How to utilize journal article publication in job search? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am a 3L who just accepted a publication offer from a first-tier law review journal, which normally does not even consider practitioner submissions (my co-authors are attorneys). It is very exciting, and I think this is a big deal from an academic standpoint, but I am not quite sure how I can fully utilize this fact in my career and employment strategy. My GPA is below median, so I'm hoping this will compensate somewhat. All I can think of so far is that it is testamentary to my proficiency in research and writing. It would be great if anyone has any insight or tips regarding this!

[Void]

I am a 3L who just accepted a publication offer from a first-tier law review journal, which normally does not even consider practitioner submissions (my co-authors are attorneys). It is very exciting, and I think this is a big deal from an academic standpoint, but I am not quite sure how I can fully utilize this fact in my career and employment strategy. My GPA is below median, so I'm hoping this will compensate somewhat. All I can think of so far is that it is testamentary to my proficiency in research and writing. It would be great if anyone has any insight or tips regarding this!

Congrats. I got an article published and just added a subsection to the law school part of my resume called "publications" and put it there. I havent done anything else to highlight it for job search purposes.

[Geist13]

1. put citation on your resume in your publications section

2. if your Note is related to the practice area of a job you are applying for, mention the note when you are discussing your interest/experience in the practice area. Even if the note is not related to the job, if you highlight your research and writing background in your cover letter, that would be an appropriate time to mention it.

[Lwoods]

1. put citation on your resume in your publications section

2. if your Note is related to the practice area of a job you are applying for, mention the note when you are discussing your interest/experience in the practice area. Even if the note is not related to the job, if you highlight your research and writing background in your cover letter, that would be an appropriate time to mention it.

This. Also, use this news as an opportunity to check in and update every networking contact you've met / communicated with in the past 6 months to a year. Maybe even further out if you're confident he or she would remember you.

Congratulations!

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for all the great ideas so far!

[TooOld4This]

All good ideas. However, you should not confuse the opportunity to update your résumé/remind people about your application with the notion that practitioners actually care about journal writing. Treat it as a nice line on your résumé, but don't pitch it as substantively important. For most fields of law, the only reason to look at a journal article is if you hit on one that has footnotes collecting cases on an issue you care about.

I don't mean this to be harsh or to bring you down. But as a student, you don't want to be seen as someone who would rather be an academic. How you pitch the article could put you in that box if you aren't careful.

[Anonymous User]

All good ideas. However, you should not confuse the opportunity to update your résumé/remind people about your application with the notion that practitioners actually care about journal writing. Treat it as a nice line on your résumé, but don't pitch it as substantively important. For most fields of law, the only reason to look at a journal article is if you hit on one that has footnotes collecting cases on an issue you care about.

I don't mean this to be harsh or to bring you down. But as a student, you don't want to be seen as someone who would rather be an academic. How you pitch the article could put you in that box if you aren't careful.

Thanks, I was also looking for potential pitfalls when I said "insight or tips." Writing it did take over a year, though, so it would be such a waste if I didn't play it up a bit

[TooOld4This]

All good ideas. However, you should not confuse the opportunity to update your résumé/remind people about your application with the notion that practitioners actually care about journal writing. Treat it as a nice line on your résumé, but don't pitch it as substantively important. For most fields of law, the only reason to look at a journal article is if you hit on one that has footnotes collecting cases on an issue you care about.

I don't mean this to be harsh or to bring you down. But as a student, you don't want to be seen as someone who would rather be an academic. How you pitch the article could put you in that box if you aren't careful.

Thanks, I was also looking for potential pitfalls when I said "insight or tips." Writing it did take over a year, though, so it would be such a waste if I didn't play it up a bit

Right, all the more reason you don't want to unintentionally give the impression that you really don't want to practice, but would rather skip right to academia! I'd play up the angle of having the opportunity to work with practitioners for that year and the skills you think you came away with.

[Lwoods]

All good ideas. However, you should not confuse the opportunity to update your résumé/remind people about your application with the notion that practitioners actually care about journal writing. Treat it as a nice line on your résumé, but don't pitch it as substantively important. For most fields of law, the only reason to look at a journal article is if you hit on one that has footnotes collecting cases on an issue you care about.

I don't mean this to be harsh or to bring you down. But as a student, you don't want to be seen as someone who would rather be an academic. How you pitch the article could put you in that box if you aren't careful.

Re the networking bit, this is primarily just a good excuse to follow up with networking contacts. However, certain employers will like that you've been published over a number of other accomplishments because it's the type of thing* that goes on a website bio and contributes to the firm's overall marketing. How much they care depends on how in tune the hiring lawyers are to that aspect of the business and how much they feel associates can or should contribute to it.

*Other types of things that fall into this category include certain journal positions, latin honors, order of the coif, and maybe some moot court wins (not sure on this last one as I'm not particularly litigation focused).

[Burple]

All good ideas. However, you should not confuse the opportunity to update your résumé/remind people about your application with the notion that practitioners actually care about journal writing. Treat it as a nice line on your résumé, but don't pitch it as substantively important. For most fields of law, the only reason to look at a journal article is if you hit on one that has footnotes collecting cases on an issue you care about.

I don't mean this to be harsh or to bring you down. But as a student, you don't want to be seen as someone who would rather be an academic. How you pitch the article could put you in that box if you aren't careful.

Re the networking bit, this is primarily just a good excuse to follow up with networking contacts. However, certain employers will like that you've been published over a number of other accomplishments because it's the type of thing* that goes on a website bio and contributes to the firm's overall marketing. How much they care depends on how in tune the hiring lawyers are to that aspect of the business and how much they feel associates can or should contribute to it.

*Other types of things that fall into this category include certain journal positions, latin honors, order of the coif, and maybe some moot court wins (not sure on this last one as I'm not particularly litigation focused).

I tend to agree with this. I had an interview last week where I was asked if any of my writing had been published.