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What Is The Billable Hour? An Overview And Practical Tips For New Lawyers

December 6, 2022 by Leave a Comment

What Is The Billable Hour? An Overview And Practical Tips For New LawyersThis week we welcome guest write Marissa Geannette to talk about an overview of the billable hour.

When I was a law student, I had no idea how law firms operated. One of the biggest mysteries to me was the billable hour. I’d heard that most law firms required their lawyers to track their time, but I didn’t really know what that meant.

If you feel similarly confused, hopefully, this post will make things clearer for you. While it takes a little while to understand the billable hour, with these practical tips, you’ll get the hang of it in no time!

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What to Think About When Considering Law School (As A Non-Traditional Student)

October 25, 2022 by Leave a Comment

What to Think About When Thinking About Law School (As A Non-Traditional Student)This week we welcome back guest writer and 1L Stephanie Gregoire to talk about making the decision to transition from the working world to law school.  

Deciding to attend law school meant leaving the career I had since finishing undergrad five years ago. It was not a decision I made lightly – it needed forethought, introspection, and figuring out personal and professional priorities. If you find yourself in similar shoes, here are five things I weighed to figure out if this was right for me, especially as a “non-traditional law student” or someone who didn’t graduate undergrad and go straight to law school.

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Making Moves in Today’s Job Market

October 11, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Making Moves in Today’s Job MarketThis week we welcome back guest writer Zoila Sanchez to talk about navigating the current job market.

The prospects around the legal job market may seem discouraging and even confusing.

On a daily basis, we are hit with ever-changing news about the economy and the job market. Currently, there appears to be uncertainty around a recession. Specifically, we are hearing that the nation is headed toward a recession, and other sources indicating that we are already in a recession.

This understandably leaves concerns for the class of 2023, and for current JD job-seekers as employers are likely faced with limiting their demand to protect their costs in the face of recession discussions, and inflation.

Regardless of job market predictions and prospects, it is always a good idea to make daily progress by:

  • remaining hopeful
  • exercising your networks; and
  • thinking outside of the box

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Intern Turned Prosecutor: How My Internship at the DA’s Office Led to a Career

March 29, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Intern Turned Prosecutor: How My Internship at the DA’s Office Led to a CareerThis week we welcome guest writer and Law School Toolbox tutor, Sara Beller, to discuss how she turned an internship in the DA’s office into a career.

By the end of my internship at the DA’s office, I felt like a full-blown prosecutor. As an intern, I conducted numerous preliminary hearings, drafted and argued countless motions in court, and even completed a real jury trial from start to finish (by myself!). Everything was going according to plan, and I was about to receive a snazzy job offer…or so I thought.

I’ll never forget the day a supervising attorney told me that the office wasn’t able to make any job offers because the county was in a hiring freeze. To say I was heartbroken is an understatement. My Type-A brain went into immediate panic mode. Did all of my hard work go to waste? Should I have invested my time at a private firm instead? Was it a mistake to put all of my eggs into the DA office’s basket? The short answer is absolutely not. Here’s how my internship led to a career as a prosecutor: [Read more…]

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Carving Your Own Path in the Legal Field

March 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Carving Your Own Path in the Legal FieldThis 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.

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Your Guide to Landing a Research Assistant Position

February 15, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Your Guide to Landing a Research Assistant PositionThis 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…]

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Experiential Learning in Law School: Presenting to a Tribal Council

February 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Experiential Learning in Law School: Presenting to a Tribal CouncilThis week we welcome back guest writer Tiffany Lo to talk about experiential learning in law school.

Before I was in law school, I remember hearing about stories of law students making a difference in the world, whether through exonerating death row prisoners, assisting small businesses, or working on immigration and deportation cases. Inspired and motivated, I wanted to do that myself someday.

Flash forward to law school now, and I finally got my chance. This fall, I joined a policy practicum where I had the chance to assist the Yurok Tribe’s Office of the Tribal Council with some of their current legal issues. The Yurok Tribe’s reservation is located in Del Norte and Humboldt counties in North California, sitting on a stretch of the Klamath River. I worked on two different projects: one, advising on a potential discrimination suit and two, preparing a whitepaper to describe the process of tribes contracting with the federal government in order to gain funding and coordinate in wildfire prevention and management. [Read more…]

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The Do’s and Don’ts of Getting Involved Around Campus

August 17, 2021 by Leave a Comment

The Do’s and Don’ts of Getting Involved Around CampusThis week we’re welcoming back guest writer Aleena Ijaz to talk about why you may want to get involved around campus and what are some best practices.

You’ve probably found out by now that “law school” is more than just school. It’s a lifestyle. To ensure that your lifestyle is as balanced as humanly possible, you may choose to get involved around your law school campus. You may want to fill your days with something more than reading and briefing cases. But while getting involved is a great way to make the most of your law school experience, extracurricular involvements (or the lack thereof) can quickly snowball into your biggest regrets. Before you pay another membership fee or sign up for another journal, keep the following in mind: [Read more…]

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How to make the most of a Legal Job or Internship – Setting Goals and Meeting Them

May 25, 2021 by Leave a Comment

How to make the most of a Legal Job or Internship - Setting Goals and meeting themThis week we welcome back guest writer and law student Tiffany Lo to talk about why it’s important to have goals at a legal job.

Wondering what to expect in your legal job or internship? Hoping to set yourself up for success and make the most of your experience? Then you are in the right place!

A legal job or internship is a great opportunity to understand how law is put into practice. You will get the opportunity to work on real cases and issues, supervised by legal professionals who have experience and knowledge in the field.

Having worked as a legal assistant, summer associate, and in-house legal intern, I have been able to learn from different legal work environments and assignments. One of my takeaways from these experiences is to set goals. [Read more…]

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5 Takeaways from My In-House Legal Internship

April 27, 2021 by Leave a Comment

5 Takeaways from my In-House Legal InternshipThis week we welcome back guest writer Tiffany Lo to talk about her experience at an in-house internship over the summer.

Over the summer, I had the great fortune of working as an in-house legal intern at a multinational computer software company. With this opportunity, I made it a priority to understand what it means to be an in-house lawyer, especially in contrast to working in private practice.

Here are some of the lessons I learned through shadowing and chatting with in-house lawyers:

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