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Long story short:

I am a 0L, visited a law school, attending a networking event there, made connection with a lawyer who offered to send my resume to HR for possible summer positions just as a legal assistant/secretary and later confirmed this via phone, also saying she would definitely help me in the future when I'm a law student.

Applying to an awesome scholarship and her firm is one of the donors and in fact one guy on the selection committee is from her firm (though not her specific office). She is a senior associate. I am thinking of asking her to put in a good word for me, for this scholarship. Is this appropriate, or would it come across as shady? Realistically, would she be able to do anything? I don't know why I'm hesitant to ask but any advice/opinions would be helpful.

Sounds sketchy dude, this is the kind of thing that you don't want to use connections for (you would put her in an uncomfortable position). I wouldn't do that.

Oh no. Really? I decided to go ahead and send the email since no one was replying. Did I just commit a horrible mistake?

The scholarship also (as many others) places the winners in a summer position at a firm after 1L year, so I told her it would help me in landing a job at her firm, that puts it in a good context, right? I also told her how her firm's specific practice areas are being highlighted in my essay for the scholarship so her endorsement would mean a lot.

I'm freaking out. Did I just burn a bridge before I even get to law school?

Anonymous User wrote:Oh no. Really? I decided to go ahead and send the email since no one was replying. Did I just commit a horrible mistake?

The scholarship also (as many others) places the winners in a summer position at a firm after 1L year, so I told her it would help me in landing a job at her firm, that puts it in a good context, right? I also told her how her firm's specific practice areas are being highlighted in my essay for the scholarship so her endorsement would mean a lot.

I'm freaking out. Did I just burn a bridge before I even get to law school?

Don't freak out. Absolute worst thing that could happen is you don't get a job at that one firm. More likely it won't do anything at all. Either way, you already sent the email so there's no point in worrying about it.

Anonymous User wrote:Oh no. Really? I decided to go ahead and send the email since no one was replying. Did I just commit a horrible mistake?

The scholarship also (as many others) places the winners in a summer position at a firm after 1L year, so I told her it would help me in landing a job at her firm, that puts it in a good context, right? I also told her how her firm's specific practice areas are being highlighted in my essay for the scholarship so her endorsement would mean a lot.

I'm freaking out. Did I just burn a bridge before I even get to law school?

Lol it was like 4 hours between when you asked for advice and went ahead and sent the email anyway.

Some general advice I have gathered in my first couple years - ymmv so feel free to ignore.

- I recommend never sending an important email on a Friday, especially after lunch time - it will be forgotten when Monday comes along with 100 new emails.

Also, patience is a virtue. If you let ants in your pants make you act compulsively like this, you will likely piss off a lot of hiring coordinators during OCI.

lol if your email is anything like your posts, you're gonna come off as overeger, which is really off-putting. Chill out for chrissakes.

Hi OP - just coming in to give you some consolation. That guy radlulz responded to one of my threads once with a similarly pessimistic and aggressive answer, so I want to let you know that these early responses aren't indicative of "the truth."

How exactly does the scholarship work? If it were just a bunch of money given to someone for being poor and minority I'd be inclined to think you look a little weird asking for a hookup, but if it's given to someone who, e.g., displays networking prowess, it's a different story. It says it guarantees a job with a summer firm so it sounds more complicated than just money, which is good. Lawyers tend to be smart and forgiving people as long as you aren't on the otherside of a lawsuit with them, so don't fret and GL with the scholarship

In the future, the way you do it, is you send an email saying you are interested in applying for the scholarship, and you want to know if she has any advice or suggestions.

johndhi wrote:That guy radlulz responded to one of my threads once with a similarly pessimistic and aggressive answer, so I want to let you know that these early responses aren't indicative of "the truth."

If this dudes word against radlulz, side with the latter.

Cupidity wrote:In the future, the way you do it, is you send an email saying you are interested in applying for the scholarship, and you want to know if she has any advice or suggestions.

This. Asking straight out for her to put in a good word for you when she barely knows you reeks of desperation, and it's weird.