The Girl's Guide to Law School®
Get In, Get Through, Stay You
This week we welcome back guest writer Zoila Sanchez to discuss how you can find your own, unique area of the law.
When I was an undergraduate, it seemed to me that most students fell into either pre-medical school track, psychology, or business. I recall our career center heavily focusing on business opportunity events, however, none of these paths seemed to spark my interests. We did not hear much about other possibilities.
This week we welcome guest writer and attorney Hannah Myers to discuss how you can go about finding a Research Assistant position as a law student and what you can gain from this role.
Before we can get into how to get a Research Assistant position, you should know what a Research Assistant actually does. Research Assistants work for a professor as basically exactly what it sounds like–research. This could range from helping out with courses that a professor teaches, long-term projects they’re working on (like a law review paper, a book, or a presentation), or even doing your own project that they oversee. It varies depending on what the professor needs, what your law school encourages faculty to take part in, and what time of year you’re working. [Read more…]
This week we welcome back Tiffany Lo to talk about what the show Ted Lasso has taught her becoming a success in the legal world.
Who doesn’t love Ted Lasso? I am not ashamed to admit that I anxiously await every Friday for the new episode to drop.
The show constantly surprises me with new layers to its characters. They are complex human beings, all with admirable qualities that I hope to emulate. I think that law students can learn something from each and every character and apply these lessons to thrive in law school and in their careers.
Below are my thoughts on some of my favorite characters. Warning: spoilers ahead! [Read more…]
This week we welcome back guest writer and 2L Tiffany Lo to talk about keeping up with your law school connections.
Making and maintaining connections during law school are important. The legal profession is a small universe, and you may encounter your classmates as the opposing counsel, as a client, as a judge, as an academic, or as a public servant. Having a personal connection with people in the legal field can help you develop business, craft a litigation or negotiation strategy, and find new career opportunities.
Making connections might be easy, but maintaining them takes work. Here are my thoughts on how to do that: [Read more…]
This week we welcome guest writer and tutor Raneta Mack to talk about getting help from professors with work projects.
You’ve just finished your first year of law school, and you’re about to embark on your first legal job: a coveted summer clerkship. You did well in your first year classes and now you’re eager to make a good impression on everyone in the office.
On your first day, shortly after getting comfortable in your new office, you’re given your first research project. You vaguely remember hearing something about the research topic in your Contracts class. Or was it your Torts class? During the meeting, you were a bit too intimidated to ask the senior attorney any questions, and if you go back now with questions, maybe she’ll think you’re not up to the task. [Read more…]
This week we welcome back guest writer Alexandra Muskat to talk about the best way to go about choosing your 2L classes for next year.
When you first start law school, you are required to take a specific set of classes – criminal law, contracts, civil procedure, legal writing and research, property law, constitutional law, and torts. But, towards the middle of your second semester 1L, you’ll be able to pick your own classes for the following year. [Read more…]
This week we welcome back guest writer Shirlene Armstrong to talk about keeping up your momentum during second semester of law school.
Do you remember the start of the school year or even the start of law school? When you were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed? When you were excited for what this school year would bring you? When you were looking forward to the next steps of your legal journey? Ah, those were the days, right? Now you are a seasoned law student, hardened to the outside world and just chugging away to the end of the school year. It is the law school slump. The time of year when the end of the semester seems so far away, but you are already burnt out. I get it, I have been there too.
Law school is a stressful and difficult time. There are so many cases to read, activities to be a part of, and classes to attend. You fall into a pattern of just trying to make it until Friday (trust me, that doesn’t end with law school either) But there is a reason you went to law school, and you once had joy and excitement about being a law student. Allow me to give you some mindful reminders and tips on how to keep yourself going and help you fall in love with law school again!
This week we welcome guest writer Alexandra Muskat to talk about handling criticism from a professor and bouncing back.
Early in my law school career, namely first year, first semester, about halfway through, we had a civil procedure midterm. Up until this point, I hated law school. I felt like everyday my schedule would shift, or swell. I felt overwhelmed by everything; I hated taking the train in and out of Boston, and my weekends were filled with a noxious amount of anxiety.
Then this midterm approached. I can still remember staring at the essay question and my blank page on Examsoft and thinking, “What the heck am I doing with my life?” [Read more…]
This week we welcome back guest writer Mark Livingston to all about maintaining relationships with your professors and other faculty after school.
Law school is all about connections. Connections with your classmates, faculty, and supervisors and colleagues at internships, externships, and clerkships throughout law school. The people you interact with in law school represent the foundation of your legal community. If given the right amount of care and attention, you can cultivate these relationships and feast on the fruits of your labors for years to come. [Read more…]
This week we welcome back guest writer and recent law school grad Mark Livingston to discuss how to learn from your mistakes and move forward.
Fortunately, law school is only three years long. Unfortunately, law school is a long three years. Although you only have a finite amount of time to get things right while earning your JD, there is room during those three, long years to make mistakes; learn from those mistakes, regroup for the next exam, paper, or semester; and grow as a law student. When I began my law school journey as a non-traditional student, I was certain I knew how to study, what my learning style was, and that all of the things I learned from my previous career had provided me with all I needed to reign supreme in class. I was in for a painful surprise. My initial feedback was less than I had expected, but exactly what I deserved. I needed to regroup and adjust if I had any hope of avoiding failure. Here are a few tips that apply as well to life as they do to law school. [Read more…]
