A Day in the Life of a summer associate

Stephen Thompson – University of Iowa College of Law

8:20 a.m.
Arrive at my office. I usually begin my day between 8:15 and 8:45. My first item of business is always to check for events on the summer associate calendar. I begin working on my nearly completed draft of a memorandum analyzing a portion of a client’s lawsuit.

9:30 a.m.
Stop by the library and speak with one of the librarians. She has requested that a university’s law library fax a document that I need. (the librarians are incredibly helpful and have never let me leave with an unanswered question.)

9:45 a.m.
Stop by an associate’s office. I completed a rush research assignment for him yesterday and wanted to make sure that I found what he was looking for.

10:00 a.m.
I put in a few more hours on the memo. My goal is to finish it by tonight or tomorrow.

12:15 p.m.
Try out a local sushi bar with other summer associates.

1:30 p.m.
Return to the memo.

2:30 p.m.
Arrange a lunch meeting with my mentor for tomorrow.

3:00 p.m.
Receive a call from one of the corporate associates. He asks if I have time to help in a transaction closing that is taking place upstairs. I clear my schedule for the rest of the afternoon and head to the conference room to assist in document assembly.

6:30 p.m.
Leave the office. This is a bit later than usual, but it was a great experience to see the final stages of a large transaction.

7:00 p.m.
Meet attorneys and other summer associates for our weekly softball game. After the game, we head over to a local pub to enjoy wings and beer.