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Do a JoB—Harvey tHe litiGator
“Yes, Your Honor. Thank you, Your Honor.”
And that, thankfully, was that. When I got back to the firm, I went to see Walpin to thank him, and he told me that three days was a surpris- ingly good result and that he thought that Doskow would be pleased. Doskow was pleased. As was I. And so ended my first appearance in a real courtroom before a real judge. I had gotten my feet—and much, much more—quite wet.
A Person in Need of Supervision
It’s no secret that young associates in major law firms seldom appear in court and, as you can see, for good reason. No client wants to pay incred- ible amounts of money only to have its fate in the hands of a total novice. Clients don’t just retain firms; they retain particular lawyers, almost invariably partners, to represent them. Thus, the litigation associate’s life consists of research, document review, and the writing of memos, pro forma stipulations, motion papers, and draft sections of briefs. He or she is an apprentice who, if he or she is fortunate and seen as skilled, will closely watch the masters, aid them in their preparation, and get more and more sophisticated assignments, such as taking depositions and arguing procedural motions.
The motion call for Ambrose was to have been pro forma, and his- tory will record it as such. There was no way that I would have been entrusted with it if it had really required a legal argument. While it was for a paying client, the likelihood is that very little was at stake in the overall litigation. But it was a paying client.
I had two more memorable appearances in the two years that fol- lowed, neither involving a paying client.
The first was a hearing in Family Court that grew out of the firm’s participation in a program wherein big firms donated the time of young associates in order to help staff a Community Law Office in Harlem. (Pro bono activities like that were de rigueur for firms competing for top students in the late sixties and early seventies; my contemporaries were,
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