Summer Programs: Chattanooga, TN
Day in the Life of a Summer Associate
By Caroline Stefaniak
Summer Associate:
2004 and 2005
Associate Attorney:
2006-present
A typical Monday morning as a Summer Associate at Husch Blackwell Sanders in Chattanooga might find me getting ready to go to court with one of the Associates to argue a motion I have helped draft. This gives me a chance to see the litigation process first-hand, and a chance to see how my work plays out in an actual case. Back at the office, I check my voice mail and e-mail and then resume work on the interrogatory responses I am drafting. Tomorrow afternoon the client will be coming in for a meeting with the responsible attorney to discuss his responses, and I'm looking forward to sitting in on the meeting. I enjoy working on documents that will actually make a difference in the case.
I also enjoy Husch Blackwell Sanders' open door policy. On any given project, I have the freedom both to work independently and to make as many trips as I need down the hall to the office of the attorney who assigned me the project. The attorneys are helpful in guiding me on procedural questions or brainstorming solutions to tricky research issues. This gives me the best of both worlds at work: the chance to challenge myself on complicated legal questions, but also the security of knowing that there are experienced attorneys ready to guide me when I need it.
When lunch time comes, the other Summer Associates and I join a group of attorneys walking a few blocks to one of downtown Chattanooga's many restaurants. Lunch conversation involves a diverse set of topics – including the new play opening at the theater on Signal Mountain, plans for the upcoming get-together in the firm's box for Thursday night's baseball game, funny stories from the lawyers about practicing law, or national sports events.
After lunch, I review a copy of the memo I finished last week covering a complicated patent issue for one of our clients. I read back over it to remind myself of the research I did and the conclusions I drew, because later in the afternoon I will be participating in a teleconference with some of our firm's attorneys from Chattanooga and St. Louis, as well as a patent attorney we associated with in Washington, D.C. During the teleconference, it amazes me that all of these attorneys developing a strategy to solve a problem for the client are basing their discussion on research that I have done, and a memo that I have written. Equally amazing is that in the course of the meeting, they ask questions to which I have the answers. This meeting highlights another thing I enjoy about Husch Blackwell Sanders Chattanooga, although the office is small enough that I can get to know and work for every attorney in the office, I am working on complex litigation that stretches across the country. It is also nice to have the resources of a national law firm available whenever I need them.
When I leave the office for the day, I take the ten-minute drive across the Tennessee River and enjoy the view: the Tennessee Aquarium, the Hunter Museum, and the River Walk on the bluffs of the south bank, North Chattanooga's shops and houses on the north bank, and the whole city nestled in among the tree-covered mountains. In addition to working for a great law firm, I also get to live in a great city.