Sharonmoyee Goswami's Rotation History

“I worked on many different matters in my first rotation, but the two trials I went to were both environmental liability cases. In the first environmental liability case, I got to see the entire life cycle of the case. A few weeks into my first year, I second-chaired a few expert depositions, and a month later, I went to my first trial. I also worked on the Seventh Circuit appeal, during which I left to clerk on the Federal Circuit in 2013. While I was clerking, we won the appeal and it was remanded back to district court. When I returned to Cravath in 2014, I worked on the remanded case and got to build the record from the beginning, with fact and expert discovery.

Early on, I also worked on a number of antitrust deal clearance matters. I worked with an antitrust partner on the merger of two life sciences corporations. As part of that matter, we analyzed potential overlaps between the two companies in a number of different technical areas. I went to the Federal Trade Commission as a first year at least two times, to explain the technology to the FTC. Those experiences, especially as a young lawyer, really showed me that Cravath is willing to give associates significant opportunities and provide meaningful feedback along the way.

After my first rotation, with my background in biology and materials science and engineering, I was fairly certain I wanted to focus on intellectual property. I had a rotation working on many patent and some trademark cases with Keith Hummel, who is a renowned IP partner with broad and extensive experience litigating complex disputes.

He did a great deal to help me develop the skills I needed to build an IP practice, including putting me in a position with major clients to become a go-to advisor for them. He would tell me year after year, “These are the skills you need to develop for clients and to manage relationships with them.”

Having the rotation system is valuable because it makes sure that the partner who is working with you is incentivized to develop you in the way that they need, which, in turn, allows you to improve as a lawyer with every rotation. I have received many different types of mentorship while at Cravath, but I have found that the partners I was assigned to during my rotations are some of my most valuable teachers and advocates, and I think that is unique to the Cravath experience.”