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In this YouTube video, Karla Kraft, a partner at Stradling, Yocca, Carlson, and Rauth, gives insight into the daily professional life of business litigation attorneys.
In her practice, she has done a great deal of breach of contract work, dealing especially with mergers and acquisitions that have gone awry. She has also done work involving trade secrets and unfair competition statutes. On the consumer front, she has worked on mortgage class actions.
Karla points out that business litigation is never the same. A business litigation lawyer should expect to deal with different businesses, learn about different industries, and encounter various types of problems. Indeed, there is no such thing as a typical day in the life of a business litigation lawyer. A single day can include everything from taking depositions to making pre-trial preparations to making advice calls to clients on retainer.
One of the hardest things to learn is the procedural rules—figuring out the details of filing motions and meeting court-mandated deadlines. But there are some things that new lawyers should learn to enjoy early in practice. These include research, writing, and investigation. As you move along in your career, you should get involved in cutting-edge issues. Learn to develop and make arguments on how to extend the law to protect your client’s interests and perhaps set new legal precedents.
