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Tyler is a graduate of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology. He is currently a JD candidate at George Washington University School of Law.
Prior to clerking at Lloyd & Mousilli, Tyler served as a Judicial Intern for Superior Court Judge Louis Trosch.
Tyler has additional previous experience as a Paralegal Intern, and he has volunteered for numerous poverty alleviation organizations.
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Tyler is a graduate of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology. He is currently a JD candidate at George Washington University School of Law.
Prior to clerking at Lloyd & Mousilli, Tyler served as a Judicial Intern for Superior Court Judge Louis Trosch.
Tyler has additional previous experience as a Paralegal Intern, and he has volunteered for numerous poverty alleviation organizations.
My first week at L&M was by all accounts eventful. When Feras told me I would get a lot of real world experience, he was not kidding. I was immediately thrown into substantive projects. For a brief moment, I forgot how fast-paced private practice can be. But after thinking things through, I quickly remembered and got to work, harnessing the thrill of learning something new with the fear of completing the tasks by deadline. This journey started with a rather brief orientation, and a swift entrance into the world of transactional law.
After completing some basic onboarding tasks, I was tasked with researching two unrelated topics for a single client. First, I needed to find out what the requirements were for an “accredited investor” and whether there were any exceptions for family members. Second, I needed to find out as much information as possible about “John Doe lawsuits.” I had zero knowledge of either topics prior to my research, and I was working with broad instructions. I enjoyed learning about both topics and narrowing my research to points that were most relevant for our situation from broad initial topics.
My second task was more challenging than the first. I had to draft a demand letter to a cryptocurrency exchange seeking the return of a client’s frozen assets. Although I have written memos and briefs in law school, this was different. The issues here were less clear cut than assignments I have previously completed since cryptocurrencies and the associated exchanges are so new and there are no laws specifically governing them. In fact, I had trouble finding situations where an investment fund or exchange plainly refused to return assets. Then there was the issue of whether this specific cryptocurrency is either a security or a commodity. Finally, Feras wanted me to find a federal law, presumably banking regulatory law, that this exchange could possibly have violated by analogy given there is no legislation specifically regarding crypto exchanges. This all needed to be completed quickly given the exchange was seeking its own legal recourse to address the situation. It was a dynamic project which certainly tested by ability, and I am proud of the document that we put together.
Given how busy everyone is, sometimes directions for a project are open ended simply because the person tasking you with the work thinks the directions make perfect sense. However, often they understand the greater picture and might not have made that as clear to you with the brief instruction given for the portion you are working on. Do not be afraid to ask questions! Sometimes you will not know what questions to ask right away, but as you work through a project make sure to clarify anything that might be unclear. This will only improve your work product and ensure that the work you are doing is specifically targeted to solve the true problem at hand.
After settling a bit into my role, week two was arguably more busy than my first. I juggled three separate matters. One of which was the mock hearing memo and preparation, which was a great practical experience but coupled with my other work kept me very busy. I attended my first company board meeting and drafted a few more legal documents
The first task of the week was work related to a real estate company based in Egypt. There is some internal disagreement and as counsel for the company, we were tasked with leading a board meeting to approve an audit firm and discuss financial statements. I drafted the powerpoint presentation for the meeting and sent out notices to the board about the meeting as well. Finally, I transcribed the meeting word for word and drafted meeting minutes from that transcript.
Following work that took place in my first week, I researched Singapore statutes on insolvency and scheduled meetings with local Singapore counsel in order to better understand the nature, scope, and required diligence with their insolvency proceedings. Additionally, I drafted another demand letter to the company requesting several different items helpful to our strategy. Finally, I corresponded with the client to ensure that his concerns were addressed and he is updated on the developments of his case.
The most labor intensive project of the week was drafting a memo and preparing for the mock hearing which took place last week. The matter in question was a specific aspect of a live case that the firm is dealing with and involved a significant deal of ambiguity. I think one of the hardest aspects of this work is the legal research. I find myself wanting to find the surest footing for my arguments but I did not feel I had enough time to gain that confidence and complete the project on time. This was a difficult hurdle for me but I had to use what I had learned and begin drafting despite a sense of uncertainty about my arguments.
There is also always a level of anxiety for me going into a presentation or hearing. This is natural especially for someone who is still learning so much about an expansive profession and trying not to make any glaring mistakes. I practiced presenting what I had drafted, but still need to work on comfortably delivering my points without reading. However, once the hearing started, some of those jitters began to fall away as I was focused on delivering my points effectively. I thought this was a great opportunity not only to draft a legal memorandum but also to practice the skill of oral advocacy. This memorandum was not as clear cut as ones I have drafted in law school and appreciate the more practical experience with an issue that is not straightforward. Further practicing oral advocacy is a hard endeavor just given its nature, so any opportunity to practice those skills is valuable.
My advice for this week is stay organized and make lists. When faced with multiple projects and various deadlines and action items for each project, it is important to have a written outline of what is on your personal docket. Otherwise, it is easy to miss an action item that could be important or cannot be mitigated after the deadline.
This week was a bit more relaxed as far as work load goes. I interviewed at the Patent Law Interview Program in Chicago, so I only worked Monday through Wednesday with the exception of one meeting on Thursday. However This week consisted of copyright matters and finding foreign counsel.
My first task this week was interviewing foreign counsel for a dispute about the return of invested cryptocurrency assets from a Singapore company that is attempting to restructure after liquidity issues. The company filed for the restructuring under the appropriate Singapore statute which also institutes a moratorium on legal action against the company for a period of time. We need a Singapore partner to better understand the foreign laws and procedures.
It was at first hard to differentiate between the firms that we had calls with. I found a few online and a few others were recommended by a top firm that did not want to take the case because of its size and corresponding cost to the client. However, the most provided a very broad, somewhat unclear explanation of how to move forward. The final firm we interviewed made the selection process easy. That firm clearly did the most due diligence on the matter from the information we provided. Further, the final firm provided the clearest path forward so we selected that firm to partner with.
My second task was sending DMCA takedowns to a number of social media platforms because of copyright infringement. I was not familiar with this process prior to taking on this work, nor do I know much about copyright specifically apart from the very basics. These takedown notices are not complicated though, so I assembled the necessary materials and requested the content be removed from the various platforms
As I am transitioning between matters from work, school, and professional development, I would say to make sure to make a schedule and stick to it. This will help you effectively budget enough time for everything. If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, make sure to budget in some time for yourself, a workout, yoga, or just some time on the couch.
This week was rather busy and included a mix of both new and recurring projects. I continued on two matters from earlier weeks but also completed two new research projects. This week also marked my last week in the transactions group as I will be transitioning to work on litigation projects from Lema.
My first three tasks were continued work on prior matters I was staffed on. For one matter, I wrote an analysis of why copyright and trademark protections are both important to have and how the two work together to protect an individual's intellectual property. I appreciated learning more about both copyright and trademark protections which I had minimal exposure to prior. It is also interesting to see how certain laws can have unintended consequences such as the ability of trademark law to narrow copyright fair use provisions. I also followed up with some DMCA takedown requests for copyrighted material on various social media sites. The second recurring matter involved finalizing the firm’s choice of foreign counsel and drafting a letter detailing the scope of the initial work foreign counsel was authorized to complete. Lastly, I finalized the board meeting minutes that I prepared and sent them out to the members of the board.
The first new project involved researching a trademark question. Could an order denying a trademark cancellation be appealed nearly a year after issuance. There was a company that petitioned to have another company’s trademark canceled, however the judge denied the petition. We were seeking to appeal the decision in any way possible to revive the claim and bring it to federal court. Unfortunately, this was not possible due to the lapse in time. There is a 63 day timeframe after issuance of an order when an appeal must be filed. Secondly, I was tasked with researching the corporate structure of a large gas company to find an operational manager, preferably a President, who handles retail sale of gasoline. There is a dispute over two similar retail gas station consumer rewards programs. The opposing company demanded that our client stop implementing their version of rewards in opposing company’s gas stations. We wanted to reach out to an operation manager of this business to open up a dialogue and hopefully settle the differences through negotiation.
Make sure that you communicate early and often with superiors. If things are not going well, seek to improve communications and clarify items that might be confusing. It is always better to over-communicate rather than allow tensions to build about differences in opinion or expectations because items are not clear.