Rogan Feng is a graduate of the University of Oxford (B.A.), the University of Cambridge (M.Phil.), and Harvard Law School, where he was a senior editor for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Rogan spoke with us about what attracted him to join Elsberg Baker & Maruri, and the opportunities and exposure he got right from the start. "Although I’m only a first-year, my work is assigned by partners and not other associates," he said. "This means a lot of partner contact and real-time feedback on a daily basis." Hear more from Rogan below:
Why did you choose a boutique firm over BigLaw?
A boutique is a different work environment. For starters, you know everyone in the office from junior staff to the senior partner. The familiarity means less bureaucracy and more opportunity. Partners directly oversee my work, and I am able to get feedback on a continuous basis.
That said, the dividing line between boutique and BigLaw is not always clear, and not all boutiques will have the same hands-on environment as EBM. It’s important to ask hiring partners how big the case teams get, as that affects your experience even more than the size of the firm. Here at EBM, three or four associates is a big case team. I think that distinguishes us from even most other boutiques.
What drew you to Elsberg Baker & Maruri? What experiences did you anticipate?
I’ve previously worked with three of the partners at our prior firm. They are all exceptionally talented lawyers, strong business generators, and great people to work with. Knowing who they were, I had no doubt the new firm would be a roaring success.
David Elsberg is one-of-a-kind. We first met when I was a summer associate at our previous firm. At our first lunch together, he pulled out a notebook and started grilling me on ways I thought the summer program could be improved. It was a big surprise for me—there I was as a summer associate, being asked to give feedback to one of the top litigators in the city. I tried to give him one or two token things and hoped he’d go away, but David kept pressing me until he was satisfied he’d squeezed every drop of criticism out of me. That first meeting left a deep impression on me, and I think it says something about our leadership at EBM.
Moving to EBM has been a great career decision. The best thing is that, although I’m only a first-year, my work is assigned by partners and not other associates. This means a lot of partner contact and real-time feedback on a daily basis. At other firms, there tends to be a hierarchy within the associate population, with the juniors reporting to the mid-levels, and the mid-levels reporting to the senior associates. This makes junior associates feel they are working for a senior associate’s work stream rather than as a full member of the case team. If you’re a driven young lawyer and you find yourself defined by your class year, you’ll see the difference right from day one at our firm.
Having worked at multiple firms, what do you think is the biggest misconception about boutiques?
I come across many people who think that boutiques necessarily have a narrow specialization. While that might be true of certain boutiques, that is not true of EBM. Our commercial litigation covers the beachfront, ranging from bankruptcy court proceedings to commercial arbitrations. To the extent we have a specialization, it’s trial litigation. This means that every case is unique in its subject matter and you’re always learning something new.
What’s a typical day at Elsberg Baker & Maruri? How does it differ from other experiences?
Every case has a life cycle, and the associate’s “day in the life” depends on the stage of my cases. In the early stages, a lot of my work is research and writing. We usually start with legal research, which is all synthesized into a detailed outline. From there we proceed to multiple rounds of drafting and editing, in which junior associates can have responsibility for important sections of the argument. As we get closer to trial, the nature of the work begins to change. At that point, we spend more of our time reviewing deposition transcripts, preparing witnesses, outlining examinations, and doing mock trials. In short, every day is different. But what never changes is the daily interaction with our partners and getting consistent feedback from them.
