First Day

Good evening my followers.

Tonight, I am proud to report to you as an official associate at Firm. The image to the left is the view out of my office looking over Times Square and into New Jersey. The office is located between Rockerfeller Center and Times Square.

Pretty nice digs if you ask me.

How did the first day go? Wonderful. I made the right decision in choosing Firm. For a New York City Law Firm, it's an amazing group of people. There are only about 45 people (partners, associates, paralegals and support staff) in the NYC location creating a very professional, but informal working relationship. What's informal? Everyone is on first name basis. Indeed, while other first day associates maybe be reprimanded for other things, I was reprimanded for two reasons: 1) for calling people "Mr. __" or "Ms. __" or "sir" and "Ma'am". It's all first name, named partners on down. Secondly, I was reprimanded for being a Cardinals fan. The later I take solace in the 2006 World Series Championship. (More the NLDS....) Don't get me wrong, Firm is at the top of it's game and does HUGE business with well known clients. Suffice it to say that stock market day trading is no longer an option for me.

What was the first day like? Fun!

"Official" Hours are 9:30-5:30.... if you're not working on an assignment with a deadline. Unfortunately, in my area, deadlines are common. Time is money. Days saved on clearance equals a lot of cash.

I started at 9:30, was shown my office and then did a meet and greet with everyone at the firm. Almost finished filing out employment forms and then went to lunch in Rockerfeller Center. I should be more specific, I ate rink side in Rockerfeller Center. Incidentally, there is a whole underground city under R.C. with lots of shops, restaurants and more!

After a filling meal of seafood, I returned to the office where I finished filling out paperwork and got a crash course on computer programs, document management, e-mail, and yes, billing. Once told that my Palm Treo 750 is authorized, I continued to spend most of the rest of the afternoon finding my way around programs, reading latest developments from DOJ and FTC as well as refreshing myself on legal writing styles.

Later in the afternoon, I put my Corporations knowledge to work and researched the process to incorporate a non-profit, and then quickly drafted the certificate of filing. After hearing more about what the clients wanted, I went home at 6:15.

Got on the wrong subway home, but then resolved to get off and walk a couple blocks home. It was a beautiful day in NYC and I enjoyed the walk.

Tonight, to relax, get things ready for tomorow and do it all over again!