NEW YORK – To be completely honest, being a 1L summer associate at a big firm can be intimidating, even for those of us with significant prior work experience. Armed with a good grade in contracts, one may feel more confident participating in the market, negotiating a lease or trading promises for peppercorns. Yet your first few weeks in big law, you’re suddenly thrown into a world not of contracts and consideration, but of structured finance, bankruptcy and complex corporate transactions. You move from trading peppercorns to stuffing them into special purpose machines, exchanging spices with other restaurants to hedge against future shortages and seasoning the food of every patron…