Article

A Sneak Peek into My Future: What I’ve Learned from A Summer in Local Law

November 12, 2024
By Josie Mastandrea
Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

As my summer internship comes to a close, I’ve been doing some reflecting on the time I’ve spent in and out of courtrooms with Chris. I’ve learned a lot, but many of the specifics of those lessons have appeared in my previous blogs. So, I’d like to take a moment to share some of the broader takeaways I am leaving Fiorentino Legal with in the Fall–the ones that I know will follow me for years to come.


As Much a Businessman as an Attorney


My mother is a real-estate agent, and I’ve learned a lot from her about the power of networking. I’ve been with her as she’s managed to hand out her business card multiple times in a matter of hours. I’ve heard about the referrals she gets from both colleagues and friends of friends of other friends. I’ve watched the way she’s diligently developed her website to bring in new business.


Each time, I thought to myself, wow, are our career paths so unbelievably different… I love to talk to people, as Chris could surely tell you, but when I’ve thought about my future previously, I’ve thought about reading, analyzing, and arguing–not handing out business cards. 

What I’ve come to realize, however, is that Chris and my mother’s careers are not quite as distinct as I might have thought. Private law is a businessman’s game. Chris has put just as much time into running his business–updating his website, managing his finances, maintaining relationships–as he has into his cases. That’s just how it goes, at least in the beginning. A lawyer needs clients, and clients don’t just appear on your doorstep until you’ve put in the work to make your name the one that comes to mind, or the one that friend of a friend mentions, or the one whose website that defendant has come across. Nowadays, Chris reaps the benefits of the work he put into the business side of things early on. That has been lesson number 1.


The Job Isn’t for Everyone


A lot of lawyers will warn you that the real practice of law is not as glamorous as it may seem. I hear a lot of “law school was the worst time of my life,” “you’re going to live in the office,” or of the devastation that comes from letting people down when you lose an important case for them. As an aspiring lawyer, the rhetoric that surrounds the career makes me question my choices sometimes.


If there’s one thing Chris has confirmed for me this summer, it’s that that mindset is not every attorney’s. It’s not even close to Chris’. Chris loves his job. He doesn’t seem to mind that he works more of a 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., then 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., then 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and sometimes 12:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. when a client calls from the hospital in the middle of the night–rather than a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. He loves almost every minute of it. I only say “almost,” because Chris hates to lose. What I’ve learned though, is that you can hate losing–you probably should, it means you care–but, if you know how to take a loss, learn from it, and move on, as I’ve seen Chris do first-hand, it doesn’t ruin the work for you. That’s lesson number 2.

Thinking About My Own Career Path


In all honesty, I went into this internship hoping to give myself a reality check. Why? Because I have been itching to go to law school and start practicing for years. The law fascinates me. I follow Supreme Court decisions like others my age follow Taylor Swift’s album releases. I dream about nailing a closing argument in a packed courtroom to win an impossible trial. I fantasize about what a career spent helping those in need would feel like. But the real career can’t possibly be what it looks like in my head, right?


Sure, it’s not exactly what I envisioned. Like I mentioned, Chris doesn’t just get to argue for a living, he has to run a business. But Chris gets to help people for a living. He gets to learn for a living. He argues for some of his living. He does what I’ve dreamed about doing, and it is real. Chris reality checks me when I try to take him down rules-of-evidence-rabbit-holes, but that doesn’t do much to tarnish my dream of a career in law. 

A summer spent in and out of courtrooms and client meetings with Chris has only served to confirm that this is exactly what I want to do with my life. The only obstacles remaining are the 5 years in between now and the beginning of that life. Luckily, I leave Boston this summer certain that lesson number will carry me through these next few years. 


Lesson number 3: this is the career for me. Thanks, Chris!

share this

Share by: