Law school teaches you a lot of law, but doesn’t necessarily teach you much about the realities of legal practice.
Not to worry! Read on for lots of real-life stories of practice, along with strategies and advice for charting your own path as a lawyer.
Choosing Your Path in the Law
- Intern Turned Prosecutor: How My Internship at the DA's Office Led to a Career Sara Beller talks about how her summer job at the DA's office ended up in a full time position.
- What to Expect When You've Landed a Clerkship with the Public Defender's Office Raneta Mack talks about what you can expect if you end up with a job or internship at the public defender's office.
- What I Learned About the Future of Law From Buying a Logo If you’re just starting your legal career (or even if you’re not), think critically about if you’re really adding value. And ask yourself if you’d pay what you cost?
- Is Lawyering the Right Path For You? Lainee Beigel, founder of Career Esquire, shares some advice on how to figure out if law’s the right path for you (before you start and after you’re in the middle of it).
- Being Okay With Your Choices - Law School Edition It can be hard to feel secure in the choices you make, especially in law school. Here's how you can make the right choices for yourself and feel confident in your decisions.
- How is Life as a Lawyer Different from Life as a Law Student? Marissa Geannette discusses the differences between studying the law and practicing law.
- Trying To Figure Out Your Legal Career? Expert Advice From a Career Guru After seven years in BigLaw and several years in-house, Katie Slater decided to shift into career coaching. She shares her hard-won experience about how to figure out what you want from the legal profession — and then get it.
- The Danger of Doing Things Because You're Good at Them Should you aim to make a career out of only doing things you’re good at? This could be a dangerous path. Find out why!
- Interested in Entertainment Law? An Interview with Sports & Entertainment Lawyer Jaia Thomas What's it like to be an entertainment attorney? Learn more in this first-hand account of a coveted legal position.
- 10 Tips to Help You Decide What Type of Law to Practice Jeena Cho shares ten tips to help you decide what type of law you’d like to practice.
- How to Go In-House Straight from Law School Typically, you need some experience before landing an in-house position. But not always! If you want to get one straight out of law school, here are some tips from someone who did it.
- Changing Paths: Becoming an Attorney as a Second Career Mark Livingston looks at making the transition to a legal career from another profession.
- Finding a Path: A Business Coach Weighs In A business coach shares her thoughts on navigating law school and your first years as a lawyer.
- Kate's Counsel: Finding Your Way in the Legal Profession Kate McGuinness, career coach, author of Terminal Ambition, and a legal trailblazer in her own right, offers her perspective on finding your way in a sometimes-sexist legal profession.
Attorney Diversity and "Fitting In"
- Why Diversity Matters Diversity in the legal profession? Who cares? Well, you should! And here's why.
- 5 Things I've Learned as an Older Law Student From My Younger Colleagues All law students can learn from each other. Here, an older law student talks about what she learned from her younger classmates.
- Can I Be an Introverted Attorney in a Profession That Seems Made For Extroverts? Sometimes it seems like the legal profession is full of extroverts, but you can succeed as an introverted attorney. Find out how.
- Am I Neurotic, Or Is the Whole World Crazy? Struggling with imposter syndrome? This post is for you!
- Will I Get the Job I Want If I Wear My Natural Hair? Christen Morgan discusses how she's made decisions about straightening her hair or keeping it natural, and some things to consider when thinking about the issue in relation to job interviews/offers.
- Which of Your Selves Comes Forward as a Lawyer? Kate McGuinness talks about how your career (and life) plans might evolve to reveal different “selves,” and how to handle this situation when it occurs.
- Perspective on Being a First-Generation College Student and Lawyer A rising 2L shares her experience as a first-generation college and law student.
Getting Ready to Practice as a Lawyer
- 5 Tips for Getting the Best From Your Paralegals When you are working as a lawyer, you'll need to work effectively with a variety of other professionals, too. Here are five useful tips for working with paralegals. (They’re broadly applicable to other support staff, as well.)
- Feeling a Little Unprepared to Practice? Not to worry, Faith Pincus can sort you out. She shares tips on getting the information and training you need as a young lawyer, and also has some great advice on how to get a clerkship!
- Behind the Scenes of Legal Writing: Understanding the Writing of Practicing Lawyers Marissa Geannette explores the different types of legal writing that lawyers do when they are in practice.
- 3 Skills of Top Lawyers That You Can Start Developing as a Law Student Although law school may not show you all of the skills and tools you'll actually need to practice law, you can start developing those skills on your own from the beginning. These are the top 3 skills that will serve you well as an attorney later on in your career.
Tales from a Canadian Attorney
- Tales From a Canadian Attorney: My Crooked Path To - And Through - Law School A Canadian attorney shares her story about how she became an attorney (in a roundabout way). Then read on for the rest of her series about the on-the-ground realities of legal practice.
- Tales From a Canadian Attorney: A New Way of Practicing Law The legal market has changed and will continue to change. In order to keep up and be successful, lawyers and future lawyers need to come up with creative ideas.
- Tales From a Canadian Attorney: The Mighty Billable Hour - What Are Clients Really Paying For? Ever wonder what goes into a billable hour? Or what your future holds when you’re beholden to billing? Read on to hear more about how this system may impact you as a lawyer.
- Tales From a Canadian Attorney: Flat Fees If you’re not a fan of the billable hour, you’re not alone! But there is an alternative, and that’s in the form of flat fees. Carli explains why lawyers should consider using a fee range rather than than billing by the hour.
- Tales From a Canadian Attorney: The Challenges of Switching to a Flat Fee Structure Law firms are notoriously set in their ways. The challenges of switching to a flat fee pay structure can be huge, but there are ways to deal with it. Read more from an attorney who made the switch.