Nassau Standard

Faith Pappalardo ’21 is an associate at Debevoise and Plimpton, where she is currently a member of the firm’s investment management group. She describes her first year of experience working at a “Big Law” firm and what it took to get there.

Ms. Pappalardo received her undergraduate degree in accounting and legal studies from Hofstra University and then set her sights on law school. She chose to remain at Hofstra and attend Hofstra Law. Looking back, she is certain she made the right decision.

Career Development at Hofstra Law

“Hofstra Law was the right choice for me academically and socially,” she says. “It isn’t cutthroat. At other law schools, it may be hard to find study groups or peers to bounce ideas off of, but I never encountered that problem at Hofstra Law. All of my fellow students were always willing to collaborate and help each other with the material. It was an awesome environment for learning, and there were a lot of career opportunities.”

After the fall semester of her first year, she applied and was accepted to the New York City Bar Diversity Fellowship. “Only four people from Hofstra Law were accepted to the program, after undergoing an extensive interview process,” she says. First, she interviewed with a panel at the law school including the head of career services and three professors, next she attended a month-long interview workshop with previous Fellows, and finally she interviewed with a law firm partner, an in-house general counsel, and a career services professional from another law school. “There was a month-long interview workshop with previous Fellows. I worked with second- and third-year students on interviewing skills and we were constantly doing mock interviews,” she says. “Through the New York City Bar Diversity Fellowship, I was able to secure my summer position at MetLife. During my first summer after law school, I already started receiving interview requests from big law firms.”

“Dean Telfeyan was always very involved, even down to what outfit I would wear to an interview. She helped me to put my best foot forward.”

Ms. Pappalardo credits Senior Assistant Dean Daphne Telfeyan in the office of Career Services Office with helping launch her early career. “Dean Telfeyan in career development was a huge help to me,” Ms. Pappalardo says. “We first met while I was summering at MetLife and Dean Telfeyan listened to which practices of law I would be interested in and helped me with applying to law firms. Before any of my interviews, Telfeyan set up a mock interview for me with an alumni at a big law firm to prepare. Dean Telfeyan was always very involved, even down to what outfit I would wear to an interview. She helped me to put my best foot forward.”

In addition to Debevoise & Plimpton, Ms. Pappalardo also interviewed with other big law firms and received other offers, but she ultimately chose Debevoise after going through the interview process and seeing the differences between firms. “Even though all of the big law firms offer similar legal practices, each firm has its own individual culture, which you don’t realize until you go through the interviews,” she says. “At Debevoise & Plimpton the people are friendly and genuinely care about the people that they are working with. I don’t think I would work in big law anywhere else.”

An Unconventional Summer

Unfortunately, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Pappalardo’s summer associate experience didn’t turn out the way she planned. “Firms were pushing back start dates for summer associates,” she says. “At that time, no one thought COVID-19 would last very long. Finally, Debevoise pivoted to a one month Zoom summer program during the month of July, which included practice overview seminars. Lawyers from the each of the firms practice groups would discuss their practice and would answer questions. Although we may not have had the time to try every practice group because of the pandemic, we did get exposure to everything.”

But Ms. Pappalardo made the most of that shortened summer experience. “Summer is what you make it at a big law firm,” she says. “I met with people from different practice groups individually for virtual coffee. I wanted to get to know the different personalities in each practice group.”

Life at Big Law

After receiving an offer of post-graduate employment from Debevoise, the focus of her 3L year was mostly on academics, although she did continue her participation in OUTlaw and on Hofstra Law Review.

At the start of Ms. Pappalardo’s first year, the firm provided Ms. Pappalardo and her fellow first-year associates with a one-month business education program led by professors from Columbia Business School and Training the Street. The purpose of the program was to teach associates the business side of the legal work they would be doing, including accounting, finance, and international business considerations, before starting their actual work at the firm.

Debevoise & Plimpton offers their corporate associates the opportunity to participate in two rotations in different practice groups before deciding which corporate practice group to join permanently. Each rotation lasts approximately one year to give associates a realistic view of what it would be like to work in a certain practice area. Associates choose which practice group they would like to join for each rotation. Ms. Pappalardo chose to work in the investment management group as her first rotation.

Once the first rotation has been completed, associates choose their next group for another year’s rotation. “After that, most associates choose a practice group from one of their first rotations, although some associates choose to do a third rotation,” she says.

When describing her first year at Big Law, Pappalardo says, “Debevoise has a great collaborative working environment,” she says. “You are even assigned a senior associate mentor and a partner mentor that you can reach out to with any questions.”

The firm is currently working on a hybrid schedule, with attorneys going into the office on two “anchor” days, and a third day of their choice. Additionally, the firm does hold both firm-wide and practice group events.

Life Outside of Big Law

When she isn’t working, Ms. Pappalardo enjoys spending time with her puppy, Twix, and planning her upcoming wedding.

Original source can be found here.