On Memorial Day, Malina and I were super excited to take the Brightline train for the first time and head to Orlando for our summer associate orientation. I was very nervous about how orientation would go and about meeting everyone in the Orlando office. I soon learned that everything would work out perfectly!
I walked into the Orlando office for our first day of orientation with butterflies in my stomach. I was excited to meet all the kind and welcoming partners, associates, and staff members during the office’s breakfast event. We quickly met the rest of the summer associates and realized we were an all-girl group! It was thrilling to talk to the other summer associates about where they grew up and what area of law interested them. Despite being from different law schools, we bonded over our shared law school experiences!
After breakfast, we attended training together to begin our onboarding process. We had fun going to lunch at the Boheme Restaurant across the street with associates Hannah Clark and Meghan Kennedy Marcus. We learned more about each other and discussed any concerns about the workload we would be handling throughout the summer!
After completing all our training for the day, we all sat down to enjoy authentic Mexican cuisine at Reyes Mezcaleria with Director of HR Karen Garcia and associates Graham Marcus, Madison Buckley, Nicholas Sellas, and Mary Hudson. We learned that all the associates had been prior summer associates and loved their roles in the firm. We all bonded over our law school experiences and spoke about some practice areas we wanted to delve into while eating stellar Mexican food!
On Wednesday, we had to say goodbye to everyone in the Orlando office and the rest of the summer associates as we all embarked to our respective offices to begin work. Malina and I hopped on the Brightline train to get back to Miami to start work the next day. On Thursday, I began my first day in the Miami office and was generously gifted a beautiful tropical-looking orchid for my office. I was happy to reunite with my mentor, associate Jessica Kerbel, who gave me a quick office tour. I enjoyed introducing myself to all the welcoming partners, associates, and support staff!
Afterward, I continued to wrap up a few remaining training sessions and attended the weekly attorney luncheon. During the attorney luncheon, associate Katherine Becerra presented two interesting case briefings with the partners passionately discussing the court’s reasoning and how it applied to current cases they were handling. We also spoke with Paul Lipton, RumbergerKirk’s Director of Professionalism, Career, and Skill Development, about the podcast titled “On Civility” that he was featured in and promised to tune in and let him know our thoughts. At the end of the day, Malina and I were welcomed by the partners, associates, and support staff with a wonderful happy hour event filled with delicious food and drinks! I spoke with everyone about my orientation in Orlando and how I liked the Miami office. It was a lovely opportunity to feel connected with the firm.
On Friday, the writing competition was released, and we spoke to partner Steve Klein about the expectations and guidelines of the assignment. I felt nervous about the writing competition, but Katherine calmed me down! Malina and I were invited to a welcome lunch with partners Josh Lerner and Mike Holt at Bonding Thai, where we talked about the limitations of how AI can be used for drafting and our initial assignments. I was given two separate discovery-related assignments from Mike and Josh for interesting cases, which I worked on after a filling lunch. What an incredible first week! Thank you to everyone in the Miami and Orlando offices that we met who welcomed us with open arms!
