Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, LLP

   Julian Zebot
   University of Minnesota Law School, 2003
   2002 Summer Associate
  

Coming into my summer at Maslon, I had high expectations for my experience at the firm. The previous fall I had agonized over the offers that I had received, finally deciding upon Maslon because of the quality of the firm's attorneys, the firm's atmosphere, and my desire to gain an actual sense for the life of a starting associate in private practice. With regard to all three of these decisive factors, I was not disappointed. In fact, my initial expectations as to what the experience would be like at Maslon were vastly exceeded.

The people that I met and worked with on a daily basis, from the secretaries and paralegals, to the attorneys themselves, were wonderful. To repeat an old cliché, people at Maslon take their work, but not themselves, seriously. As a whole, Maslon is a collection of unique personalities, almost spanning the entire human spectrum of traits and interests.

What unifies this diverse assortment of individuals is unquestionably Maslon itself. People at Maslon tend to view the firm as a place where the practice of law can be both fun and challenging, but, at the same time, not all-consuming. While the attorneys and staff often work long hours addressing their clients' legal issues, the firm as a whole recognizes that its employees also have lives outside of the office. In this regard, Maslon has made many affirmative efforts to ensure a positive work-life balance for its attorneys, including allowing part-time status for both partners and associates, parenting leave for both mothers and fathers, and, when one attorney's spouse was temporarily assigned to a job overseas, telecommuting. In short, a concern for the individual defines the firm's culture and atmosphere.

Last, but not least, Maslon strives to provide its summer associates with a realistic work experience. While I enjoyed plenty of food and a nice mixture of social events over the course of the summer, I was impressed by the lengths the firm went to expose me to life as a new associate. The projects that each of the summer associates received were reflective of the type of work associates handle when they arrive at Maslon. Over the course of the summer, I got to work with pretty much all of the litigation partners and associates, as well as a number of the firm's corporate attorneys. I wrote a summary judgment brief in a lender liability case and got to visit a client's headquarters in order to present and explain a mechanic's lien issue to the client himself. As with the people at Maslon, the work was varied, but always interesting.

As I look back upon the summer I spent at Maslon, I would wholeheartedly recommend the firm to anybody who is looking for, as I was, a firm where attorneys perform interesting and challenging work in a wonderful, supportive environment.

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