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ARTICLE · 19 DECEMBER 2014

Letting Go: Lessons From My First Day In Court

Fox Rothschild LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
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Are you a young woman lawyer getting ready to appear in court for the first time? If so, I bet you are both excited and nervous. I know that I was. Let me share my experience with you.

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Elizabeth J. Hampton
Elizabeth J. Hampton
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Are you a young woman lawyer getting ready to appear in court for the first time? If so, I bet you are both excited and nervous. I know that I was. Let me share my experience with you.

I loved the 80′s and I had the big hair, leg warmers and enormous earrings to prove it. When I started law school in 1987, I briefly considered changing my look (so I would fit in) but I was not ready to throw out my Madonna bracelets and hairspray. Letting go of my favorite decade and the terrible fashion would have to wait. I was an 80's hold-out and I embraced it.

Then I got a job. I was going to be a litigator at the firm of my dreams. It was 1991 and I knew that it was time. One of the partners asked me to file and argue a motion to dismiss for failure to issue a summons within 10 days.

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