The Girl's Guide to Law School®
Get In, Get Through, Stay You
Have you ever sat next to a stranger at a dinner party who seemed to know EVERYTHING about a particular topic, and could generate all kinds of great ideas seemingly off the top of his head?
Well, Richard Hermann, the author of the new book From Lemons to Lemonade in the New Legal Job Market, is probably one of those people. He’s got tons of ideas for law students and recent graduates looking for that first legal job — it’s almost overwhelming how many, in fact!
With all the gloom and doom reporting out lately (only half of graduating law students can expect jobs! and so forth), I’ve been thinking about what someone who’s graduating from law school in a couple of months without a job offer can do, right now, to improve their prospects.
I don’t guarantee these suggestions are right for everyone, and I’m sure there’s other stuff I haven’t thought of, but let’s at least start the conversation. If you’ve got other suggestions, jump in! (And don’t miss this awesome series from guest poster Katie Slater: Job Hunting for 3Ls and Recent Grads.)
Fantastic guest post today from Lee Faller Burgess of Amicus Tutoring (and the new Bar Exam Toolbox) about what to do if the unthinkable happens, and you fail the bar exam.
I’ll turn it over to Lee:
Almost anyone who has sat for the bar exam has imagined failing. You log in to the website Friday evening and your name doesn’t appear on the pass list. You are not exactly sure what to do with yourself. You have such a mix of emotions. Where do you even begin?
If you’ve never taken a law school exam before, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. There’s a lot to know, and what you’ve done in class has little relationship to what you’ll be tested on.
After giving the matter lots of thought (a luxury you only have when you’re not actually taking exams!), I’ve concluded two factors are critical to success:
Keep your focus on these two aspects of your exam prep, and you’ll spend your study time productively. Stray, and you might end up spinning your wheels and wasting time.
This post focuses on Organization, and Practice will be coming soon.
I’ll admit that I didn’t initially “get” Twitter. Friends had been telling me to sign up for years, but it seemed like a waste of time. When I launched The Girl’s Guide website, I pretty much had to set up an account, because there’s a “Follow me on Twitter” button at the top of every page. (Suffice it to say my designer put it there without asking me. I didn’t notice until it was too late to take it down.)
For the first few weeks, I still didn’t see the point. I posted a few links, got some (very random) followers, and not much happened. Then, suddenly, the light bulb went on — Twitter is the best thing ever!
Every law student should have an account.
We can talk all day about résumé formatting, or what should be included, but there’s really only one question you should be asking (repeatedly) to make your résumé shine for any occasion.
In general, clerking is a great job!
One NALP study found that a remarkable 97% of judicial clerks would still opt to clerk, if they could go back in time and make the choice again.
It is important to understand, however, that there are potential downsides, as with any situation where a small number of people work closely together!
Applying for a clerkship can be one of the most fraught experiences of law school. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
Plenty of talented, well-qualified people apply for clerkships each year, and come up empty handed.
After the chaos of setting up your interview schedule, going to the actual interviews should be rather relaxing!
Or not. Judges can be intimidating people.
The most critical piece of advice for managing your interview schedule is simple: do not answer the phone!
Let all of your calls go to voicemail, at least temporarily. If you are a competitive candidate and have applied to fast-moving locations, it would not be uncommon to receive between five and ten calls in the first few minutes judges are allowed to schedule interviews under the Guidelines.
