Elizabeth Eunjoo Kim – McDermott Will & Emery LLP
"My first job was at a nuclear physics research center in France, in the southern suburbs of Paris. The research center was housed in buildings that were sufficiently isolated from shops and other businesses, so that everyone went to lunch at a central cafeteria within the research center. My biggest surprise on the day I started my first job was the sight of huge jugs of red wine that were provided on each table in the cafeteria, during lunch hour. I watched with interest as people matter-of-factly poured and drank glasses and glasses of wine with their mid-day meal, then went right back to work. Although I was too worried about later dozing off on the job, to follow their example, no one seemed to fall asleep in the afternoon."

David A. McKay – Ropes & Gray LLP
"My biggest surprise when I started my first legal job was the realization that the practice of law is both art and craft. So much of Law School is theoretical; ivory tower musings about whether given a certain set of facts there is or is not a contract (the A answer usually being 'maybe'). In the first year of practice a lot of your time is spent in getting the closing documents done or the right number of properly bound copies of a brief filed.  As you move on more and more of your work returns to the theoretical. At this point I am mostly a problem solver and have terrific young lawyers just beginning to learn the game, taking on the 'craft' parts of the job."

Manisha H. Bhatt – Greater Boston Legal Services
"My biggest surprise was how much I still had to learn about practicing law.  I thought after I had taken the bar exam that I was very knowledgeable about the law and law practice.  When I started working, it was then that I realized the bar exam was just the beginning!  My goodness I had so much to learn!"

Wm. Shaw McDermott – K&L Gates
"To be addressed as 'Mr. McDermott' by the senior lawyers and the staff at my first private practice job in Boston required an adjustment in thinking, as I had just emerged from working on a Presidential campaign where I was called every name you can imagine, but never Mr. McDermott."

Elizabeth N. Mulvey – Crowe & Mulvey, LLP
"My first job was as a page in the public library when I was 14, earning the magnificent sum of $1.00 per hour for six hours a week.  At the end of the month, I got my first check – less than $20.00 when taxes and FICA were deducted.  Hardly enough to buy a new sweater, even then."