Summer - Part 1
I spent most of the summer in New York. I was working at a big international law firm near Rockefeller Center. Sam, unfortunately, was working in Washington D.C. So after four months in Belgium, we still weren't living together. Besides that one big downside, my summer was pretty great.
I don't want this to seem like I'm bragging, but a job as a summer associate is just about the coziest job a person can have. I was taken out to lunch every day by different attorneys to some of the nicest restaurants in Manhattan. I was frequently invited to events around the city, everything from a Broadway show and a cooking class to a karaoke night and a Yankees game. Almost every evening event was followed by free drinks at some bar. I was paid very well, and honestly didn't have to work that hard. They asked that we spend 7.5 hours a day doing firm-stuff, and this included the long lunches and events. To top it all off, the firm flew all their summer associates to London for a long weekend.
This firm in particular was nice to work at because, though located in New York, it has a non-New York atmosphere in the office. By that I mean that the lawyers don't take themselves too seriously, work a few less hours than the lawyers at other firms and are exceedingly friendly. I shared an office with a friend of mine from law school. We were actually in the same 20 person lawyering group for out entire first year, so that added to my comfort at the firm.
The trip to London was definitely the highlight of the summer. Since I got back from Belgium just three weeks before the trip, I wasn't thrilled to be enduring the lengthy flight back across the Atlantic. Seeing London on a law firm's budget didn't disappoint though. The firm put us up at the Waldorf Hilton near Covent Garden. The rooms and service were incredibly nice, and the beds were miraculous. I'm sure part of it was jet-lag, but these beds felt like the most comfortable I've ever had the pleasure to lay on.
The summer associates went out drinking every night and I acquired a taste for expensive single malt Scotch. We saw a musical there called Blood Brothers. It's been running in London since 1982 but for the life of me, I can't figure out why. It was, by a long shot, the worst musical I've ever seen in my life. This includes some pretty awful high school fare. The best event was a private dinner at Madame Tussauds. We got to have cocktails while touring the museum, then we had a fairly good dinner. Here's a pic of me with not one, but two handsome princes.
During our free time, I checked resist checking out a couple of the museums I had missed when I was in London in February. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London's museum of decorative arts (think fashion, furniture, home appliances, gates and sculpture), was a bit of a let down. There were parts that were interesting, they even have a beautiful statue by Canova, but for the most part the museum seemed like a jumbled collection of things the other museums didn't want. Mostly this meant small groupings of similar work; there was a fashion room and a gate room. Occasionally, this came together well, like in the sculpture room (picture below), most of the time it just looked like a jumble though.
I also visited the National Gallery, which was incredible. No sculpture really, but a fantastic collection of paintings by Da Vinci, Monet, Carravagio, Van Gogh and many others. Unfortunately, no photographs allowed. You'll just have to go see it for yourself.
The rest of the summer went by quickly, and I made a few good friends at the firm. I suppose that's what the firm is going for, since having a social circle at the firm makes us more likely to come back after we graduate. I do feel like I got a good picture of what big firm life is like, though not through first hand experience. I made enough associate friends to realize there is a reason they pay their lawyers so much. The work is very mentally challenging and the hours are extremely long (one of the associates I know stayed at the office all night twice in one week to finish a document he was working on and coming in on both Saturday and Sunday was not uncommon). As a summer associate though, I, thankfully, had my weekends off.
It's getting late, so I'm going to call it a night. I'll try to do part 2 of my summer in the next post. So if you're interested in my trips to D.C. to visit Sam or my trip out to Seattle to find a job, check back soon.
I don't want this to seem like I'm bragging, but a job as a summer associate is just about the coziest job a person can have. I was taken out to lunch every day by different attorneys to some of the nicest restaurants in Manhattan. I was frequently invited to events around the city, everything from a Broadway show and a cooking class to a karaoke night and a Yankees game. Almost every evening event was followed by free drinks at some bar. I was paid very well, and honestly didn't have to work that hard. They asked that we spend 7.5 hours a day doing firm-stuff, and this included the long lunches and events. To top it all off, the firm flew all their summer associates to London for a long weekend.
This firm in particular was nice to work at because, though located in New York, it has a non-New York atmosphere in the office. By that I mean that the lawyers don't take themselves too seriously, work a few less hours than the lawyers at other firms and are exceedingly friendly. I shared an office with a friend of mine from law school. We were actually in the same 20 person lawyering group for out entire first year, so that added to my comfort at the firm.
The trip to London was definitely the highlight of the summer. Since I got back from Belgium just three weeks before the trip, I wasn't thrilled to be enduring the lengthy flight back across the Atlantic. Seeing London on a law firm's budget didn't disappoint though. The firm put us up at the Waldorf Hilton near Covent Garden. The rooms and service were incredibly nice, and the beds were miraculous. I'm sure part of it was jet-lag, but these beds felt like the most comfortable I've ever had the pleasure to lay on.
The summer associates went out drinking every night and I acquired a taste for expensive single malt Scotch. We saw a musical there called Blood Brothers. It's been running in London since 1982 but for the life of me, I can't figure out why. It was, by a long shot, the worst musical I've ever seen in my life. This includes some pretty awful high school fare. The best event was a private dinner at Madame Tussauds. We got to have cocktails while touring the museum, then we had a fairly good dinner. Here's a pic of me with not one, but two handsome princes.
During our free time, I checked resist checking out a couple of the museums I had missed when I was in London in February. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London's museum of decorative arts (think fashion, furniture, home appliances, gates and sculpture), was a bit of a let down. There were parts that were interesting, they even have a beautiful statue by Canova, but for the most part the museum seemed like a jumbled collection of things the other museums didn't want. Mostly this meant small groupings of similar work; there was a fashion room and a gate room. Occasionally, this came together well, like in the sculpture room (picture below), most of the time it just looked like a jumble though.
I also visited the National Gallery, which was incredible. No sculpture really, but a fantastic collection of paintings by Da Vinci, Monet, Carravagio, Van Gogh and many others. Unfortunately, no photographs allowed. You'll just have to go see it for yourself.
The rest of the summer went by quickly, and I made a few good friends at the firm. I suppose that's what the firm is going for, since having a social circle at the firm makes us more likely to come back after we graduate. I do feel like I got a good picture of what big firm life is like, though not through first hand experience. I made enough associate friends to realize there is a reason they pay their lawyers so much. The work is very mentally challenging and the hours are extremely long (one of the associates I know stayed at the office all night twice in one week to finish a document he was working on and coming in on both Saturday and Sunday was not uncommon). As a summer associate though, I, thankfully, had my weekends off.
It's getting late, so I'm going to call it a night. I'll try to do part 2 of my summer in the next post. So if you're interested in my trips to D.C. to visit Sam or my trip out to Seattle to find a job, check back soon.
posted by Matt @ 6:58 PM
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