“I’m Excited to Go into My Second Year of Law School with the [Knowledge] That I Gained Here.”
My name is Rachel Sigmund. I went to Penn State University undergrad. I graduated in 2010 from the honors college with a bachelor’s of science degree in psychology with a concentration in business and I went immediately went to law school. I went to Rutgers School of Law. I intend to graduate in May 2013. This is my first summer and I going into my second year. I was a summer associate in the Transactional Department but I also was able to do a lot of work with landlord-tenant department and with real estate litigation matters. I didn’t know what the summer was going to bring when I first started especially since I had not worked with a firm before so I didn’t know what to expect but to be honest this was an absolutely amazing experience. I can really say that I wanted to come to work every day. I did get to work with Adam Leitman Bailey directly. We worked on an article together which was for a Commercial Leasing Publication. In the Transactional Department, I did a lot of public closing statements. Any time an attorney was needed, the partner in the Transactional Department would go to a closing, there is tons of documents that go along with it that the purchaser and the seller both have to sign so then this needs to be all compiled and then sent off to our clients so there is a lot of work involved in putting it all together so I do a lot of that. I also did a lot of research for landlord-tenant and real estate litigation. I would help put together a complaint. I would draft a memorandum of law. I would look up cases that attorneys were using in some of their memos or complaints and lots of other things in between. The large overall thing that I learned from working here was just how a firm works in the real world. Only going through one year of law school you are not sure exactly what and how everything applies in the real world. The biggest thing I gained from working here was, definitely some confidence that I gained from being able to come into a firm and establish relationship with attorneys who have been in the field for a long time with a lot of more experience than me. I was able to hold my own and learn so much and be trusted with assignments and it was a really good feeling knowing that I was helping out, you know, saving them some time on things and it gave me a lot of confidence. I am thankful that I am in my second year law school with what I gained than what I gained from here and the knowledge. The best aspect of working here is the environment of the firm itself all the employees and attorneys work together so well. Everybody is personable and approachable. Everybody is willing to help… I really felt since day one that I was wanted here and I was welcomed with open arms and I never felt scared if I wasn’t sure of something which is, you worry when you are new and are not familiar with a lot of the things that they are doing.