Career Hotline

The sheer number of bar associations and attorney trade associations can make you dizzy! Bar associations serve many different purposes, from continuing legal education to networking, from professional and business development opportunities to referrals. In many cases, you can become a student member of bar associations. First, though, you must be able to navigate your many choices. This list should help you get started:

Whether you’re an intern or a first-year associate, chances are it’s important to you to have meaningful assignments—many career counselors have commented on the importance that this generation of new lawyers assign to professional development and meaningful work.

 I recommend the following ten career resolutions for law students and recent law grads:

With so much talk about not finding jobs upon passing the bar, many law students and grads seem interested in exploring solo practice as on option. Conventional wisdom has long cautioned against striking out on your own right after graduation — after all, if it is true that law school doesn’t teach you how to practice law, then simply starting out as a new associate comes with a steep enough learning curve. Imagine learning it all on your own, without the safety net and resources of a firm.

In years of counseling students and writing about legal careers, this is the one question I have gotten most often. But in recent tough times, the same question seems to be on most law students’ and law grads’ minds.

To put simply, you have to be proactive about looking for a job. It’s time to go back to basics: develop and nurture your professional network, get your name out to potential employers (for the right reasons) and keep an open mind about your options, weighing them realistically.

The following checklist may help put you at ease before meeting with a potential employer for the first time:

— Check with the employer ahead of time about whom at the firm you’ll be meeting with and find out some professional information about the person(s) that you can use to your advantage in conversation during the meeting.

First, it’s important that you don’t sit idle, said Trisha Fillbach, director of career development at Drake Law School. It’s a given that you have to finish your assigned projects and turn in great work, but don’t just stop there. Seek out additional assignments, which will expose you to valuable practical experience. Also be open to taking on projects from different practice areas and different attorneys. Doing so will expose you to various substantive areas and may help you cross-market your skills and practical experience to various potential employers.

Many legal employers require a writing sample at some point in the application process. Some may be sent with your resumé, others provided at the interview. Your writing not only allows a potential employer to gauge your analytical and writing skills, but also provides a glimpse into the kind and quality of work product you may turn out at the job. Make the most of this opportunity to showcase your professional writing skills and knowledge on a legal issue or topic. The following are some rules of thumb for writing samples:

First and foremost, don’t bite off more than you can chew. One mistake law students and young lawyers make is saying yes to everything only to find out that they can’t do it all. Granted, you have to maintain a full schedule and stay busy, but be sure you budget your time realistically and give each task as much time as necessary, all the while leaving some time for yourself. Keep contemporaneous notes, diligently mark your start and end times on projects, set realistic deadlines and meet those deadlines.

Q: Last month, you wrote about the importance of finding a mentor. What should I look for in a mentor, and what should I know about mentor/mentee relationships?

A mentor may be anybody whose professional life you admire and hold in high esteem, said Lisa Terrizzi, career coach and consultant and chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Lawyers in Transition Committee.