It is hard to believe that my time as a summer associate is running out. This is my second to last week at the firm so I am trying to talk to as many attorneys and staff as possible in my remaining time. Many people often ask me what kind of events summer associates go to so I thought I would use this blog to talk about the events I have attended this summer.
In my previous entries, I told you about the Boston Pops dinner and concert and the Red Sox box. We actually kicked off our summer with a volunteering opportunity at a local co-op farm where we planted eggplants. It was so interesting because the farm actually employed local youth in the summer to do their planting and harvesting and at the same time use the work as an opportunity to teach them about sustainable farming and conservation of resources. They then sell the fresh locally grown vegetables to their members and a significant percentage of the proceeds go back to charity. The next major event was the softball tournament at Fenway Park. Enough said. Nothing beats seeing your name displayed on the jumbotron at Fenway Park. We also had smaller events such as bowling, Jazz night, and dinner parties at various partners' homes.
The most talked-about event of the summer is probably the hiking trip. Each year for the past thirteen years, my firm has organized a trip for summers, associates, and partners to camp overnight near the White Mountains and hike Mount Chocorua the next morning. It was wonderful because everyone brought their spouse, children, and dogs and got a real sense of each other, not just as attorneys but as people, and over camp fires and s'mores no less.
I know you must be wondering how we get any work done with all these festivities. Well, we apparently found a way. Our managing partner recently informed us at the monthly associate meeting that the billable hours of the summer associates increased fourteen percent compared to the summer class last year.

Posted by Northeastern University School of Law at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have experienced the ultimate good life this past Monday when my firm treated all the summer associates to its Red Sox box at Fenway Park. Prior to this, I have only seen the beloved Red Sox play from the very last row of bleacher seats, and that was before they won the world series and I could still afford those bleacher seats. To see the red sox from the box was, well, a whole different ball game. First, instead of entering the park with the masses pushing and shoving, there is a special door and escalator for the box guests. The box itself is about the size of a large living room with all the amenities of a five-star resort: leather sofa, flat-screen TV, your own rest room with a smaller version of the flat screen appropriately positioned so that you never miss a moment of the game. Then there is the view. What’s amazing is that you can see both the panoramic view of the park and the players up close in the dugout. If you want to get really close to the action, you can leave the air conditioned room to the porch where you are practically watching the ball game on air. Of course all these great views will likely cause you to cheer or boo more loudly than ever so there are tons of food and drinks to replenish your energy. My favorite part was the ice cream cart that came knocking on our door during the seventh-inning stretch. My only regret is that my favorite, David Ortiz, was injured and couldn’t come out to play. But we won anyway, of course.

Posted by Wen at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I’m back just in time for the celebration of the independence of our nation. The last couple of weeks have been busy and rewarding. It is hard to believe it but my summer program is half way over. I had my mid-summer evaluation this past Tuesday and was pleased to be reassured that I’m doing a decent job as a summer associate. This made me think about the difference between law school and law practice and appreciate the importance of a systematic feedback in law firms. Unlike law school where you are entitled to feedback for all the work you do, law practice is a business and highly time-sensitive. Everyone is trying to squeeze that extra half hour out of the day so as well-intentioned as everyone is, voluntary evaluations are rare. Because I believe that getting feedback is the only way a young attorney can learn the trade and learn it well, I really appreciated the fact the summer associates get evaluated twice during the 12-week summer program – once at the six-week mark and once more at the end. Getting this feedback not only helped me become more in tuned with my strengths and weaknesses but also made me think about which practice areas suit my interests and skills.

In addition to the mid-summer evaluation, we also switched offices. I moved from the 30th floor to the 15th floor and am getting to know an entirely different practice area and group of attorneys. Although we have no formal rotations in terms of our assignments, it is nice to be able to “live” on different floors and get a flavor of different practice areas.

To celebrate our apparent success in the summer program, my firm took all the summer associates and their guests to the Symphony Hall (5-minute walk to the law school) for dinner and a Boston Pops Concert. I had never had the opportunity to visit the historic Symphony Hall or experience the Boston Pops so I was completely blown away by how much fun it was. The theme of the concert was “Take me out to a ball game” so they played a lot of baseball related music and even had a former Red Sox player doing a poetry reading. All in all, it was a great conclusion to the first part of my summer associate experience.

Posted by Wen at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)