Hire the Right Law Clerk: 4 steps (from lawyerist)

If you work in a large law firm with recruiting infrastructure, two assumptions driving the recruiting process are that students know who you are (large firm) and why they want to work for you (training and money? money and training?). That a particular candidate may be ill-informed, unqualified or otherwise ill-suited for your practice is a subject for another day.

If you work in a small firm without a marquee specialty practice or a small firm in a small town, recruiting may be difficult for you, in part because law students who have barely learned to distinguish torts and contracts may have trouble understanding who you are and what you do.

In the lawyerist.com post Hire the Right Law Clerk: 4 steps, I suggest a process that connects you to career services professionals, and helps them help you give students useful information for the applications for your law clerk position.

4x4: 4 exam tips & 4 winter break guidelines

Assuming the quality of your outlines and the depth of your studying, four rules will take you through your final exams:

• Get enough sleep.  No one write eloquently on two hours of sleep.
• Get some exercise. Opening the door for pizza delivery does not count.
• Eat from the traditional food groups, not “sugar, fat, salt and caffeine.”
• Focus on the subject at hand. There will be no nuclear physics questions on law school finals.

Winter break guidelines are the best: do what feels right for you.

• Have fun.  Eat well. Visit with friends and family. Read books. See movies. Play video games. Explore new music.
• Do good work.  Join your friends and colleagues from all over the world who volunteer  during winter break.
• Catch up with the world.  Stuff happened while you were studying. Catch up.
• Get some sleep. 

100 Reliable (and Ridiculous) Excuses for Calling Out of Work | Career Overview

100 Reliable (and Ridiculous) Excuses for Calling Out of Work | Career Overview

The helpful folks at Career Overview created this list, which  should make you laugh. Please, don't take it too seriously. Remember, your Boss may have read it, too!

Keeping Options Open: 6 reasons, 3 concerns, 2 remedies --- not 31 Flavors

Students often want to manage career risk by keeping options open. As I traveled to 34 law schools in 2010, I listened to career services professionals who were deeply concerned that keeping options open too often translated into “no options identified or exercised” and no job prospects. 

6 REASONS Some students’ reasons for keeping options open: 

1. I don’t want to commit to anything because it might not be available when I graduate.
2. Everyone says that there are no jobs, so I won’t look until after I graduate.
3. I didn’t come to law school to be a lawyer, so I can’t look for work until after graduation.
4. I hated 1^st year moot court and don’t want to be a litigator. I assume that I can’t be a lawyer and want to keep other options open.  
5. I don’t know what lawyers do, so I’ll keep my options open so that I can think about what I might want to do later.
6. I’m not sure what I’m interested in (either too many things or nothing at all), so I can’t focus on looking for a job right now.

3 CONCERNS Career Services Professionals are concerned when:

• Second semester 3Ls suddenly launch un-strategic, poorly planned, and frantic job searches for a-job-any-job.
• Students fixate on a career path and apply for jobs without research and networking, and with no information other than the names and addresses of employers, only to find out later that their credentials or approaches are inappropriate.
• Students continue to keep their mythical, unexplored, unconsidered options open and do nothing.  

2 REMEDIES  Because options do not pay student loans, identifying and exploring career paths as early as possible will help students build the networks that will expand their choices and enable fact-based decision-making. Not persuaded? Consider advice for “Persons of Sports” and “Ice Cream Lovers.” 

FOR PERSONS OF SPORTS:  The Standing Broad Jump vs. the Running Long Jump.  If you expect a professional school to give you a running start into a profession, waiting to explore options until the second semester of third year is like doing a Standing Broad Jump onto your career path. Yes, it tests power, and you will go a distance, but you won’t get far. If you begin your explorations earlier, you gain the propulsive equivalent of the speed, strength, and agility of a Running Long Jump. Even if you don't like where you land, you will have the benefit of setting your job search into motion.

FOR ICE CREAM LOVERS: The 31 Flavor Career Development Moment Keeping your options open as a primary career development tool has its limits. Yes, there are 31 flavors at Baskin-Robbins, but when you get to the front of the line and say "I want to keep my options open," the server will ask you to step aside. The person behind you may not be ready to commit to one flavor, but her willingness to explore Chocolate, Peanut, and Peppermint gets her an ice cream cone.

Choosing to make a career exploration choice is not the same as committing to a lifelong career path. Explore. Ask Questions. Do Research. Consider what you learn. Not right? Reject. Consider something else. Learn more. Make good decisions with facts in hand. 

Good luck!