#126: Ayyan Zubair – Junior Litigation Associate

Welcome back to another episode of the How I Lawyer Podcast, where it is my job to interview lawyers about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well. Today’s guest is Ayyan Zubair, who is a Litigation Associate at Allen & Overy, where he has experience practicing commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, and white-collar investigations, and also maintains a robust pro bono practice. Following his graduation from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Ayyan clerked on the Nevada Supreme Court for the Honorable Justice Lidia Stiglich, before joining Allen & Overy. In this episode, Ayyan shares valuable insights about the legal profession including: 🎓 How legal internships provide valuable, experiential learning opportunities while still in law school [4:52] 🏛️ How clerking for a state supreme court justice gave him a peak behind the judicial curtain [7:11] 🌍 How being a junior litigation associate involves a multitude of practice areas [14:27] ⏳ How “work life integration” allows him to handle the workload of a big law junior associate [16:13] 🖥️ How to start a new research assignment by asking what is really necessary [22:01] 🔍 How junior litigation associates are often the master of the facts on their cases [26:05] 👂 How to handle feedback as a junior lawyer and how to treat constructive feedback as a gift [29:13] 🤝 How to network by creating personal connections with those at all levels [37:55] 🚪 How to open the doors to new lawyers by refusing to be a gatekeeper and by embracing kindness [42:15] This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.