program.  We get equally excited about the incoming first year associates.  All of our hard work recruiting, selecting, mentoring, training, and getting know the summer associates is rewarded when they show up at our door as first year associates!

Yesterday, the 2011 Summer Associates joined the firm as attorneys.  We couldn’t be more delighted to welcome them and an additional first year associate (not pictured: Daniel Tropin) to the firm.

Welcome to all of our first year associates!