© 2024 Lloyd & Mousilli. All rights reserved.
Licensed in California, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Texas, Washington, the District of Columbia, and before the USPTO.
University of Houston
University of Houston Law Center
The rich text element
Rida Sarwar is a rising 3L at the University of Houston Law Center. She has received a B.B.A from the University of Houston in Supply Chain Management, a certificate in Analytics, and a minor in political science. This background has uniquely prepared her for a legal career in the intersection of business and policy.
At UHLC, Rida is the Editor-in-Chief of the Houston Journal of International Law. She is also serving as the President of the Association of Women in Law. In addition to her organizational positions, Rida has earned awards for her legal research and writing including scoring the highest in her LRW course and for her comment entitled “Cyberchase: The Need for Improved Cyberspace Regulation in the Midst of an AI Arms Race.”
Rida has previously clerked for Judge Yvonne Ho for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas and as a Law Clerk with a Fortune 100 company’s legal counsel. Upon graduation, Rida hopes to use her experiences to work with data privacy and emerging technologies.
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Rida Sarwar is a rising 3L at the University of Houston Law Center. She has received a B.B.A from the University of Houston in Supply Chain Management, a certificate in Analytics, and a minor in political science. This background has uniquely prepared her for a legal career in the intersection of business and policy.
At UHLC, Rida is the Editor-in-Chief of the Houston Journal of International Law. She is also serving as the President of the Association of Women in Law. In addition to her organizational positions, Rida has earned awards for her legal research and writing including scoring the highest in her LRW course and for her comment entitled “Cyberchase: The Need for Improved Cyberspace Regulation in the Midst of an AI Arms Race.”
Rida has previously clerked for Judge Yvonne Ho for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas and as a Law Clerk with a Fortune 100 company’s legal counsel. Upon graduation, Rida hopes to use her experiences to work with data privacy and emerging technologies.
My first week as a summer law clerk for Lloyd & Mousilli has been marked by warm welcomes and surprises. The first week is always the most nerve-wracking as a law clerk, especially when starting at a new firm. L&M has been a pleasant surprise in this respect. Throughout my interactions this week, everyone has proven to be friendly and open to conversations.
While this week was technically dedicated to introductions and onboarding, I have already begun substantive work. As my first rotation, I have been assigned to the Intellectual Property team. After initial introductions, the team began to give me background on their current projects and find ways to introduce and incorporate me into them. As I look forward to the following weeks of my rotation, I am excited at the breadth of work available for me to participate in.
My tasks this week largely centered on various onboarding tasks. The most helpful of these tasks was an attorney scavenger hunt where I was assigned various attorneys to meet with. This assignment allowed me to meet people and get to know the dynamic of the firm in an easy way.
My first substantive task is to put together a draft proposal for early-stage startups and small businesses about the importance of registering copyright protection for their websites. This project will carry over to next week, but I have begun to research and draft how to best convey this information.
The IP team has given me a research project evaluating how litigious a company is and what the treatment of different conflicts have been in the past. This is a relatively simple project to start with but a great introduction into how L&M approaches strategy for new clients.
The most important thing I learned this week was how to adapt to a remote working lifestyle. Prior to L&M I have never worked fully remote. This makes L&M unique but also takes an adjustment. What helped me the most was communication and organization. Communicating gave me better insight into my tasks and how the firm works. Organization has helped keep me accountable for the future.
My second week at Lloyd & Mousilli has had a slower pace than the first. This was actually nice, because it allowed me to settle in and find ways to contribute to my team. I was able to better understand our client base and the ongoing projects we had in representing them.
My task this week was a continuation of the research project from last week which consisted of evaluating how litigious a company is and what the treatment of different conflicts has been in the past. This task took far longer than expected because there was little to no information on the subject. However, I was able to use this to still help the team better understand the opposition.
I also was given tutorials on several different types of trademark documents. I was able to learn how to fill out trademark applications using intake forms and specimens provided.
I also continued to put together a draft proposal for early-stage startups and small businesses about the importance of registering copyright protection for their websites. This week I worked to draft, edit, and finalize that paper.
Learn how to ask for feedback. I was asked to do a quick assignment the week before that did not go the way I expected. We were on a time crunch and in attempting to provide a quick answer, I did not explain myself well. This led to me redoing the assignment and providing a more in depth answer.
The next week, I met with the attorney for that project. I chose to bring up my response and ask for feedback. Although it was intimidating, it is an important part of the learning process. It ended up actually giving me more confidence in my work, and I was able to learn about how to approach similar assignments in the future.
This week, I've been more actively incorporated into my team, which has been incredibly rewarding. After a slow last week, I'm now working back up to full speed, taking on more assignments and projects. My team has been incredibly supportive, providing valuable feedback and guidance that have helped me enhance my skills.
I started off the week working on a group project. The other clerks and I were tasked with a research project covering procedure for state courts. This was a great experience because it was the first assignment that was collaborative. It was a chance to learn from each other and see how different our research methods were.
The trademark team is working to reorganize client folders. I worked this week to audit client files and look for missing information.
My favorite substantive assignment was working on a one-pager on the Spectrum of Distinctiveness for the trademark team. This pager would be used to give out to clients to help them come up with new, stronger trademarks by giving an overview of the concept and how L&M could help. I had previously learned about this topic in my courses but getting to review the topic enough to explain to others was a great exercise in expanding my knowledge.
My final training this week consisted of looking over office actions for trademark applications. This was a great opportunity to use my course knowledge in a real application.
This week I learned about the value of learning. Through my assignments this week, I was able to learn from others as well as teach others. This was incredibly rewarding because I found that it was one of the best methods to increase my knowledge and expertise in an area. Most of the concepts I covered this week were ones I was already familiar with. But I was able to solidify concepts that I was already confident about while finding new ways to intake information. Whether it was learning from my fellow summer clerks or finding out a way to tell clients about a complicated topic, this week showed me how to take the most out of my projects.
This week picked up speed, and I finally felt the broad range of work that L&M covers. Throughout the week I was pulled onto different projects that allowed me to flex and grow different skills. I also had the opportunity to meet with my mentor, which was an exciting introduction, and a true opportunity to learn.
The trademark team put together a trademark search workshop. In the workshop, we were given the basics of how to use the TESS2 system. We also had the chance to practice searching trademarks which was really helpful because by itself the information can be difficult to digest.
As a follow-up assignment to the trademark search workshop I had done earlier in the week, I was tasked with running a trademark search for a client. The goal was to identify any marks used with similar or related goods/services that could be confusingly similar to our client’s mark. I kept track of the searches I used as well as the results I found for later inspection.
I worked with the trademark team to work through some office actions that needed to be filed. Although this is a simple process, it requires attention to detail because doing this response wrong can lead to more time and resources being allocated to a simple task.
I drafted a one-pager analyzing domicile address requirements for trademark applications. The information covered why choosing an address is important and how a client can protect their privacy when providing an address. This ended up being a deep dive into how domicile addresses work specifically under guidance from the USPTO. Different clients may have different requirements and those are important to consider individually when advising.
My Friday ended up being filled with an assignment to draft a letter to client executives covering estimated costs for a potential trademark task. This task required me to digest information that I was not familiar with and organize it into a clean and readable format. The most important thing I kept in mind with this task was my audience. Because this was going to be a draft ending up with a client, I focused on making sure that the deliverable was visually easy to understand.
My final assignment for the week was another group project that will likely carry over into next week. The clerks were tasked with refining legal support used in a document by examining and briefing all cited cases. Additionally, we will be going through to see if there are more recent cases on point and more cases that are factually similar.
This week I was finally able to touch base and talk with my mentor, Mac Leckrone, who is the source of this week’s advice. Going through a clerkship, or any kind of introductory position, we are learning a large amount of information in a short amount of time. It is easy to fall into a cycle of learning how to do something and repeating the same pattern of application. Learning the steps to do something is the best foundation for legal skills, but it should not be the final goal. As lawyers, our job is to help our clients fix problems and also help them avoid ones in the future. This means that we should understand more than just surface-level understanding of their business. Instead, we should do our best to understand the intricacies of the ecosystem that they have created, because ultimately, it is all connected. In other words, take the extra step to flex your creativity and problem-solving skills to truly level up and make the most of your opportunities.
This week was an exciting transition to the litigation team at L&M, focusing on work with the litigation partner Lema. Prior to L&M, I don’t have much experience working with litigation matters. Coming from my previous judicial clerkship, it will be interesting to see the work done on the other side and I have already gotten my first taste with my assignments this week.
The beginning of this week was focused on finalizing an assignment from last week. The clerks were tasked with refining legal support used in a document by examining and briefing all cited cases. This task took a lot of time and focus. Reading case law and briefing it to pull out the most important points can be a difficult task, especially when it is your first time learning about a topic. It was an exercise in analysis and endurance to keep working through the case law. Without the other clerks, this task would have taken me double the time, so it was a good project to work on together.
As part of my continuing work with my mentor, I am working through understanding and breaking down a licensing agreement. This week I worked to analyze the first two sections, consisting of background and details. This format differed from previous contracts that I had worked on but the style made it easy to digest and learn from.
I am currently working through a Motion for Leave to File 2nd Amendment Complaint. This, like most things related to litigation, is something brand new to me. I have started the process by looking through the client file and trying to get an understanding of the arguments.
Towards the end of the day I have started working on another more general assignment of drafting an article for marketing the litigation practice.
My advice this week is to take time to get oriented when doing a new assignment. Sometimes, diving in works well, especially if you are on a tight deadline. But if you have the time, take it and try to understand the client and their needs because we are clerks who are joining already established projects.
Sometimes life throws a curveball, and you can’t also see it coming. I am from Houston, and this week the city was hit by Hurricane Beryl. Many people, including myself, were without power or internet for days. It was difficult to deal with trying to balance a crisis in my personal life while still trying to keep up with professional responsibilities. I was constantly thinking about all the things I had due, but was unable to keep up with. Thankfully, we had power restored towards the end of the week and I am working on getting back to baseline.
I was still able to connect with my mentor this week as we continue to work through understanding and breaking down a licensing agreement. This week we talked through what rights were granted and the importance of including certain language in a contract.
I am still working through an arbitration motion for the litigation team. This task was severely delayed thanks to the weather. I am now trying my best to learn and work at the same time, but this has definitely been one of the most difficult tasks since starting my clerkships.
Like I said, this week has been unexpected and full of challenges. Any career requires you to balance your personal life and your work expectations. Even if times where everything is out of your control, it's important to do your best to keep making progress any way you can and go with the flow for the rest of it.
Today, I’m looking back on a pretty challenging but rewarding week. I have tackled several litigation assignments that were completely new to me, and while it wasn’t easy, I have learned a lot. Going through this week definitely felt very sink or swim at moments, but I have worked to create new skills and learn the most I can.
We also had the all-hands meeting, which is essentially a check-in for the entire firm to see the progress made so far and to establish goals for the future. This meeting gave me a better view of how the work I am doing is contributing to the firm and gave me a chance to interact with the teams I haven't met. Something that stood out to me was that each team has a true passion for the work they are doing. When the practice groups were presenting highlights of the year so far, it was clear that they were working at L&M because they enjoy the work and wanted to be there.
I started off my week by finalizing the arbitration motion I had been working on for the litigation team. Coming into this assignment, I thought litigation was all long documents and extensive arguments, but this assignment showed me that sometimes simplicity and clarity are better.
A task that took me much longer than expected was drafting jury instructions. As someone with little experience in litigation, I had never seen jury instructions and didn't know what they needed to have. It took time to dissect the arguments, and what needed to be included and then draft. This assignment was the most challenging one so far.
My next assignment was the easiest of the week. I looked over a lis pendens notice, and made sure that it followed all requirements.
My final assignment this week has been to draft a 91A motion to dismiss. This assignment is in the starting stages but will likely be an exercise in persuasive arguments.
Reflecting on a week filled with challenges and growth, I’ve learned a few key lessons. When tackling new assignments, simplicity and clarity can often be more effective. It’s normal for some assignments to take longer than expected, so give yourself the time to understand the nuances involved. Finally, view each task as an opportunity to build new skills and enhance your expertise, even if it feels overwhelming at times.
This week marked my first experience with the corporate group, which I have been looking forward to especially because I want to pursue transactional work. I primarily worked alongside Mac and Marlene, shadowing them during various meetings and observing their interactions with clients and other groups. Throughout these sessions, I made it a point to note down things that piqued my interest, and I followed up with questions to better understand. The weekly review meeting stood out to me because it showcased the collaborative effort required to serve a client effectively. The integration of different work to achieve a common goal really showcased the firm's operations. Overall, my time with the corporate group is off to a good start, and I am eager to continue learning and contributing to the team.
I had a chance to meet with Feras, Megan, and Allie to discuss my 60 second legal video outline. We discussed the topic I chose, arbitration, and the best way to reach the targeted audience. This exercise forced me to use different skills than you normally do during law school. Instead, I had to work from a business perspective, and think about how to make the information easy to understand while still being engaging.
One of the sessions from this week was a meeting with a new client. Prior to the meeting, we received several documents that helped us understand the client’s position and goals. I took the time to look through the documents and try to gauge how the firm would help them.
Because this week was so meeting heavy, I was able to get a lot of information about how different clients work with different teams. It is easy to focus on the questions and answers but there is also something else that you should keep an eye out for. Almost as important as the information (if not more) is the dynamics that you perceive. This gives you extra insight into clients, how they operate, and what they may need but don’t always verbalize. This skill is almost like a sixth sense, and in my opinion one that you should take the time to develop.
As I near the end of my clerkship, this second-to-last week has been focused on wrapping things up. I am still working closely with the corporate team, focusing mostly on IP work. This week was particularly meeting-heavy, with much of our focus on advancing things that were already started. Outside of meetings, I dedicated time to refining my 60-second legal video, ensuring it clearly and concisely communicates the key concepts for arbitration.
This week we reviewed the contract section focusing on the terms and termination section. This section is crucially important because a well-written clause can protect your interests now and in the future.
The trademark team put together a lunch and learn workshop focusing on trademark basics. This workshop served as a good recap of my time with the trademark team. However, I also found that the workshop would be highly applicable to the potential client intake simulation we will be doing later.
I have begun drafting videos for my submission of 60 Second Legal over arbitration. I spent the early part of the week revising my outline and the past couple days doing draft takes. It has been challenging to balance including all the information necessary while keeping the information interesting.
The last thing I worked on this week was researching how to cancel a Sales and Use tax permit for a Texas LLC. I began by researching the requirements outlined by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. I reviewed their official website to identify the specific forms and procedures necessary for cancellation. Additionally, I looked into any post-cancellation obligations, such as final tax reporting, to ensure full compliance.
As I am approaching the end of my clerkship, I feel like these final tasks are an accumulation of the past 8 weeks. I am still working to refine my skills but the continuity with the corporate team has helped me deepen my understanding of contract drafting, especially around critical clauses. Balancing information and engagement in my 60 Second Legal video is a key takeaway skill that will help both client communication and legal presentations. As I wrap up my clerkship, I think it is important to focus on integrating all the experiences I have had over the summer into a skill set that I can use in the future as well.