A Week in the Life of a Winston Associate – John Secaras

A week in the life of John Secaras as a Winston associate. 

MONDAY

This morning, I made time to attend Winston’s Mini MBA program: Around the Blockchain and learned about smart contracts and earned CLE credit.

Tonight we celebrated closing a major deal with a client dinner at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Chicago. It’s always nice to have these face-to-face opportunities to connect with clients.

TUESDAY

I started my day with a catch-up call with our pro bono partner Equip for Equality—a nonprofit organization focused on protecting the education rights of disabled people in Illinois. I’ve worked with them for several years and now lead our relationship with them, representing multiple clients in the Chicagoland area. Earlier in the year, we celebrated when an autistic kindergarten student who we represented finally gained access to the educational support he deserves. My pro bono work is extremely meaningful to me, and it has provided me with innumerable growth opportunities and the opportunity to work with various attorneys across the firm.

Later in the day, I reached out to the Department’s assignment partner over Microsoft Teams to discuss staffing needs on a deal that’s ramping up.
  

WEDNESDAY

I had an Associates Committee meeting via Microsoft Teams. I’m one of three associates from the Chicago office on the Committee. We discussed the recent shooting in Buffalo and the email from our Chairman about the Firm’s commitment to racial justice and the firm’s Pro Bono Racial Justice & Equity CEASE Initiative, which was formed two years ago and significantly increased Winston’s pro bono commitment to racial justice matters. I feel proud to work for a firm that’s taking action that makes a difference in people’s lives and in our society. 

I ate lunch today while watching Winston’s Time Mastery workshop and earning CLE credit. It was helpful to be reminded of the big picture and I learned some valuable tips on how to be more productive and make the best use of my time.

THURSDAY

I met my new mentee today. We went to lunch at the café downstairs, and he seems like a really great guy. I’m happy to be able to pay it forward and mentor junior associates through Winston’s formal mentorship program.

Tonight, after working late, I contacted At Your Service—Winston’s free concierge program—and asked for help finding a unique Father’s Day gift for my dad. What a relief it was to check that off my to-do list.

FRIDAY

This morning I met with one of my two “go-to” summer associates to discuss their allocation of assignments. As a summer committee member in Chicago, one of my roles is to meet weekly with the two summer associates assigned to me and gauge how their existing work is going and identify opportunities to introduce them to other attorneys who might be able to provide them with assignments aligned with their career interests.

After a day filled with reviewing and editing definitive deal documentation and going over deal closing checklists, we had a tense call with the seller’s counsel negotiating better deal terms for our client, as the buyer. I knew I would be working remotely through the weekend, so I ended my day at the quarterly associates’ happy hour, followed by dinner with friends from law school who live in the city.

A version of this Week in the Life story was featured on Firsthand’s Vault Law blog.