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2nd Week of Work: Sync With Support Staff

If this is your first grown-up job, face it – almost every support staff person knows more than you. You may know more about some abstract points of law, but they know:

Where the courthouses are and how to submit documents on time and in the correct format;
All about individual clients, their businesses, their legal problems, and their expectations;
The five things that most annoy the attorneys for whom they (and you) work;
Who will return your texts and who has never, ever texted;
How all of the office equipment works;
How to get extra help for emergency projects;
Who is “in” and who is “on the way out;”
What errors that you might make (unintentionally) that might cost you your job; and
Much, much more.

Sync With Support Staff

The administrative assistant who you share with lawyers and other law clerks is not a mind reader, so you must:

Share your personal schedule.

When will you be in the office? People may look for you, and it reflects poorly on you if your assistant always says “I don’t know where he is.”

Share your project schedule #1.

After getting an assignment, the first thing you must do is share the deadline with your assistant. Because yours is not the only work that she handles, she may need to recruit extra help when six lawyers and clerks have documents due at the same time.

Share your project schedule #2.

If you have known about a deadline for weeks, it is inexcusable to surprise your assistant with a large document at 3 p.m. and demand that it be completed by 5 p.m. You may get away with this once. A second bite at that apple will insure that you have a terrible reputation with support staff.

A terrible reputation may lead to unenthusiastic cooperation. While sabotage is unlikely, no one will jump at the chance to work for you. People will notice you, and not in a good way.

Say "Please" and "Thank you"

No explanation required.

First Week of Work: Make or break your summer

First Day

Meeting people: Strong handshakes and good eye contact are key. Do your best to begin to remember names and functions. Ask for an organization chart and make notes. You will be both efficient and effective when you understand how work gets done (who works for whom? who is in which department?)

Getting started: Do not gripe at the amount of paperwork that you must complete. Commit to replying to all administrators' requests double-super-promptly. If administrators like you, they can save your reputation and your job.

Your office space: How do others personalize their spaces? With tiny tasteful photographs of their loved ones or 5-foot-velvet-Elvis paintings? Until you have a permanent job, find a comfort level that meshes with the office norm.

First Week: New Assignments

Take notes

Always take notes when you are given an assignment. Assigning attorneys do not know that you always remember every word that's spoken to you. It makes people nervous to give complicated instructions to someone who doesn't take notes, and your work will be suspect. People will consider you unreliable before seeing your work, and doubts may linger.

Questions to ask when you get an assignment.

Do you have a source for the best place to begin my research?
Have you handled matters similar to this one? (If "yes," ask for the name of the file.)
How many hours do you think that this should take?
When do you need this on your desk?
Do you want to see me before I have finished the project?
How should I format the results? (letter to the assigning attorney, memo to a client, etc.)
Are there research restrictions such as time on Lexis or Westlaw?
What style would you prefer? (persuasive, strictly factual, brief-like, memo-like?)
Will you want a paper or an electronic copy of the final document?

Following a very important direction:

When the assigning attorney says "Bill and Jane did work similar to this. Talk to them about the project," do not scurry back to your desk and send an email asking for everything that they know about Project X.

Your boss means for you to walk down the hall, knock on doors, and have face-to-face contact or a phone call if the lawyers are out of town. Following this instruction benefits you because your Boomer or X-er boss doesn't want to hear from colleagues that they were email-bombed by an unknown law clerk, and because she has handed you a golden opportunity to get to know more people in the office. Play your cards right, enhance your reputation, and do good work.

Be a pal. Share this advice with everyone in your Torts section.

******Susan Gainen has a suite of programs created just for law students: Alternative Careers, Second Career Law Students, Professionalism, Job Search Skills = Business Development Skills, Job Search Outside of OCI: The Forever Skill (unless you are a Ground-Hog-Day-2L). In addition to 25 years of legal career development activity (headhunter, law school career development, consultant), she is an artist. Her other workshops include "Open Your Heart and Close Your Wallet: Watercolor Postcards for Travelers," and "Cave Painting with Gesso."

Cover Letters: critical tools for an alternative career search

Best cover letters

The best cover letters are door openers. They should show that you understand the job for which you are applying, know some current problems in the industry, understand problems specific to the business (two different things), and that you have recommendations for solutions or strategies for problem solving. Present these elements clearly, and employers will want to talk to you.

A letter that opened the door for an interview (and a job)

I had never been a law school career advisor when I applied to 125 law school deans in 1992. I did have 10 years of sales (food business and car business), a year of law practice, and six years as a headhunter for lawyers. This is the essence of my letter:

Dean's name spelled correctly
Institution's correct name (Law School, College of Law, School of Law? It matters.)

Dear Dean [Correct Last Name]:

In case it is not clear why a lawyer, car sales person and headhunter for lawyers ought to be your Director of Placement (that's what it was called in 1992), here are the four constituencies of the office, some of their problems, and a few recommendations.

The letter had two sentences about me and nearly two pages about life in a law school. Because law schools have the same constituencies and the same general problems, I did not have to demonstrate that I had been stalking the dean.

Another winner

After a frustrating year-long attempt to extricate herself from Big Case Litigation and to land a job as a non-profit development director, the candidate dropped her singularly ineffective "pick me, I'm a lawyer" letter and replaced it with:

Dear Non-Profit President:

I have served on several boards, worked on finance committees, and chaired two successful capital campaigns. I have always been deeply committed to [your issues], demonstrated by my active membership in [significant organizations.] I would like to be considered as a candidate for your open Director of Development position.

[The second and third paragraphs contained a succinct discussion of the differences between the roles of staff and board members in fundraising, and the challenges of managing on-going fund-raising and capital campaigns in a distressed economy.]

[Last paragraph.] In addition to my board service, I am a practicing attorney who has demonstrated commitment to public service by [short list of pro bono projects]. I hope to be able to harness my knowledge of active board service, my commitment to [your stuff], and the technical skills that I bring as a lawyer in service of your organization.

When she wrote "Pick me, I'm a lawyer," she distracted prospective employers from her relevant experience, commitment to the organization's work, and her transferable skills. Three weeks later, she had job offers.

Telepathy is not a job search tool.

You have to show that you have potential to get the work done. Although you may never have worked in that industry or performed the specific tasks that are critical to an employer's enterprise, you have to give her something to onto that will justify calling you for an interview. Unless you are applying for a job that is titled "lawyer," writing "Pick me, I'm a lawyer" is a non-starter.

*#*#*#*

Susan Gainen presented Alternative Careers for Counselors Without Secret Job Drawers at the 2013 NALP Educational Conference in April 2013. This post is adapted from one published by Bloomberg Law on April 10, 2013. The entire post, Cover Letters and Resumes: Critical Tools for Alternative Career Searches, can be found behind the Bloomberg Law-Law Schools pay wall, and it will be available to NALP members under the 2013 Conference Handouts tab by May 10, 2013.

Alternative Careers Conversations: Law Schools' Moral Imperative

Even if there were a JD-required job for every law student and tuition were free, law schools would still have a moral imperative to introduce students to alternative uses for their JDs.

Law grads make choices

Law school career professionals know that each student is different, and that they all don't want to be securities litigators. These professionals counsel students and alumni, and present programs and panels about traditional and alternative careers. Sadly, unless the focus is on a superstar non-traditional grad with high-donor-level potential, there is often deadening silence instead of institutional support for alternative paths.

When NALP helpfully introduced its JD Advantage portal, even the idea was challenged in a particularly snarky Law School Cafe blog post. Regardless of the economy, imagining that every law grad would or should want to be a JD-required-lifer is deeply disrespectful to individual choice.

The Threshold Question: Why did you decide to come to law school?

How can a student who has never practiced law know what he or she wants to do as a lawyer? In six years as a headhunter and 17 years in career services, I observed (anecdotally) that:

10% of students came with mathematical and moral certainty about what they were going to do. Half did something else.
40% of students came with five eloquent minutes about wanting to do a particular thing. Having never practiced law, much of that eloquence failed to measure up to experience, and they changed their minds.
50% of students admitted that they didn’t know much about law practice, and that their minds were open.

While I had hoped that transparency discussions and high tuition costs might have moved these numbers, conversations with career services professionals indicate that not much has changed.

No JD-required-lifer guarantee

Law School Admissions professionals do not have magic powers and the LSAT is not a career-predictor. Until staff can be equipped with breath, blood or genetic tests to identify JD-required-lifers, failure to discuss alternative careers with students demonstrates an institution's delusional view of real career paths.

Even if the JD-required-lifer path could be made immune from changes in the economy, failure to equip students with tools for flexibility is irresponsible and mean-spirited.

Life happens: things change

What excites a 24 year-old may not compel a 35-year-old whose life experience, skill development, children, mortgages, elderly parents, and/or new business opportunities seem to be leading to another path. Without having offered even a hint of guidance or direction, when alumni get tired, bored, or frustrated, they can (and do) feel alone, and believe that getting to the next place is impossible.

Had alternative career paths been introduced – not as required or desired but as potential – some of the career-change panic might be tamped down.

All litigation, all the time: A law school option?

Scheduled to open in September 2013, the new California Desert Trial Academy College of Law has as its goal “Educating, training and developing extraordinary legal advocates,” which sounds as if the school is meant to be an exclusive ground for training trial lawyers and litigators. I look forward to following this school and its graduates to see whether they become JD-required-litigator lifers.

*@*@*@*@*

Susan Gainen will serve as Co-Vice Chair of the 2013-2014 NALP Career Services Professionals Course for Mid-Career Professionals, and she will present "Alternative Careers for Career Services Professionals Without Secret Job Drawers" at the 2013 NALP National Education Conference in Tampa.

Balancing Exam Prep and Job Search

Students often want to stop searching for jobs while studying for exams or prepping for the bar. Clearing the decks of everything extraneous to studying seems like a great strategy.

Think again. Time management is a critical element in any professional practice. Make it work for you during exams.

Employers and Job Postings: Law School Exams

Ignore job postings at your peril. Employers in small organizations without a separate human resources staff do a lot of hiring in a purely reactive mode. When a lawyer interrupts the managing partner's lunch crying out "I need a law clerk NOW!" if the resources are at hand, a job will be posted. This often happens in April and May, with resume due-dates and interviews scheduled during law school exams.

Employers and Job Postings: Bar Exams

When lawyers in small organizations need lawyers or law clerks, the first consideration is meeting clients' needs. Because clients do not organize their business or personal lives around the bar exam, there is often hiring during the summer.

Networking Opportunities: Summer

Many bar associations have annual meetings during prime bar exam study time. Pay attention to the dates and carve out time to attend one or more of these events. Your willingness to give up a few hours to connect to future professional contacts will be noticed.

Many alumni and career services offices schedule lunches with alumni, law students, and admitted students during the summer. If you are in a city where one is scheduled, you must go. These are invaluable opportunities to network with alumni, who will be as helpful as they can should they learned that you are looking for work.

ARRRRGH. I can't waste a minute.

Malarky (maybe). Realistically review your study patterns. If you studied 18 hours a day, day after day after day, never taking a workout break, more than 10 minutes to eat, and six hours to sleep, you are exempt from job search during study time.

Everyone else can easily carve out two hour blocks for reviewing new job postings, conducting interviews, reconnecting with networking contacts, and attending bar activities.

Good luck!

Susan Gainen will present "Alternative Careers for Counselors Without a Secret Job Drawer" on April 25, 2013 at the NALP Educational Conference; "Watercolor for Travelers: No experience necessary" on May 8, 2013 at the Oakdale Library in Oakdale, MN, and demonstrate "Cave Painting: Whimsical Fun" at the Northstar Watermedia Society's 2013 Art-on-a-Line at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on May 19, 2013.

Job Search Outside OCI: Spring Break Edition

The first week of March is a defining moment for thousands of law students because even the most optimistic know that they are not likely to get a job through large firm OCI. Their resumes were not hidden under a stray file and the doors are finally closed.

Small and medium sized firms

Which is not to say that there won’t be job postings and some interviews hosted on campus before the end of the school year. April is a busy month for hiring because lawyers who are no longer focused on the law school calendar realize that summer is coming and that they ought to start thinking about hiring law clerks.

Are they clueless? No. After graduation, the law school calendar becomes a distant memory that is supplanted by their kids' academic and activity calendars and professional activities. Summer camp registration often triggers the "need a law clerk" response, hence the wave of recruiting that happens in April and May.

Public Interest/Public Service

If you are on a public interest job hunt, you probably have mathematical certainty about the financial situation of the agencies that you have targeted. If not, why not? There is no point in hanging on for a paid position when none can possibly emerge. If the agency has no funds, you have been unsuccessful in your application for funding, and you cannot work for free, it is time to make Plan B, which includes Building A Network in related fields.

Interviews during finals

Slightly off-putting for students are the interviews that employers want to schedule during finals. Yes, during finals. Busy lawyers managing their clients' needs do not care about school schedules.

What does this mean for you? You have three choices:

Do absolutely nothing because you have a trust fund;
Rely on law school job postings and compete with your classmates, students from area law schools, and students coming “home” for the summer for those jobs, or
Cancel your spring break plans and get serious about building a network that might help you get to the head of the line for posted jobs or, better yet, make yourself the only candidate for a job that you care about.

Building a network

If you haven’t chosen a primary interest practice track, pick three topics and:

Find three critical issues in the area and do enough research so that you will be able to ask four intelligent questions of an expert.
Using your alumni or career offices, LinkedIn, bar associations, or other resources, find five lawyers practicing in each field and make either phone or in-person meetings with those professionals. Follow the rules of networking and remember that you may not ask for a job during that meeting.
Schedule as many of these meetings as you can during Spring Break. Don't waste a minute.
Follow up with the people you meet, reporting on new things that you have learned and new topics that interested your contacts.

No excuses

Managing a difficult job search uses the same skills that you will employ when you manage a busy law practice. "I can't call people" and "I don't have time to research" are uniquely inneffective when managing your clients' business. They are equally ineffective in managing your own job search.

Reading:

Guerilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams, Kimm Walton.

Six Tips for a Spring Break Job Search (PTBblog)

Three Bs to energize your job search

Unless your loved one included a job offer with the flowers and chocolate, February 15 will be a good time to energize your job search. Begin with these Three B's.

Begin a Job Search By Ditching Your Baggage

Ruth Hayden, who writes and speaks on personal financial issues, wrote Start Where You Are, whose title I have adopted as the motto for launching job searches. If you start where you are,

you will look forward;
you will ditch the baggage (disappointment, resentment) from your previous searches, and
you will bring reality-based research to your efforts.

Begin a Networking Program

Start where you are and ignore your previous awkward false starts by making a coherent plan to make real connections. You are looking for people whose work interests you. You will find them through friends, family, career and alumni professionals, faculty, blog posts, syllabi, Google searches, professional organizations' websites, litigation records and the hundreds of other research tools that you have at your fingertips.

Commit to connecting to one person each week. Be prepared to ask meaningful, specific questions about work and career path.
Commit to keeping track of your contacts and following up on their recommendations for reading or for contacts.
Commit to circling back and thanking these people for their help.

Begin a learning activity

You can distinguish yourself from the pool if you have learned something relevant that you can discuss during a networking meeting or in an interview.

Do a pro bono project to gain client relationship, problems solving, writing, and (sometimes) trial skills that you can present on a resume and discuss in your networking and employment meetings.
Research in your area of interest. Candidates who have taken the time to learn about the issues and problems facing prospective employers tend to get noticed and hired.
Learn as much as you can about the business AND the industry so that you can present yourself as a person ready to work on multi-faceted problems, not just legal issues (which rarely exist in a vacuum).

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Helpful links:
6 steps to jump start a spring job search
Networking should be purposeful, not puzzling
Before your first interview, talk to lawyers