Informational Interview Report: Associate Attorney
[Thanks to AB for sharing her informational interview with an associate attorney.]
My current goal is to find a definite major that will guide me toward a satisfying career. Law and government have stood out as top interests for me, so I chose to interview a friend who is an associate at a top Bay Area law firm that mostly does commercial litigation. I met my friend about three years ago when her boyfriend was one of my roommates.
My focus for the informational interview was to get an idea of what major my friend decided on and what her position entails. Political science and law are my top major options and with my friend’s help, I hope to feel more confident that I am on the right path so far.
Since my friend lives in the East Bay, it was easier for her to provide interview answers through email. I emailed her a list of 13 questions:
- What is your job title, and where do you work?
- Briefly, can you let me know how you got to where you are today?
- On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being “VERY MUCH” and 1 being “NOT SO MUCH”), how much do you enjoy your job overall?
- How long have you been doing this job?
- How did you become interested in this field?
- What are your responsibilities?
- What is a typical day like?
- What kinds of accomplishments tend to be valued and rewarded in this field?
- How relevant to your work is your undergraduate major?
- What skills, abilities, and personal attributes are essential to success in your job and in this field?
- What current issues and trends in the field should I know about?
- If I wanted to start in this career area, how would you recommend that I go about pursuing this career path?
- Any other career planning tips?
- If you had a chance to do it all over again, what would you have done differently?
Although we were unable to meet in person, the email method provided a lot of information that I was able to look over many times. Being able to physically have her responses gave me time to process and review what information would be relevant to me.
1. What is your job title, and where do you work?
I’m an associate in the East Bay office for a law firm that mostly does commercial litigation.
2. Briefly, can you let me know how you got to where you are today?
The only real requirement for my job is to be a practicing attorney licensed in the state of California, so I went to law school and took the bar exam.
The job that I have now is mostly civil litigation, which means it’s helping people resolve disputes about money—not jail time.
My law school has an interview program set up that helps students meet with law firms during their second and third years (law school is three years). During my second year, I interviewed and was offered a position at a law firm in DC but realized that I didn’t want to move out of California. So, during my third year I interviewed again and, luckily, was able to get an offer at the firm where I work now.
3. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being “VERY MUCH” and 1 being “NOT SO MUCH”), how much do you enjoy your job overall?
I’d say 8. I really love being a litigator. It’s the only job I’ve ever wanted, and I’m very grateful to have ended up at a firm that does almost exclusively litigation.
The only reason that I didn’t put it as a 10 is that sometimes, because these cases are rather large, they can move slowly, which means I’m not in court as often as I’d like to be.
As an example, the complaint in one of the matters I’m currently working on was filed in 2010—which is the same year I started law school—and it hasn’t gone to trial yet.
4. How long have you been doing this job?
I’m starting my fourth year with the law firm.
5. How did you become interested in this field?
I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer. I think most people have an inherent sense of what’s right or wrong, but they are sometimes hesitant to use the court system because it can be difficult to learn the rules and understand the process. I wanted to help make the courts available to people who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to use them.
6. What are your responsibilities?
Most of my responsibilities are looking up information and making sure that when I search for things, my search is thorough and accurate. For example, right now I’m working on a breach of contract claim, and one of the main questions is when the other side learned about a specific fact.
In order to know that, I run a bunch of searches through a document database to try to identify any email or text message where they might have written about this thing—then I create a chronology of those documents to try to determine the date.
Some of the more fun responsibilities in my job are working directly with clients to give them updates on the case and to give them enough information about what we have found so that they can make an informed decision about what they want to do (go to trial, try to settle, etc.).
Some of my cases are complex, meaning they have a lot of defendants or a lot of plaintiffs. When that happens, I spend a lot of time coordinating with the other attorneys representing the other parties to make sure that the logistics of everything are worked out.
7. What is a typical day like?
I’m usually working on two to three cases at a time and have a handful of long-term projects for each of them. Sometimes that means doing case law research to help support a motion we want to file; sometimes that means looking at the documents produced in the case to identify the ones that are most helpful (or harmful); and sometimes that means sending emails back and forth with co-counsel, the client, or opposing counsel on more administrative matters.
I work in small teams with a handful of other attorneys. Typically we divide up projects and each has ownership over specific tasks, but sometimes for large projects or things with a very quick turnaround, I work with another attorney on the same project.
8. What kinds of accomplishments tend to be valued and rewarded in this field?
The obvious answer is that people reward attorneys who are successful at trial (or in helping their client reach their desired outcome before trial). However, because trials are rare, people also value attorneys who do thorough research and are clear writers.
Most of my job is some combination of figuring out what questions need to be answered, finding answers to those questions, and then clearly communicating those answers to my boss so they can decide what are the best next steps for our team.
9. How relevant to your work is your undergraduate major?
Mine happened to be very helpful. My undergraduate degrees are in political science and political philosophy, which basically means I spent a lot of time learning about how the federal government works. That ended up being helpful for my job as a lawyer because I already had a sense of how the court systems worked.
Also, because many of my clients are seeking to use a government agency (as opposed to another private party), a lot of the time I spent in my undergraduate program talking about the rules for how the government makes rules (administrative law) ended up being the same kinds of things that I do now.
10. What skills, abilities, and personal attributes are essential to success in this field?
Lawyers spend a lot of time reading, so it’s helpful to be a quick and careful reader.
Because of my age, I am in a bit of a middle position in the office. Part of my work is delegating projects to junior associates and trying to give them as much context and direction as necessary so that the work product I get back will be helpful, and the other part is getting projects from more senior attorneys and trying to figure out what type of work product they want so that I don’t have to re-do projects a second time.
In either situation, it helps to be able to clearly communicate and to anticipate problems before they arise.
11. What current issues and trends in the field should I know about?
Because the law is such a broad field, it’s hard to pick up on topics that are applicable to everyone. However, the Ninth Circuit recently issued an order on the President’s executive order travel ban. Washington state challenged the ban arguing that it violated two provisions of the Constitution (the equal protection clause and the due process clause) and that it violated a few congressional statutes about administrative procedures and immigration.
When you file a lawsuit, if the harm that you’re suing about is something that is going to happen immediately, you can seek something called a temporary restraining order. That forces the other party to stop what they are doing even before you have a trial.
The trial court judge in the Washington case issued a temporary restraining order that prevented the government from enforcing the executive order even while the trial on whether the order was constitutional was pending. The federal government then asked the Ninth Circuit for a stay, which would have the effect of staying (or stopping) the enforcement of the temporary restraining order.
The Ninth Circuit heard the argument earlier this week and decided that it would not grant the stay that the federal government sought because it was likely Washington state would succeed on its claim and the type of harm that the executive order would cause was irreparable.
12. If I wanted to start in this career area, how would you recommend that I go about pursuing this career path?
The good news for this question is that becoming a lawyer is a pretty structured process. To get into law school there is an entrance exam called the LSAT. Other than that, the application process just requires a resume, essay, and a few reference letters.
Law school is three years. About a third of the classes are mandatory, but the other two-thirds can be anything that interests you.
Once you graduate, there is another exam called the bar. This one is state-specific, so if you move you have to take it again. Once you pass the bar, there are a few continuing education requirements, but that’s it.
13. Any other career planning tips?
I’d recommend talking to a bunch of lawyers to see what they do and figuring out if you really want to be a lawyer.
Because law school is so expensive, there is some danger that you might pay for school, realizing it’s not what you want to do as your job, and then be stuck paying off all that debt for a long time. I saw a few people I went to law school with get stuck in this position and it was really rough for them.
Other than that, the best thing to do is to buy an LSAT prep book. In the same way that SAT scores impact which colleges people attend, LSAT scores impact which law schools are available to you (and sometimes how much financial aid those schools might offer you).
14. If you had a chance to do it all over again, what would you have done differently?
When I went to law school, I thought that I wanted to do criminal law, so I took mostly criminal law classes. Once I graduated I realized that I wanted to do civil law. So if I had it to do over, I probably would have waited a little bit longer before going to law school in order to figure out what I wanted to do. That way I might have picked classes where I would have learned some things that are more relevant to what I ended up doing on a day-to-day basis.
Other than that, I probably would have taken more opportunities to go to networking events or meet with other practicing lawyers. Almost every time when I have a question, there is someone else I can go to in order to ask for advice because it’s an issue they have dealt with before. The more people I know, the more wisdom there is to draw from.
Reflection
Initially I was unsure if choosing to major in political science was a good starting point towards legal work. While doing some online research I came across sources that claim that statistically, students who major in political science are less likely to get into a law school than someone who majors in subjects like mathematics, economics and engineering. My friend’s path, political science and political philosophy, offered me some relief for my internal conflict regarding choosing a major.
The most exciting part of the career for me would have to be the knowledge of relevant current events. My friend’s reference to our current political conflicts regarding the 9th circuit and the travel ban is a superb example of what inspires me. The undeniable interweaving of law and politics proves again that political science as a transfer major is an efficient path towards a career in government or the legal sector.
Ultimately, I walked away from this project with a positive impression. However that’s not to say I have zero concern over my career success.
The lengthy legal process could certainly discourage someone with little patience. I am no stranger to this concept, having been on the other side of a lengthy immigration case for the last four years or so. However, with the expectation of required patience, I can start acquiring the skills it takes to retain fortitude for drawn out cases, being that I choose a field involving legal justice.
I am very satisfied with the outcome of my first informational interview and think it was a great stepping stone towards finding a compatible career for me.
My only concern is that minimal knowledge of the general field may be preventing me from having more detailed inquiries. Conducting another interview once I’m further into my schooling will most likely give me a better sense of what are the most important factors for me in a particular field.