Practice Perspectives, 2025 Edition: Attorney Q&As

There are many ways that Vault’s Practice Perspectives: Vault’s Guide to Legal Practice Areas can be used by legal jobseekers, but as we dive into the ever-earlier recruitment cycle for summer associate positions, it feels appropriate to highlight how the Q&As in this guide can help law students better understand the range of practices available to them as they start their legal careers.

As a first- or second-year law student, you can use this guide to gain a deeper understanding of major practice areas, allowing you to distinguish different practices and focus your search on firms with strong departments in the areas that interest you. You can also use the guide’s insights about different practice areas to speak competently at networking events and interviews. If you are heading into your summer associate position, you can use the knowledge in this guide to seek summer assignments within groups that will be the best fit for you.

These Q&As stay relevant beyond law school; those considering a lateral move can use this guide to research and prepare for interviews with an insider’s view of what different practices are like at individual firms.

The 2025 edition of Practice Perspectives features in-depth Q&As with 146 attorneys from 52 top-ranked law firms, providing insight into the realities of practice across 25 legal practice areas. The Q&As are also available in digital format in Vault Law’s Practice Area Resource Centers.

View this short video to see what’s available in the Q&As:

The attorneys featured in this guide work at firms ranked among the top in each practice area, as rated by more than 20,000 associates in Vault Law’s 2024 Annual Associate Survey. We’ve done the work of interviewing these top-in-their-field attorneys so that you have information to help direct your choices and find the practice and “work home” that are good matches for your interests, goals, and strengths.

Take a peek inside the 2025 Products Liability Q&As:

What do you like best about your practice area?

Bettina Jendrek & Tommy Huynh, Arnold & Porter

Bettina: The best part of my practice is working with brilliant colleagues every day. When I first interviewed for a summer associate position at Arnold & Porter over a decade ago, I was struck by how intelligent, yet down-to-earth and approachable, the lawyers were. The firm fosters an environment where people can have fulfilling personal lives, families, and hobbies outside of work without compromising the exceptional quality of the lawyering that happens here every day.

Tommy: I like learning the science from our experts; they are at the top of their respective fields at leading institutions, and I get a front-row crash course.

Emily Ambrose & Alicia Grant, Norton Rose Fulbright

Alicia: I like that I am able to engage in litigation or investment management that impacts the company’s portfolios. This allows me to see how my role is critical to the success of the company and the overall support of their strategic objectives. We have the opportunity to help companies protect and advance their missions. One company that comes to mind has a mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. To be a part of helping that company support its mission by helping with its litigation defense is something that I find meaningful and rewarding.

Emily: I learn something new every day, often about things outside the law. I learn how different products work and how they are made. If the case involves a fire, I learn about fire origin and cause analyses. I learn about the facts of specific incidents and try to understand what happened as if I am a journalist or even a novelist. It is the perfect practice area for people who have natural curiosity. I also enjoy working on teams and collaborating with highly sophisticated clients and experts.

Esteban Rodriguez, O’Melveny & Myers

I like that there is so much variety in terms of the industries we work with. My practice gives me the opportunity to get familiar with a company and the products that it sells, and I have an opportunity to tell the story behind a product to a court or jury. I find that enjoyable, especially when you’re working with clients in so many different industries because you have the opportunity to keep learning something different.

If you have questions about the Practice Perspectives guide, Vault’s Summer Resource Center, Regional Resource Centers, or anything else about Vault Law, contact Carter Isham at cisham@vault.com.

You may have free access to Vault’s guides and Associate Reviews on firm profile pages through your law school. Check with your career services office for more information.