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Hi all, hopefully this is the right venue for me to get some advice.

0L here heading to a T10 starting in the fall. I just graduated days ago and am currently jobless, but thankfully am very comfortable financially as of now (thanks Mom and Dad for the basement space!). I literally have nothing on my plate until May or so, and am trying to figure out what to do with my time until then.

Thanks to my obsessive monitoring of TLS, Above The Law, etc., I am now officially scared shitless of what my job prospects are looking like as a lawyer ITE. As such, I'm looking for anything that I can do now to help me get on the right track for my career. I'm aspiring for the biglaw path, so I'm trying to figure out what it takes to get a 2L internship------>offer.

I have an accounting and finance double major, but very limited experience in anything valuable (a few decent internships, but no solid/concrete full-time stuff). I've come up with a couple of ideas on how I can help myself out and would love to hear any opinions on these options (not mutually exclusive)--

1) Pass the CPA exam. I'm eligible to sit for it in many states, and have found a few states that I can get licensed in through law school credits. Sounds like a good credential to me, but is it valuable without any real accounting experience to go with it?

2) Network. I have no idea what the fuck this entails, but I realize that a large portion of getting a job can be who you know and want to help myself out accordingly. I personally know no one in biglaw, but am sure that I could find some people through friend-of-a-friend type deals. Would it pay for me to contact them, set up meetings, and wax poetic about my biglaw hardon? Are there any other avenues by which I can meet people who could be good contacts? I'm not shy.

3) Try to develop a little niche. Surely the stupidest of my ideas--I know I'm grasping at straws at this point. It just seems to me like some people get their foot in the door by having cool areas that they're pretty good in. I could spend the next 6 months basically reading up on any subject I want and getting slightly knowledgeable about it.

4) Play Black Ops and/or get laid 24/7. Realize that none of the above options are any good and just recharge my batteries until school starts. Volunteer, maybe travel a little. This is tempting but also makes me nervous about being sedentary while other kids may be gaining advantages.

5) [Snark about how nothing matters until 2L]


Thanks in advance for any advice. Feel free to be cruel or snarky if this post deserves it.

See if you can get a paralegal job through a temp agency. Also, contact all the firms in your area to see if you can get some sort of temp work directly through them.

If that doesn't work, then try to volunteer with an organization that is meaningful to you. You should do something so that there isn't a big gap on your resume.

In the meantime, read all the 1L E&E's (except for Property and Conlaw, those suck. Read "Understanding Property" and wait til class for ConLaw.) Also, work on your writing skills. Work through Plain English for Lawyers (its basic stuff that you should already know, but your ability to write efficiently is the most important part of law school success.

As far as networking, it is a very good idea to contact everyone you can think of who works in the legal field (not just biglaw lawyers) and talk to them. Ask them for advice on how to succeed in law school, and ask them about the work that they do. Stay in touch with them; let them know how you're doing once law school begins.

Don't worry too much about all of this, though. The above recommendations are not really that important in comparison to your 1L grades. So have fun and enjoy some freedom; I'm very jealous.

180orbust wrote: In the meantime, read all the 1L E&E's (except for Property and Conlaw, those suck. Read "Understanding Property" and wait til class for ConLaw.)

This is a terrible idea.

Other than get a real job and build your resume, I don't think there is a whole lot to be done. I'd say some combination of 2 and 4 is your best bet, and I have no idea how 1 would affect you so I can't comment on that. I also don't think 0L prep would be helpful at all (hell, I'm skeptical that reading during the semester is even all that helpful).

180orbust wrote:See if you can get a paralegal job through a temp agency. Also, contact all the firms in your area to see if you can get some sort of temp work directly through them.

No firm that will let you work from Jan - midAug is a good enough firm to help you at all in the future. You may be able to get a 3 month temp gig, but it will not be useful or informative and you will not meet anyone important enough to be influential later in your career.

I don't think any of the things suggested in the OP can hurt, as long as you are not too overzealous. Don't be freakish about your networking, but definitely reach out to people and have the conversation. You never know who might help you later. Passing the CPA could be great and I don't think developing a niche can hurt, but without a degree and some serious stuff to back you up, it's just personal knowledge. Learn those things because they're fun, not because you're convinced they will get you a job.

In short, OP, try to use these next few month to make yourself more well-rounded and maybe make a little dough.

paratactical wrote: maybe make a little dough.

Also this. The first few months of law school involved a great deal of drinking, buying things for the semester, and drinking. So you'll want a little extra cash.

Yeah, umm don't follow any of the advice above. The best thing you can do to help yourself get a job in the future is to do your best 1L year... and the best thing you can do towards that is to relax and take the summer easy so you go into the new semester ready to do well.

Anyways some actually constructive things you can consider:

1) Get any job just to keep you busy, make some money before you start
2) Don't bother with reading too much, maybe consider Getting to Maybe/ browse a few E&Es

Na_Swatch wrote:Yeah, umm don't follow any of the advice above.

Playing Black Ops and getting laid are not TCR in your book?

romothesavior wrote:

Na_Swatch wrote:Yeah, umm don't follow any of the advice above.

Playing Black Ops and getting laid are not TCR in your book?

haha nope you're correct.. I typed mine up when there was only one response, but by the time I was done there were 3 more

Or, I suppose you could follow everyone else's advice and be a slacker, trying to get by with as little effort as possible. 0L E&E's aren't a substitute for hard 1L work, but its easier to learn new material if you have a general background understanding of the field. I had many interviewers tell me that they were really happy to see some kind of legal experience on my resume because it showed I had some idea of what was in store, and I was a paralegal for a firm that you wouldn't think would be impressive.

Perhaps everyone else is right, and you're wasting your time by taking my advice. But there's a chance I am right, and you could be missing out on future opportunities. Either you waste your time by slacking, or you waste your time by doing something that has a chance of being a very good thing for you.

...

180orbust wrote:Or, I suppose you could follow everyone else's advice and be a slacker, trying to get by with as little effort as possible. 0L E&E's aren't a substitute for hard 1L work, but its easier to learn new material if you have a general background understanding of the field. I had many interviewers tell me that they were really happy to see some kind of legal experience on my resume because it showed I had some idea of what was in store, and I was a paralegal for a firm that you wouldn't think would be impressive.

Perhaps everyone else is right, and you're wasting your time by taking my advice. But there's a chance I am right, and you could be missing out on future opportunities. Either you waste your time by slacking, or you waste your time by doing something that has a chance of being a very good thing for you.

Wait, you're posting questions as a 0L in the WUSTL thread and now you're giving 1L prep advice and arguing with people who have actually been through 1L year about whether or not certain preparation is useful.

So, if you're not a 2L - what experience do you have with legal hiring for law students or what experience do you have to support the assertion that wasting time reading E&E's before school is useful?

vamedic03 wrote:

180orbust wrote:Or, I suppose you could follow everyone else's advice and be a slacker, trying to get by with as little effort as possible. 0L E&E's aren't a substitute for hard 1L work, but its easier to learn new material if you have a general background understanding of the field. I had many interviewers tell me that they were really happy to see some kind of legal experience on my resume because it showed I had some idea of what was in store, and I was a paralegal for a firm that you wouldn't think would be impressive.

Perhaps everyone else is right, and you're wasting your time by taking my advice. But there's a chance I am right, and you could be missing out on future opportunities. Either you waste your time by slacking, or you waste your time by doing something that has a chance of being a very good thing for you.

Wait, you're posting questions as a 0L in the WUSTL thread and now you're giving 1L prep advice and arguing with people who have actually been through 1L year about whether or not certain preparation is useful.

So, if you're not a 2L - what experience do you have with legal hiring for law students or what experience do you have to support the assertion that wasting time reading E&E's before school is useful?

I'm a 2L. I did well my 1L year. I would have done better if I had read E&E's beforehand--I am sure of this.

I had ulterior motives in the WUSTL thread. Pay it no mind.

!

Gonna add my 2 cents being a 2L having gone through the process and received my first choice offer. Also, I have a finance background like you, so PM me if you'd like to talk more.

takinrjerbs wrote:Thanks to my obsessive monitoring of TLS, Above The Law, etc., I am now officially scared shitless of what my job prospects are looking like as a lawyer ITE. As such, I'm looking for anything that I can do now to help me get on the right track for my career. I'm aspiring for the biglaw path, so I'm trying to figure out what it takes to get a 2L internship------>offer.

First, stop freaking out. There is plenty of time for the market to improve; your on-campus interviews will be 1.75 years from now. Also, ATL (particularly Elie) is overly pessimistic because that's how you get readers to your blog.

1) Pass the CPA exam. I'm eligible to sit for it in many states, and have found a few states that I can get licensed in through law school credits. Sounds like a good credential to me, but is it valuable without any real accounting experience to go with it?

My instinct that it is valuable only if you plan on doing tax, and you could probably convincingly position yourself that way. Downside: that positioning limits your choices in firms. You can't expect a lot of traction with a firm that doesn't have a tax practice.

2) Network. I have no idea what the fuck this entails, but I realize that a large portion of getting a job can be who you know and want to help myself out accordingly. I personally know no one in biglaw, but am sure that I could find some people through friend-of-a-friend type deals. Would it pay for me to contact them, set up meetings, and wax poetic about my biglaw hardon? Are there any other avenues by which I can meet people who could be good contacts? I'm not shy.

In 100% honesty, you're going to a T10 so networking is not really necessary. I suspect there are many firms knocking down the door to get at your school's candidates. You can always research this with your career services center, though.

3) Try to develop a little niche. Surely the stupidest of my ideas--I know I'm grasping at straws at this point. It just seems to me like some people get their foot in the door by having cool areas that they're pretty good in. I could spend the next 6 months basically reading up on any subject I want and getting slightly knowledgeable about it.

You can't plausibly develop any niche a law firm would be interested in in the time you have. Niches are for experienced attorneys. Firms see you as a blank slate homogeneous product manufactured out your school.

4) Play Black Ops and/or get laid 24/7. Realize that none of the above options are any good and just recharge my batteries until school starts. Volunteer, maybe travel a little. This is tempting but also makes me nervous about being sedentary while other kids may be gaining advantages.

Slacking off is never a good idea IMO, but get laid all you want because they're not mutually exclusive.

My advice:
1) Rock your grades. That means do what you need to this summer to emotionally prepare yourself for the work this entails. If you need to relax, so be it. If you'd like to review outlines or E&E's on some classes, that's fine too. You know yourself and your studying style best. Poor grades will eliminate you, and stellar grades will get you a job despite a poor interview, especially from a T10. If you apply to a firm that doesn't recruit at your school, a stellar GPA moves you to the top of the stack. If you have mediocre grades, then 2 and 3 become more important for you to set yourself apart.

2) Get on law review. Firms like to see this, regardless of whether or not you think it actually teaches you anything useful. Try to get on it. Likewise, moot court and mock trial are also reputable. My experience has been law review is great for all jobs, but moot court and mock trial are more helpful for litigation than corporate.

3) Practice interviewing. This is especially important if you have mediocre grades and have never interviewed for a professional role before. In fact, you could spend your summer practicing this while still having plenty of time for Black Ops and sex. If you're a borderline candidate, a bad interview will kill you. Have stories ready for those behavioral questions.

4) Think about your 1L internship. It does not have to be biglaw to land you a 2L big law SA position, so do something interesting that will be a nice talking point in your interviews. Take advantage of non-profit funding from your school. Demonstrate some personality.

And my standard advice about job searching regardless of industry: every employer is looking for something different and you might not fit with them no matter how much you want to work for them. They're just not that into you, so don't take it personally.

lol @ reading E&Es. Would not have helped me at all. Hell, reading the E&E for torts after the class before exams wasn't even useful. My profs were very specific in that respect.

180orbust wrote: I had ulterior motives in the WUSTL thread. Pay it no mind.

1 post? peace