Dec. 14, 2013

Panelists dish on life beyond law firms at trial lawyers event

Fenwick & West LLP's San Francisco office hosted an Association of Business Trial Lawyers event Dec. 3 on life beyond the law firm walls. Rees F. Morgan, an associate at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP and former assistant U.S. attorney, said his former job is best described as "predictable insanity," and involved constantly being reassigned to different jobs. "Right when you get comfortable and have a bunch of trials under your belt, they say, 'Congratulations! Now you're doing white collar criminal investigations." Gregg S. Farano, director of legal services at Cisco Systems Inc., said his company's commercial litigation staff includes him and one other person. With offices around the globe, there is always litigation going on somewhere. He said there is a huge variance in the types of matter and you never know what will come up. "Every morning you're kind of shaking when you pick up the phone and see what's there," he said. Jessica J. Tipton, corporate counsel for Ruckus Wireless Inc., said one challenge of working in-house is that she's often writing company policies that will be read primarily by nonlawyers. "My GC insists they all be one page and engaging, so try that," she said with a laugh. Alameda County Superior Court research attorney Philip B. Obbard said his job didn't have the pressure for billable hours that law firm careers involve, but there is a constant stream of tasks that must be accomplished within 48 hours of his receiving them. One of the things he misses most about working at a firm is having a happy client after a big victory, he said. "The closest thing you get is being confirmed on appeal, which is like saying, 'Yeah, you did it right.'" — Joshua Sebold