A Week in the Life of Brad Liggett
I could not have expected a better summer at Ross, Dixon and Bell, LLP. RDB provides the summer associates a perfect balance of real-world legal experience and social activities designed to allow the summer associates to truly get to know the firm, its culture, and its people. In order to give you a realistic picture of what it’s like to work at Ross, Dixon & Bell, I would like to share with you a week in my life as a summer associate at RDB’s Orange County office.
Monday
July 30, 2007: The alarm sounded much earlier than usual this morning. I wanted to hit the snooze button to steal another precious few minutes of sleep but I knew I had to get an early start if I wanted to make it down to North San Diego County in time for the the start of the trial. Since the beginning of the summer I had been looking forward to observing Mohammed Ghods, Tom Prouty, and Craig Barnes try their big case. I had even done some work on the case leading up to the trial, so I was especially interested to see how the case would play out in the courtroom.
I arrived just in time to see RDB rest its case before the jury. Afterwards, the jury was excused and RDB’s attorneys and opposing counsel argued several oral motions, some of which went our way, and some of which did not. Mo, Tom and Craig did not seem shaken by any of the judge’s rulings. After the motions, the court adjourned for lunch and we got a bite to eat at the nearby restaurant and discussed the case. Back in court, opposing counsel started questioning his first witness, who was an expert witness. As the opposing counsel continued with his questions, I found myself slipping into slumber. I figured that the dry subject matter was the cause of my lapse in attention but I sprang to consciousness as soon as Mo began his cross-examination. He actually managed to make testimony about loan documentation seem interesting. I found myself hanging on his every word even though I knew nothing about the subject matter he was addressing. I wasn’t the only one interested. I looked at the jury and noticed that their eyes and heads moved towards Mo like a magnet each time he spoke. I was not surprised to learn about a week later the jury awarded our clients a multi-million dollar judgment in compensatory and punitive damages.
After court, all of the RDB team, including the clients, went down to a nearby restaurant and talked about the case. I really enjoyed meeting the clients. I could finally put faces to the names I had heard mentioned so many times. The clients beamed with admiration as they praised my colleagues for such a successful day in court. After about an hour of discussion, we all headed home.
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