Life as a junior associate

Alum, colleagues discuss joining a firm after law school

—By Kendall Davis

A business is confronted with a legal issue. The business calls a law firm, which begins staffing for the case. It might be handed off to a senior associate, but that associate’s plate is too full. It lands on the desk of a junior associate – you. Given this great and important responsibility, you revisit the chain of events and begin to consider the best way to solve the client’s legal issues. And so the adventure begins.

Such is the life of a law firm junior associate, as delineated by five attorneys from Kaye Scholer LLP who spoke to USC Law students about associate life on Feb. 26. The panel included Steven Werth ’99, bankruptcy lawyer with Kaye Scholer; Jan Dodd, senior partner; Elizabeth Sluder, corporate associate; Jonathan Rotter, litigation associate; Oscar Ramallo, litigation associate; and Tim Gloege, corporate associate.

Junior associates have a unique position to take an “extra step ahead of the game,” Sluder said. “At Kaye Scholer, there’s no shortage of opportunities. We actually fight over cases.”

At Kaye Scholer, new attorneys are given big responsibility from the outset, according to the panelists.

“As a first year, you are probably looking up a corporation, how to form it, and what the various entities are,” Dodd said.  As a senior partner, one of Dodd’s main responsibilities is shepherding new talent the firm has recruited.

Like most large law firms, the Kaye Scholer practice falls under two umbrellas: litigation and corporate law. The corporate department handles IP work, finance and transactions, while the litigation department covers product liability, commercial litigation and antitrust. 

“I love litigation,” Ramallo said. “When I was little I would watch shows like ‘Law and Order’ and dream about being an attorney in a courtroom.”

Even as a young associate, Ramallo has the opportunity to directly interact with the court. “I get a lot of court time,” he said.

Werth spends a lot of his time writing and drafting documents in bankruptcy law.

“Writing is critically important. The most important skill you can develop is to write correctly,” he said 

For students unsure which career path to take, the panel assured them that there is no rush to decide. 

“Wait until a summer program to choose between litigation and transactional law,” Dodd said. “I think I can speak for everyone – all of us are doing something different than what we were interested in when we got out of law school. Spending time with people will let you become more familiar with the path that you want to take.” 

For Sluder, the journey was and is the most important part. “Pay attention and learn from people. That’s the secret to success,” she said.