Best books to learn about legal careers? Forum

[thesnuzzard]

Hi all! I'm starting at Duke in August, and I was hoping to spend some time learning about different legal careers before I start. Obviously I know my mind will probably change once I'm in school, but I'd like to go in with a few ideas about what area of law I might like to practice in. Does anyone have any recommendations for books that can give me a good start? Most of the books I've looked at are fairly old or are written specifically for people trying to switch careers.

I hope this is the right place to post this. I figured that current students and graduates would have some experience with these resources. Thank you!

[CaptainLeela]

Welcome to TLS

[thesnuzzard]

What are you currently interested in?

Right now I'm working at an immigration law firm. I can't see myself working in immigration forever, but I do lean towards public interest.

[Abbie Doobie]

but I'd like to go in with a few ideas about what area of law I might like to practice in

then why don't you ask people actually working in these practice areas what is it like? that is going to be way more helpful than reading some book. seriously, get out and meet people.

[stealthgunner]

Hi all! I'm starting at Duke in August, and I was hoping to spend some time learning about different legal careers before I start. Obviously I know my mind will probably change once I'm in school, but I'd like to go in with a few ideas about what area of law I might like to practice in. Does anyone have any recommendations for books that can give me a good start? Most of the books I've looked at are fairly old or are written specifically for people trying to switch careers.

I hope this is the right place to post this. I figured that current students and graduates would have some experience with these resources. Thank you!

You have to make choices immediately. First - litigation? (writing motions, going to trial, etc.) or transactional? (drafting contracts, conducting due diligence (researching the financial strength and profitability of a company), drafting wills, etc.).

Second - If Litigation: Law firm (big/medium/small) (plaintiffs/defense) (civil/criminal); District Attorney (prosecution); Fellowships (legal services, DOJ (which could lead to AUSA), other federal); Attorney General (representing the state's interest); judicial law clerk (state/federal; and not all are interested in litigation). If Transactional: Law Firm, (big/medium/small); Practice Area: maritime, intellectual property, corporate governance, employment/ERISA benefits, etc.

The sooner you can figure out 1) what you think you will love and 2) what the legal community will accept you as, you will be able to get 1L and 2L internships and even 3L externships that will pretty much secure the job that you want [of course nothing is guaranteed].

My favorite book is Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of You Dreams. It's so good.

Good luck!

[Londonbear]

I don't necessarily think you need to make choices immediately, especially your area of practice. I think you get a good decent window to decide. I think the main thing is by the end of your 1L summer, you should decide whether you want to try for a firm b/c if you do want that door open, you'll want to do OCI that happens before 2L. If you miss OCI, getting a BigLaw job after graduation will be hard. Medium and small firm is still an option. So try to think about where you might want to intern for 1L summer and apply to those places, and that summer will help you a lot. Only after law school began did I find out that I really hated tedious case research and brief writing, and absolutely could not stand moot/mock so litigation was out of the question, then I went into a firm and did some corporate work for my 1L summer, found out I really enjoyed it, so came back and decided to do OCI. If I hated working in the firm, then I'd probably look into government or public interest. I did an externship at a government agency during 2L, found out I didn't really like it, so that narrows it down. Point is, you have time to explore and try things. I think people often forget that. I do think if you have any inkling of wanting to work in Biglaw that you DO NOT PASS UP OCI. You can always get paid really well your 2L summer as an SA and then decide to not do BigLaw when you graduate. But it will be hard to break into BigLaw as a 3L or as a lateral from non-BigLaw. Not impossible, maybe not even super hard, but it will never be as easy again as OCI.

I think Law School Confidential has a nice overview of OCI and BigLaw. I just re-read that part a little bit after OCI and wished I'd actually reviewed that part closer before OCI. But there's also a ton of stuff on TLS forums. Might be a little depressing sometimes, but at least you're not going to go into it all starry eyed.