Here’s a rundown of just some(!) of my tasks during Week 4:
(1) I met the IP teams and wowza, it’s a different vibe here from the Corporate team! I was glad to see the outgoing co-clerk at both the Trademark meeting and Patent meeting; they were very generous with sharing their IP course notes so I could have a primer on topics I’ve never formally learned about. At one point during the Patent meeting, I heard an attorney describe an invention as involving a “radioactive isotope stored within a metal oxide scaffold in order to produce electrical power” and promptly added the phrase verbatim to my notes, followed by a reminder to myself to look it up later because “wtf does that mean, monkey brain?” Perhaps my expression on-camera was more startled than I imagined. Not 2 seconds later, my co-clerk sent me a private Slack message with the link to the inventor’s website. Another message followed shortly: “It’s a battery, lol.” A million high-fives to people who are chill and want to share their expertise! I am so grateful to my co-clerk for having my back and taking the time to review and share their notes, plus writing out a few laymen’s examples for my benefit. All of this was unprompted! I made sure the Patent group knew about this before the meeting wrapped up. It may be difficult to find a good boss, but I think it’s almost as difficult to find co-workers who don’t view success as a zero-sum game. After a year of only interacting with law students from my school, I’m really glad for the opportunity to make new contacts and friends at different schools this summer. I reached out to ask if they’d be willing to chat for 15 minutes about their experience with the IP group next week.
(2) I had a wonderful and deeply validating conversation with an L&M team member in the IP group. Half of it was done in our native and shared language and speaking with them made my entire week. I realize that, sadly, that this was only my second ever private conversation with an attorney who is a person of color. It was the first time I’d spoken with an attorney whose life experience growing up mirrored so many of my own. Everyone is busy, so it means a great deal to me that they would spend an hour getting to know me better. Again, here comes this theme of L&M being more than just a law firm. This culture is one intentionally made up of people who enjoy working together and care about its newest, although temporary, members. The knowledge that the team wants to invest their time and expertise into me? That’s priceless. I’ll spend the rest of this summer, and beyond, both paying it back and paying it forward.
(3) I attended a bunch of client, team, and private meetings—probably 7-8 hrs throughout the week. This means that I walk away at the end of the day with sheets of differently colored paper covered in various ink colors. I think it’s paid off taking notes that cover what’s going on—so I can provide a thorough yet timely meeting summary to the attorney via Slack afterward. But also taking notes that observe client communication skills, such as when the L&MM explicitly did not do something as I expected. A great way to observe this varied dynamic is to pay attention to when certain members go to different attorney meetings—How do they interact differently with people? How does this information help you succeed in your support role as a clerk? Finally, take notes on deliverables promised by either party—it’s a big deal to alert the attorney on file that the client promised to email us docs X, Y, and Z but only docs X and Y arrived. The L&MM, seeing that you’re taking initiative, may even allow you to hop in on the email thread and communicate with the client yourself!
(4) I had a big pre-OCI callback one morning. In case anything important needed my attention while I was gone, I updated my Slack status accordingly and blocked out the time as “unavailable” in my work calendar. There was a time-sensitive matter that I was keeping an eye on, so I sent a quick message to the relevant L&M team members with their need to know info. As we’ve learned, it never hurts to overcommunicate.
(5) I’ve been responsible for setting up a series of meetings with parties that operate in European timezones. If I was delighted last week to be CC’d on client emails, I’m even more jazzed to be trusted as a point of contact for any matter. It feels great to cover a task in full, knowing that it’s one less thing for the L&MM to have to track themselves.
(6) I received my first trademark project! It’s a great way for me to piece together the more formal training elements that I’ve been receiving during team meetings. The Trademark attorney is later very generous with their time and spends 2hrs walking me through the project and introducing me to the search databases on the USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) website, with plenty of examples and opportunity for me to ask my “big picture” questions.
(7) Because of my earlier Trademark mini-boot camp, I was able to conduct a patent search for an entirely different project! It felt great to be able to flex that developing muscle so soon, and to make plenty of mistakes along the way that meant I was honing my understanding.
(8) I observed an L&MM hold two exceptionally interesting client meetings. The client was stubborn and protective of their original ideas, but the attorney very deftly guided them into considering why certain contract provisions might be better methods of achieving their goals. Both parties were on the same side, working together, but approaching the problem from different angles. As someone interested in international corporate transactions, this was my very first taste of working with international parties and I loved it. I think it’s a superb opportunity to learn something new (and, if you’re lucky, contradictory to your position) when someone disagrees with you and does you the courtesy of continuing to discuss matters. You’ll walk away learning something useful about your position, the other party, or yourself every time.
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