Teacher of the Year

NEW YORK – It was my third day at Weil and I was starting to settle into my Litigation rotation when my assignment coordinator called. She asked me to reach out to one of the Securities Litigation partners for an assignment. I sent him an email (after reading it over many times) and promptly received a response asking me to join him in his office for a call. Little did I know, I would ultimately be tasked with answering a client question, with three partners awaiting my findings.

I sat in on the call, listening to the debate regarding the key issues – all the while writing furiously. As the call came to a close and I jotted down the action items, I noticed that my name was next to a fairly substantial question. I would be insincere to suggest that I wasn’t terrified. Everyone else was so senior. I just got here, what if I got it wrong?

Luckily for me, the supervising partner turned out to be one of the most patient and generous teachers I’ve had. He took the time to sit with me and develop a plan of action. He distilled my task into digestible bits and regularly met with me to discuss my findings and to help me refine my research and work product. Not only that, he arranged a meeting with the other partners where he gave me the opportunity to present my findings.

I have to say, as terrified as I was initially, the supervising partner made me feel supported and valued each step of the way. Over the course of five weeks, I’ve learned so much about being a better researcher, a better writer, but mostly the type of lawyer and teacher I would like to be.