Workshop with Yulia and Riccardo--A Lesson in Law Firm Flexibility

When I was a summer associate, the firm was always telling me about the lack of a face-time requirement and relatively flexible work schedule--"as long as you get your work done, nobody cares where you are." Ha. Well, I guess this is sometimes true for partners and senior associates, but I had not found this to be true--at all--as a junior associate until just last week.

Maybe it's just because, in between moving from one office to another, I haven't been working with a particular set of attorneys long enough to really know when to seize the (slow) day and disappear for a few hours. I finally gave this a try last week when the stars aligned: work seemed slow and Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi  were offering a three-hour workshop in Orange County that I wanted to attend.

I walked out of the workshop to find an unexpected request that I start and complete a fairly sizable assignment by the next morning when I checked my Blackberry.  I called the partner, got the assignment, had a nice dinner with my friends, drove back to LA and started the assignment.  I didn't sleep at all that night, but I finished the assignment.  Really, it was having my cake and getting to eat it too.  This is what "flexibility" means in a big law firm setting, I think.

I don't regret losing that sleep for one minute--can you believe I got to participate in a workshop with the World Professional Latin Champions!?!  Their dancing was impressive, as always, and they were incredibly charming and patient (there were many beginners in attendance).  I liked that they demonstrated a great respect for one another throughout the workshop.  Perhaps unsurprisingly for a world champion partnership, they were both very detail-oriented and incredibly hard-working.  I expected that they would have this approach to their own dancing, but was pleasantly surprised by their effort in teaching a bunch of beginners.  (At one point, when it was announced that we would take a ten minute break, Riccardo exclaimed "Oh no!  Better only five minutes--how else we get anything done?")  What a beautiful couple, inside and out.

 

While I wish I was further along with my dancing in order to get more out of the workshop, I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity!