Law Student Jobs: The Two Paths To Find Work

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Topic: 1L, Law Jobs, Law Students

Everyone is probably throwing out their 2 cents for the 1L’s. I really do not have many specific advice. Because everyone studies differnetly and have different personalities, I would say that specific advice would probably not help at this point. After all, law school is an experience that you would just have to find out for yourself.

The best way to come into the law school, I find, is to have a very strong reason to be there. By this I mean to say have a “conviction.” Ask yourself, why do you want to be here? The stronger your reason, the better you can endure the stress that comes with law school. Again, this is a generality. Not everyone who comes in with a conviction will stay — they might change or realize that they simply do not care for law anymore.

There are generally two paths for law students in terms of finding a job.

1. The super student
2. The networking hardworker

The super student is someone who works hard, gets good grades (top 10-15%), make it to law review or some kind of prestigious leadership position (journal board, moot court/trial court team, dean’s list). He or she can study for hours and understand what the professor is saying. He or she is born to study or tries really hard and succeeds in academics. Many law firms, in particular the top law firms, take these people in for the interview.

The networking hardworker is someone who tries hard but simply is not ranked within the top 15%. The networking hardworker should focus on his/her strength (e.g. a specialty, concentration) and find out the key people in this area of law.

These are merely my observations. You may have a different idea and that may work better for you.

[thanks to victoriapeckham and shelly via cc]