Associate to Second-Chair Conference Call

For the first time since he joined Baker Botts two years ago, associate Paul Wilmore has a pretty important meeting on his Outlook calendar. This afternoon, sixth-year associate Jason Moon has asked Wilmore to second-chair a conference call with an employee at firm client Tycoon Products. Baker Botts has been defending products liability lawsuits against Tycoon related to its weight loss pill “Metabozilla” since early 2007 and Wilmore has been part of “Team TP” since he billed his first minute at the firm.

“Team TP” is in many respects a small law firm. Baker Botts has three senior partners, two junior partners, six associates, and two paralegals working on the Tycoon Products defense. Since Baker Botts adheres to the “substantive work goes to the highest biller” model, Wilmore’s tasks have consisted almost entirely of document review and memos summarizing deposition transcripts. Not surprisingly, Wilmore has never interacted with anyone at Tycoon. One time, a partner on the case emailed that Tycoon’s General Counsel was coming to the firm, but somehow there wasn’t enough time in the day to bring him by Wilmore’s interior office for a meeting.

Today, Wilmore will probably not even get introduced on the call, but he will hear something first-hand for the first time. According to one of Wilmore’s colleagues, “he’s got a little bit more of a bounce in his step today. I mean it’s not every day that an associate get this close to the client. It shows the partners have confidence that he won’t blow the situation by….well, hmm, how could he blow that situation? Maybe they just don’t want too many people to realize how it’s not that hard to talk to clients?”

When we reached Wilmore minutes before the call, he seemed ready to go. “I have several pens and a notepad ready so that I can take some seriously detailed notes today,” he explained energetically. “I’ll probably have to cancel my dinner plans tonight too because I want to turn around the interview summary memo fast.” When we questioned Wilmore on whether he anticipates actually speaking on the call, he just looked back blankly – “You do realize I work at Baker Botts, right?” And then he hung up. Guess his phone skills do need some work.