NEWS & INSIGHTS

In January 2026, a young man looking to gain some insight and experience into what it is like to be a practicing attorney contacted our Firm. He was a 2020 graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy interested in attending law school. He offered to be an unpaid intern at LLG, and the Firm agreed to give him that opportunity. It soon became clear that this young man would exceed any expectations initially held by Firm leaders. So much so that within a few weeks, the decision to convert this unpaid internship into a paid internship was simply a no-brainer. It was a mutually beneficial experience for both him and the Firm. As part of his exit interview, he drafted the letter that follows:

When I first cold-called The Lynch Law Group and asked if I could come in and spend some time here to learn and gain some experience, I had no real idea what my time would entail. All I knew was that back in 2015, before my plans got pirated by the siren song of the maritime industry, I was supposed to be going to a 3+3 year business and law program. I figured that in 2026 now that my sailing days were over, I should get back to my original plan.

When I followed up with my resume in an email to the Director of Human Resources, I had already taken the LSAT and had applied to a number of schools but still wasn’t exactly sure what a career in law — now staring me in the face — looked like. What do lawyers even do? What makes a successful law firm? What if I spend the next three years in school just to find out I dislike the profession? Thankfully, I had time before school started to try and answer these questions for myself. And even more thankfully, the firm agreed to give me the opportunity to find these answers by taking me on.

What was supposed to be my first day got snowed-out by the 14-inch Sunday blizzard in February, and so my real first day started out by walking into the office on a Tuesday morning to the smell of Dan Lynch cooking up some breakfast in the office kitchen directly next to my office. I can’t imagine a better smelling introduction to any workplace. Also, it made for the friendliest, as it was the perfect time to make introductions and meet everybody. I got to meet nearly everybody in the first 10 minutes who I have since come to enjoy working with and greatly respect over these last 6 months. After introductions and getting some gentle reminders that most days wouldn’t smell this good, it was time to get down to business.

The structure of a law firm is not so different from that of a ship. There is the Captain (Dan), Department Heads of Engineering, Deck, Navigation, and Supply (Corporate, Estate Planning, Real Estate, Litigation), and many different roles interspersed within the departments to support the overall mission. However, the workings of the firm differ entirely. The main difference is the work schedule. Onboard a ship, a typical workweek is 7 days with 12-hour days, and then you receive an amount of vacation time equal to time worked. This type of environment results in a lack of consistency with personnel, as each individual crewmember has their own onboard/discharge date. With over 100 people on a ship and crew members departing and arriving constantly, there is an inherent lack of continuity of co-workers. On the rare occasion that a good group of people stayed longer than their required amount, the ship environment improved drastically while family lives became correspondently more distant. Because of the challenges in maintaining this balance, it was rare that you got to spend more than a month or two with people you greatly enjoyed.

Here at LLG, one of the first things I came to realize was the consistency and quality of the people around me. The tenure of many attorneys, administrators, and assistants assured me that people here enjoyed working with one another. The results of the law firm, having grown in size substantially over the same amount of time, said that these same co-workers were also highly productive. This combination of personal quality and professional competencies was made further apparent during nearly every interaction I’ve had over the last 6 months. Whether it has been a question regarding the law, law school, jointly buying a house, or whether to get down on the left or right knee for a proposal, I’ve greatly enjoyed being a part of every conversation and bit of work I got to take part in during my time here. The heartfelt connections that exist here made me feel welcome from the start.

I found that lawyers are problem-solvers, advisors, and fulfill the ultimate role of a good friend or confidant to those they come across: client or otherwise. I found that a successful law firm is one where clients want to utilize the services the firm offers because of the consistency with which the firm’s employees treat both clients and each other.

Everyone here helped to make my experience great, and I wouldn’t change a thing.