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I had no plans to work in civil litigation, but managed to get a job at a really nice mid sized firm doing employment and commercial litigation. I had planned on something at a small firm, like family law. So I did not take any litigation courses in law school like trial advocacy, etc.

How do I quickly learn about things like law and motion, motions for SJ, etc.? Am I going to look like a total dumbass on day 1?

You're just going to have to learn as you go. You can read all you want about litigation, but it will be difficult to learn without a case or hypo to go through. If you still have law school access to Lexis/Westlaw, look up practice guides on litigation. You should also do some research on the EEOC and admin law, as a lot of employment litigation will require some EEOC work. Try and figure out if you will be doing more state or federal work and look for some practice guides based on that. Other than that, review your class notes/outlines from Civ Pro and Evidence (if you took it).

I wouldn't sweat it too hard--presumably they hired you fully aware of your transcript, and they're not going to let you near a courtroom in anything other than an observing capacity for quite some time.

They'll teach you what you need to know of procedure and substance; your task will be to learn quickly. If you want to get a leg up, your time is probably best spent reviewing various guides on litigation-oriented legal writing, such as Garner's "The Winning Brief" and Kuney and Looper's "Mastering Legal Analysis and Drafting." Quality writing, IMO, is the key to indispensability for a young associate, particularly in litigation.

iconoclasttt wrote:I wouldn't sweat it too hard--presumably they hired you fully aware of your transcript, and they're not going to let you near a courtroom in anything other than an observing capacity for quite some time.

They'll teach you what you need to know of procedure and substance; your task will be to learn quickly. If you want to get a leg up, your time is probably best spent reviewing various guides on litigation-oriented legal writing, such as Garner's "The Winning Brief" and Kuney and Looper's "Mastering Legal Analysis and Drafting." Quality writing, IMO, is the key to indispensability for a young associate, particularly in litigation.

This. Also, actually go through and read the civ pro rules and evidence rules.

patrickd139 wrote:

iconoclasttt wrote:I wouldn't sweat it too hard--presumably they hired you fully aware of your transcript, and they're not going to let you near a courtroom in anything other than an observing capacity for quite some time.

They'll teach you what you need to know of procedure and substance; your task will be to learn quickly. If you want to get a leg up, your time is probably best spent reviewing various guides on litigation-oriented legal writing, such as Garner's "The Winning Brief" and Kuney and Looper's "Mastering Legal Analysis and Drafting." Quality writing, IMO, is the key to indispensability for a young associate, particularly in litigation.

This. Also, actually go through and read the civ pro rules and evidence rules.

+1 - sit and read through the Civ Pro rules now, and the Evidence rules if / when you begin taking deps or preparing for trial. Litigation is Civ Pro really.

Tip #2 - don't be afraid to call the court's clerk and ask "how does the court handle X?" They will tell you. It's amazing how much time you can save by just asking the clerks how they do things.

Don't worry. You should get the basics of your state's rules of procedure during bar review; and even if you had taken the lit classes, you'd still likely have zero practical knowledge.

holdencaulfield wrote:Don't worry. You should get the basics of your state's rules of procedure during bar review; and even if you had taken the lit classes, you'd still likely have zero practical knowledge.

Actually, there are lots of states that don't test state law on the bar exam.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

holdencaulfield wrote:Don't worry. You should get the basics of your state's rules of procedure during bar review; and even if you had taken the lit classes, you'd still likely have zero practical knowledge.

Actually, there are lots of states that don't test state law on the bar exam.

That's too bad.

If OP is in one of those states, then I second the suggestion of studying the practice guides on Westlaw and Lexis.