A Day in the Life of a Litigation Associate

8:30 a.m.  I arrive with a cup of coffee in my hand and I start going through my morning mail.  I then turn on the computer.  Not too many unread e-mails since I carry a BlackBerry™ and have already checked it several times since I woke up (yeah, I am a classic A-type).  I skim a few on-line news sites and then listen to a couple of voicemail messages; one from a partner Tracy about drafting a motion to compel production of documents, and a second from Vicky the General Counsel of a client who wants to get my thoughts on a brief we received yesterday from the opposing party.  I return the client's call and leave her a message.  I then give Tracey a call and she asks me to come to her office to discuss. 

9:00 a.m.  I swing by Tracey's office and talk about some licensing agreements that the other side refuses to produce.  Tracey suggests three arguments for the motion to compel and I suggest a fourth.  Tracey agrees with my suggestion and says she wants me in on a 2:00 p.m. telephone conference with opposing counsel concerning the requested documents.  I talk for a few more minutes about the practice group retreat in Napa Valley before heading back to my office.

9:35 a.m.   The phone rings and its Vicky.  We go over the brief we received yesterday from the opposing party.  We discuss the strength and weaknesses of the brief and discuss the timeline for our response.  Before heading to the Library to do some research, I stick my head in Anne's office and ask if she wants to go to Starbucks now (our daily ritual).  She says she is too busy and starts to give me her order, but I convince her to come.  We talk for a bit over coffee about the usual stuff and head back.  With the help of the Librarian, I locate five cases that support my arguments for the motion to compel, but I also find two cases with contrary holdings.  I write an e-mail to a couple of more senior associates, mention this apparent split in authority and ask for guidance.  One of them, John responds almost immediately, saying he wrote a memo on this subject that explains how to distinguish the less favorable cases; his response e-mail has the research memo attached.  At the bottom of the e-mail, John reminds me that we should finish up that article on complex litigation, and suggests that we meet Thursday evening to do a final review and then go out for drinks. 

11:00 a.m.  I begin looking for a model motion to compel and locate several that are current and appear well-written.  I decide to go with one that happens to have been written by my summer mentor, Steven (an awesome karaoke singer).  About an hour into drafting, I realize the structure of the model is not quite right and will need more tweaking than I thought.  I decide this is a good place to stop and head out to lunch.

12:10 p.m.  I meet five fellow associates in the building lobby for lunch.  We were all summer associates together and joined the firm around the same time.  They have all become close friends and we hang out on some weekends.  We go to a great sushi place down the street from the office.  Sushi on Wednesdays has become a weekly event.  The five of us end up spending nearly an hour talking about "American Idol," the price of gas, and work/life balance.  Soon, my BlackBerry™ vibrates, reminding me how quickly an hour can pass.  It's an e-mail from Ted, another partner I work with, who wants to talk about a complaint I've been drafting.

1:10 p.m.  Back at my desk, I call Ted about the draft complaint, and he asks me to stop by with my draft.  Knowing that Ted doesn't like to read from a computer screen (he often makes fun of himself being such a dinosaur), I print up two hard copies and head over to his office.

1:20 p.m.  At Ted's office we go over the draft complaint and tells me some new ideas he has thought of for the complaint.  Ted says he likes the draft complaint but we should add two more claims.  We discuss why the additional claims make the case stronger and what additional facts need to be included in the complaint to support them.  Although Ted is fairly sure that we still have a month to file the complaint, he asks me to quickly look up the statute of limitations on the two additional claims to make sure he is correct.  As I leave, Ted asks if I am going to the practice group retreat and I tell him yes; he volunteers that his wife can't wait to get to Napa.

1:40 p.m.  I'm not more than ten minutes into researching the statute of limitations question when my computer's calendar reminds me of the 2:00 p.m. conference call about the motion to compel.  I grab a notepad and head over to Tracey's office.

1:50 p.m.  When I arrive, Tracey and I talk about the cooperative approach to discovery we want to accomplish during the teleconference.  But when we get on the call, we aren't completely successful – the other side is playing hardball.  After the call, Tracey tells me I will need to start drafting a motion to compel but that I should first draft a confirmation letter to opposing counsel describing the fact that they continue to refuse to produce the requested documents and that we will be moving to compel production unless the requested documents are not produced in two business days.  Tracey explains that she would like the letter to go out that evening.

3:45 p.m.  Luckily I've written many similar confirmation letters.  So, I pull one up and send a complete draft of the letter to Tracey for her review in less than a half hour. 

4:20 p.m.  Tracey responds stating she only has a few minor edits.  I edit the brief and send it to opposing counsel.  Tracey also tells me that she needs to leave because she is taking a potential client out to dinner and the theater, and so we make plans to talk in the morning.

4:45 p.m.  I turn back to the statute of limitations research and quickly find the answer in a well-known practice guide.  After sending Ted an e-mail confirming that we still have more than a month to file the complaint, I continue drafting the motion to compel.

7:00 p.m.  Having made quite a bit of progress on the motion to compel I head out for the evening; the malls are still open and I want to buy some new jeans for the Napa trip.