blogs.vault.com/ Wed, 01 May 2019 00:07:00 Wed, 01 May 2019 00:07:00 Kirkland & Ellis LLP /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/insider-advice-on-picking-a-practice-area-perspectives-from-kirkland-ellis/#detailed_comment Selecting a practice area is one of the most important first steps in one's legal career. For law students, this choice may seem overwhelming given the breadth of practice areas. At Kirkland , we encourage prospective summers to take a step back and research their options, including speaking with attorneys and peers who were summer associates at the firm, meeting with career counselors at their law schools, and consulting helpful publications and rankings on practice areas.   Understanding where your interest lies prior to your summer can help you maximize your experience. Our summers enter our program assigned to one of four areas—litigation, corporate, intellectual property, or restructuring—and have freedom and support to explore the various specialties within each practice area over the summer, providing them a clearer sense of how to direct their careers when they return as associates. We asked some of our associates for their tips on researching and selecting a practice area as they prepared for the summer program. Read on for their insights. 1. Did you go into the summer associate interview process with a specific practice area in mind? How did you research practice areas to prepare for your interviews?   Paige Scheckla (Corporate Associate, Debt Finance) : At Kirkland, you need to choose what area you want to practice in prior to coming in as a summer associate. Unlike at other firms where they do a rotation system, we hire people directly into practice areas. That doesn’t mean that you need to know if you want to be a debt finance attorney specifically, but you need to know if you want to be in Kirkland’s corporate, litigation, intellectual property or restructuring departments.   Gerardo Mijares-Shafai (Restructuring Associate) : For me in particular, I knew that I wanted to work in distress. I just was not sure if that meant working in a true insolvency/restructuring practice or working in a traditional M&A practice with a focus on distressed investments. Based on my conversations with lawyers at Kirkland, I had a pretty good inclination that restructuring was the way I was going to go. Once I got here, I was sure to scratch the itch. I tried one or two distressed M&A deals, and while the experiences were great, they also reaffirmed that our restructuring practice was where I wanted to be. 2. What are some resources that you recommend when researching practice areas? Paige Scheckla : Sometimes it can be hard to tell on various firm websites what kind of practice areas they have and whether they allow summer associates to go between groups or whether they have to stick to one. I believe the best resource here is reaching out to attorneys. Kirkland attorneys are always happy to help. I get emails all the time from students at University of Chicago and UCLA—my alma maters—and I’m always happy to take their calls. Certainly websites like Vault are going to give a good idea of a firm’s top practice areas. Looking at lists that highlight individual partners in a firm, like the Daily Journal ’s Top 40 under 40 is also useful because when you see that the top partners are in certain practice areas, that’ll give you a sense of the firm’s leading practice areas. Also looking at the NALP form to determine how many attorneys are in each practice group in any office is truly the best starting point to get a good sense of which firms offer which practice areas. Gerardo Mijares-Shafai : The best thing you can do is talk to your law school peers in the class years above you. I found out about restructuring because I had a mentor who was the year above me. At the time, he was a summer associate at Kirkland in the restructuring group, and he talked to me about why he ultimately chose restructuring. That conversation (along with others) coupled with my background as a JD-MBA gave me the confidence that restructuring would be the practice area that would allow me to leverage both my graduate degrees to the fullest extent possible. Talk to people who can give you the breadth of knowledge that you need to make an informed decision, but don’t just rely on word of mouth. Do your homework by reading up on the latest editions of resources like Chambers & Partners and Vault . You can obtain pretty good insight into both the culture of a particular practice area and how a firm’s particular practice area ranks against its peers in different cities. 3. What are some useful questions candidates can ask during the interview process to learn more about a firm’s practice areas? Paige Scheckla : I would ask folks exactly what their day looks like and what kinds of deals or cases they’re working on. A lot of times, a firm bio may say an attorney works in certain areas, but asking them exactly what kinds of tasks they do on a day-to-day basis will give you a sense of what the firm actually does. You should also ask what summer associates get the chance to do. Gerardo Mijares-Shafai : There are two questions I would recommend any person have in their back pocket during interviews. The first is, “What is the role of the associate, and how does that role progress and evolve from the time he or she starts to when he or she is actively managing a case on behalf of a partner?” The second question I’d ask is, “What is the client/professional relationship like? Do you feel like the client is coming to you to help develop a plan of attack to drive a deal or resolve a dispute, or do you feel like the client is coming to you for your expertise in order to help them better execute their already established vision and deal path?” Those are two questions I found useful going through interviews; they helped me understand what the associate/partner and attorney/client relationships looked like at each firm and how that fit into my career goals. 4. How did Kirkland’s summer program help you develop in your practice area? Paige Scheckla : Hitting the ground running in my desired practice area over the summer really helped me hone the skills I needed to start developing over my 3L year and my first year of practice. Kirkland also has top-notch training, which starts when you’re a summer associate. For corporate folks, we have Kirkland University that offers training specific to tenure. Over the summer, part of that is doing a mock negotiation and revising a purchase agreement—both skills I took with me into my first year at the firm. On top of that, because I was able to select my practice area in advance of getting to Kirkland, I was able to do real work from day one as a summer associate—including doing first- and second-year associate level work on real deals for real clients. Gerardo Mijares-Shafai : I knew I wanted to go into restructuring, and I saw that there was so much opportunity as a summer; there were so many cases going on, and I was able to try out different things. I helped out on a matter where we were representing a creditor that was part of a Chapter 11 process. I got to sit in on a few calls where restructuring counsel was advising an equity sponsor of a company that was going through bankruptcy. And of course, I got to do some company-side work. I made my decision to come to Kirkland because at the end of the day, there was that breadth and quality of work, even as a junior associate. That’s not always going to be the case for other firms that do restructuring; Kirkland is unique in the restructuring space and made my decision easy. 5. Knowing what you know now, what advice would you tell yourself when you were in law school and deciding your practice area?   Paige Scheckla : Don’t stress. There is going to be a firm that fits what you’re looking for in terms of career goals, desired practice area, and culture, as long as you’re willing to put some time and effort into researching your options! Gerardo Mijares-Shafai : Don’t be afraid to ask questions, whether you’re talking with prospective firms or your peers in law school.     Paige Scheckla (left) and Gerardo Mijares-Shafai (right) Associates, Kirkland & Ellis LLP   This post originally appeared in the Vault Guide to Summer Associate Interviewing & Top-Ranked Programs . Click here to access the guide and read more advice articles regarding the recruiting process and summer associate experience, as well as detailed law firm profiles. Students at partnering schools have free access to this ebook. This is a sponsored blog post. /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/insider-advice-on-picking-a-practice-area-perspectives-from-kirkland-ellis/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/insider-advice-on-picking-a-practice-area-perspectives-from-kirkland-ellis/ Wed, 01 May 2019 00:07:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/legal-career-spotlight-a-qa-with-adrian-dayton-of-clearview-social/#detailed_comment In 2008, Adrian Dayton was fired from his associate position at a law firm in Buffalo, New York due to the country’s economic downturn. He was almost relieved—he wasn’t happy in the job anyway, and now he had the opportunity to find his niche. Adrian began touring the country, teaching attorneys how to use Twitter and other social media platforms to the benefit of their business. That consultancy eventually morphed into Clearview Social , a tool that makes it easy for organizations to have their employees share content with their networks. Adrian sat down to chat with Vault about his career path and the ways law engages with social media—and how the industry can use it more effectively. Vault: So what initially drew you to law school? Adrian: I think the whole story of how I ended up in law school is not as important as how the market changed. Back in 2004, when I went to law school, I initially wanted an MBA. But they seemed less and less attractive—it seemed like everyone had an MBA—and I thought that a law degree could give me a step up in the competition. So I went to law school not to become a lawyer, but to go into business. I then went to law school and to my surprise, I loved it. I loved the core classes—contracts, property, though I hated civil procedure. Law school was really fun. I did well, and I had offers to join a few firms. While in law school I got married and we had a kid. My wife liked the idea of a steady salary, so I accepted an offer with a prominent law firm in Buffalo, New York. Vault: You notoriously founded Clearview Social after losing your job during the Great Recession. What prompted you to move away from practicing law entirely and found Clearview Social? Adrian: I started my legal career in 2008. In 2009, I started using Twitter. One day the head of the department came into my office, and he said two words I’ll never forget: “You’re fired.” I called my wife to tell her—she started crying, and I told her that I had a plan. I told her that I was going to teach lawyers how to use Twitter, and she started crying harder. But she’s very supportive, and she realized that I was more engaged in business than I ever had been as a lawyer. People tell me, “Wow, you really took a negative and turned it into a positive.” But I hated being a lawyer, so I don’t think it was really a negative at all. When I created my consultancy [Adrian Dayton & Associates, a precursor to Clearview Social], I wanted to really influence the legal industry. I wanted to bring social media to law, and I saw so much potential and wanted to make it a reality. I read Tribes by Seth Godin, which was so inspiring, and since the market had turned, the firms were ready for new ideas and change. My consultancy exploded. Twelve months after I was fired, I was making double what I did as a lawyer. I never even considered looking back to practicing law, since the consultancy was so much more practical for me—and I was happier, so that was a double whammy. I traveled across the country, trained thousands of attorneys at luncheons, partner retreats, and all the major industry conferences—but I got frustrated because they liked the message, but they wouldn’t change their behaviors. I realized that it wasn’t enough for them to learn—they needed tools to make the process easier. Vault: Can you tell us briefly how Clearview Social works? What do you do that's different than simply sharing a post or two on LinkedIn? Adrian: I realized that professional services firms all have the same problem. Most firms are creating great content, but no one is sharing it—not even the author. They’re all using content marketing—blog posts, articles, etc. The best way to market that way is by creating content that adds value to your network, so they’ll hire you. So I created Clearview social, a tool designed for marketing that content. Instead of someone from marketing going door to door to harass people to share more content, Clearview Social sends everyone in the organization an email with a queue of articles. They check the items they want to share, and it sends them out across their social media platforms. The posts are scheduled across the company and throughout the week—so it’s not like everyone’s sharing all the same content at the same time. So, how is this different than posting directly to LinkedIn? Almost 200 companies are now using Clearview Social, some with 20 users and some with upwards of 5,000. And the reality is that every one of those organizations, before Clearview, tried sending emails reminding their employees to post links, and it just didn’t work. The average statistic of organic posting, without the tool, was about 1-2 percent of employees sharing content on LinkedIn. The difference with Clearview social is that organizations are sharing more posts, more frequently, and with increased quality. It’s more regular, and there are more feedback and statistics so people can see what’s working and what’s not. So the tool gets smarter every time it's used. To give you an example: One organization we work with sent out emails to remind people to post, but would only get about five posts to social media in a week. They have about 300 employees. They’ve been using Clearview for 9 months, and last week they had 1,200 shares throughout the company. The people were willing before, but it was difficult without a tool. Vault: Law isn't exactly a field that one thinks of as having a strong social media presence—as opposed to consumer products, tech, etc. Why do you think this field doesn't seem to have the same impact on social media? What is law doing to try and keep up? Adrian: It’s all a matter of where law works and where it doesn’t. Where law doesn’t make sense in social media is Instagram, since the platform is for images with very little written content. It also doesn’t work on Facebook corporate pages. Firms tell me that they use their Facebook pages to talk about recruiting and their nonprofit initiatives. But it still isn’t effective. No one cares. No one is going to go on a Facebook corporate page to look that stuff up. Employees might use it, but not the public. Where law is doing well is when they embrace true content marketing—in teaching and educating the marketplace. These firms create great blog content, the lawyers are at the top of their games, teaching their networks about the latest legal developments, how to mitigate risk, and other great subjects. The reason lawyers are so much better at this than other industries is that they have something to say. Creating meaningful content is a big challenge for every industry, but when lawyers get it right, it’s very powerful. Vault: What do you think of as the key to a strong, professional social media presence—both for organizations and individuals? Adrian: For individuals, the foundation is a LinkedIn profile that’s completely filled out, accurate, and up to date. It should also be strategically aligned with their goals. If they did environmental law 10 years ago but now they’re crushing it in health care, their profile should tell the market who they are now. If that’s the base, the structure is content. The first step is found, curated content—reposting things from other sources. Posting relevant content shows that they have their finger on the pulse of the market. After that, they should become the creators of content: putting informative posts together and starting the conversation rather than joining it. It shouldn’t be a big surprise that for organizations to be successful in social media, they need to facilitate and support the social media presences of their individuals. This is where many companies have it backwards—they want individuals to share only content that promotes them, but instead, they should be serving their clients and adding value to the content they share. In a way, all these companies are like the stereotypical used car salesmen, only pitching themselves. But if you meet a genuine car salesman, who offers you real value, that salesman is going to crush it. If you can really nail social media, help your network, and share valuable content, you’re going to stand out. Vault: Do you have any advice for attorneys or law students who are considering taking their "entrepreneurial spirit" someplace outside a law firm? Adrian: Did you see the movie Get Out ? You’re sitting there watching, thinking, “That guy’s got to leave or he’s going to be trapped there forever”? My message to people in law with a truly driving entrepreneurial spirit is to get out. The reality is, if you really want to build something, it’ll be much harder to leave the “golden handcuffs” of “BigLaw” the further you go down that path. I gave a keynote speech at a partner retreat for a firm, and afterward, I was speaking to the managing partner. I kind of apologized to him for not liking being a lawyer, and he said to me, “You don’t need to apologize—so many of these people wish they could get out and do their own thing, and they missed their chance.” I honestly think about my time in life as a lawyer, which wasn’t very long—I did lawyer stuff for barely over a year. That time for me, though I got good experience and learned things, was not a happy time in my life. It’s been everything since then. That’s me—I also meet lawyers who love their work and are passionate, brilliant people who are doing a lot of good. And so the “get out” thing isn’t my advice for everyone. For some, law is their mission, but for me, it wasn’t the right fit. And it isn’t the right fit for everyone who goes to law school, either. The key is to find what you’re passionate about and pursue it. Learn more about Adrian and Clearview Social here .  Adrian Dayton is also a regular contributor for Forbes. Find his articles here:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/adriandayton/#4e9f87326445 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/legal-career-spotlight-a-qa-with-adrian-dayton-of-clearview-social/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/legal-career-spotlight-a-qa-with-adrian-dayton-of-clearview-social/ Tue, 23 April 2019 12:49:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/key-steps-toward-self-compassion-for-lawyers-law-students/#detailed_comment Whether it’s law school finals breathing down your neck, the impending recruiting season jittering your nerves, the never-ending billable piling up, or competition over a coveted lateral spot—the legal industry is overflowing with stress. And for the type-A personalities often attracted to the profession, such stress can make law students and lawyers harder on themselves.   But sometimes what we need the most is to be compassionate to ourselves. In other words, we need to give ourselves a break.   During the panel Self Compassion: Practicing and Teaching It in a Changing Legal Market at NALP’s Annual Education Conference earlier this month, Lisa Abrams—consultant at Lisa Abrams Consulting—and Ann Rainhart, J.D.—chief operating officer at Briggs and Morgan—discussed the importance of self compassion in the legal industry. “Yes you are enough just the way you are but how do you enact that,” questioned Rainhart. “How do you put that in your life? You can do that through a practice of self compassion.”   The pair introduced a variety of reasons why self compassion is so critical in the legal industry, including the breakdown in barriers between work and personal life, as well as compassion fatigue that stems from constantly helping other people. In a world where we are constantly plugged in and never wearing our own oxygen masks, how can lawyers and law students focus on themselves? Below are six takeaways on how to implement self compassion in your every day practice or law-school life. Treat yourself like a friend. One useful approach in practicing self compassion is to treat yourself as you would a good friend. Whether we are internally chastising ourselves or denying ourselves basic physical or emotional care, oftentimes we don’t provide ourselves with the same love and attention that we would offer to our friends and family. Rainhart shared that we must be warm and generous to ourselves. “You’re the one person you can’t get away from,” she said. “That should make you care even more about yourself." Be aware of road blocks. Even if we strive to care for ourselves, we may come upon road blocks, and it is important to be aware of these barriers. For example, law students and lawyers sometimes shy away from self compassion because they rely on harsh self talk to motivate themselves. "They’re afraid they’ll lose their competitive edge if they approach it with self compassion,” said Abrams. Overcoming our own tendencies to distance ourselves from our emotions or to berate ourselves in the name of success can be a major struggle for those in the legal industry. Understand your triggers.   We all have triggers that launch us into stress spirals. Abrams emphasized the importance of awareness of our triggers. She shared three types of triggers: universal, common, and personal. Abrams cited Brené Brown in describing the universal triggers of vulnerability and shame. She then described common triggers that affect many of us, including feeling misunderstood, bullied, criticized, trapped, angry, or betrayed, as well as experiencing failure or disappointment. On top of that, we all have personal triggers that stem from our own life experiences. Arming ourselves with awareness of these can help us develop an awareness of our feelings and stressors. You have control. Small changes really can make a difference, even if we are wired for certain behaviors. During the panel, Abrams shared the observation that we are hardwired for fear, which triggers the release of cortisol. She noted that when we feel criticized, our reaction is fight, flight, or freeze. But she also explained that by caring for ourselves, we can activate our own neural pathways to trigger the release of oxytocin.   Start small. We all have our own issues, and especially for those in the legal industry, the list of stressors can be long. But as you begin this journey of self compassion, don’t attempt to “fix” everything and everyone at one time. “You don’t have to solve everything,” said Rainhart. “Pick one thing.” Focus on yourself first and decide on one area to work on. Once you are regularly wearing your own oxygen mask, you can turn to helping others embrace their own self compassion. Engage in a four-step process. Lawyers are already fish out of water when it comes to self care. So winging it is certainly not an option. Luckily, Abrams and Rainhart provided a four-step process for approaching self care. They shared the pneumonic ALPS (awareness, label, pause, self-soothing) to coordinate with the following four steps. 1. Develop critical awareness of physical symptoms and thoughts This first step relates to several of the points above—you must first develop an awareness of our physical symptoms and thoughts. Become familiar with your triggers, feelings of vulnerability, physical symptoms, thoughts, etc., when faced with stressful situations. 2. Label emotions Once you have a handle on your own thoughts and physical manifestations, try to label the emotions that you are feeling. “Labeling is so important because it calms the brain,” said Abrams. It’s important that we don’t ignore and stifle our own emotions. As Rainhart shared, “so much of our culture tells us not to feel these big emotions and to tape them down and keep going.” In turn, we may also feel uncomfortable when other people express emotions. Instead, you should strive to label these feelings and help other people label them.   3. Take a mindful pause Once you have accepted your emotions and pinpointed exactly what they are, you should take a step back through a mindful pause, which Abrams clarifies is not about being calm, but rather about bringing yourself into “the now.” Through mindfulness, you can help yourself to know “what you are experiencing while you are experiencing it” according to the panel presentation. Some mindfulness tools shared during the panel include deep cleansing breaths, awareness in the present moment, simple mantras, observing your thoughts, counting, and visualization techniques. 4. Use self-soothing techniques The final step in integrating self compassion into your life is self soothing. The self-soothing tools that work for each person will vary. Abrams and Rainhart provided a few examples: kind self talk, mindfulness meditation, connection with others (e.g. talking to friends on the phone, joining a social group like a book club, etc.), gratitude (e.g. recognize good things that have happened during the day), and pleasurable hobbies. The legal world is highly competitive and demanding. Stress is inevitable. But how we handle that stress does not need to be self damaging. If we take time to recognize our own triggers and feelings and take a step back to ground ourselves and implement self care, we can better tend to our mental health, which in the long run, will make us much more satisfied in our personal and professional lives. And by caring for ourselves, we can inspire those around us to accept self compassion as well—something the legal industry desperately needs. /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/key-steps-toward-self-compassion-for-lawyers-law-students/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/key-steps-toward-self-compassion-for-lawyers-law-students/ Mon, 22 April 2019 10:38:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/behavioral-interview-question-prep/#detailed_comment While many of the most prestigious law firms rely on a conversational-style interview process, behavioral interview questions are becoming more and more popular. A behavioral interview seeks to discover how candidates handled themselves in past situations, such as at prior jobs, internships, or school-related activities. The logic of these interviews is that past performance predicts future performance. So, if you were a strong communicator and a good time manager, worked well with others, met deadlines, and otherwise performed professionally, the reasoning is that you’ll do the same in your new job. Behavioral interview questions may vary based on the skill set and knowledge needed for the position (for example, environmental law versus intellectual property law). But all of them will probe into a candidate's past performance and require a carefully crafted response that demonstrates a candidate's strengths and/or how they grew and learned from a situation. Developing a strategy for tackling these questions is an important step in your interview preparation. One approach, as you review sample questions, is to create responses in the form of short “stories” that present your actions in these situations in a positive light. Practice your responses until you’re confident that you can effectively answer similar questions during the interview. Many people also use the STAR interviewing response technique when answering behavioral-interview questions. This technique may also be referred to as the PAR (Problem, Action, Result) or SAR (Situation, Action, Result) technique. A STAR response includes the following steps: 1. Describe the  S ituation or  T ask in a past job or volunteer experience that you had to address (for example, dealing with a difficult coworker, going the extra mile to complete an assignment, etc.). 2. Detail the  A ctions you took to address the situation or to complete the task. 3. Describe the  R esults that occurred because of your actions. Practicing these strategies with real questions is critical to succeeding on interview day. Here are some typical behavioral interview questions:   Tell me about the highest-pressure situation that you’ve dealt with in the past six months. Describe a challenge that you have faced and how you dealt with it. Can you describe a situation in which you had to deal with a difficult judge in court? What did you do? Share an experience in which you dealt with a difficult co-worker or teammate and how you handled it. What big challenges have you faced during the discovery process in a lawsuit? How did you address them? Can you provide me with a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic to solve a problem? Describe a situation where you faced a tight deadline and how you worked with members of your team/club/group to meet it. Can you tell me about a time when used your oral persuasion skills to successfully convince a judge or jury to rule in your client’s favor? Share a situation in which you were asked to do something unethical or with which you fundamentally disagreed and how you resolved it. At your last job, what was your typical way of dealing with conflict? Give me an example. Tell me about a time in which you made a mistake on a work assignment and how you rectified it. Can you tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to bring a case to trial? Have you ever been involved in a situation in which you and a boss or colleague had a disagreement over a strategy (such as how to tackle a client’s defense)? How did you resolve it? Can you describe a situation in which you needed to brainstorm differing or conflicting ideas with others in order to help accomplish work goals? Can you tell me about the biggest mistake you made on a past case and how you remedied it? Can you tell me about a time when you were the lead attorney on a case? What challenges did you face, and how did you address them? Can you tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with a very upset client? This post is based on an article from Vault Career Guide to Law. To read the full guide, click here .   FOLLOW VAULT LAW ON INSTAGRAM! FOLLOW VAULT LAW ON TWITTER! Is there a legal job question you need answered or a topic you'd like to see covered? Write to our law editor Mary Kate Sheridan: msheridan@vault.com. /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/behavioral-interview-question-prep/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/behavioral-interview-question-prep/ Tue, 16 April 2019 02:21:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/decoding-legal-industry-surveys/#detailed_comment The legal industry has myriad surveys that aim to give greater insights into law schools and law firms. But how do these surveys differ and what kinds of information and trends do they unveil? This week at the NALP Annual Education Conference in San Diego, three industry experts discussed these questions and more at the panel, Asked and Answered: Media Surveys Decoded. The panelists included Vault’s own Claudia Grillo, Breaking Media’s Brian Dalton, and Chambers Associate’s Antony Cooke. The session was moderated by Geoff Burt, chief communications officer at Latham & Watkins. The panel discussion included differences among surveys, survey fatigue, and recent trends uncovered by the panelists' surveys. Below are some key takeaways from the panel.   No One-Stop Shop   Given the various survey approaches and goals, different pools of survey respondents, and divergent presentations of survey data, there isn’t a one-stop survey shop when it comes to researching legal employers or law schools. As Dalton noted, “Theres no one ranking that can serve all purposes no matter how comprehensive we try to be.” As a result, it’s useful to understand the purposes of each survey, who exactly is surveyed, the kinds of questions asked, from where rankings are derived if they are created, and how each company presents its data. Below is quick snapshot of the panelists approaches: Vault : As Grillo explained in the panel, Vault’s survey focuses on law firm associates of all levels—unlike other industry surveys which focus on either junior associates or mid-level associates only. “It gives [jobseekers] a larger range and also helps laterals come back to utilize Vault because they find it significant in managing their career,” said Grillo. In the past two years, Vault has had almost 20,000 associates take our survey. The survey includes an internal component in which associates rate various “quality of life” categories within their own firm and an external portion through which associates rate the prestige of other firms overall, as well as regionally and in specific practice areas. In addition to providing ratings, associates also provide qualitative data. “Oftentimes those qualitative sections will validate those scores,” said Grillo. Vault hosts firm profiles that feature associate quotes from the survey, as well as around 60 law firm rankings varying from overall prestige to regional to practice area to summer associate program to quality of life rankings. Chambers Associate : Cooke described Chambers Associate’s survey process as distinct in that a large portion of the data is derived through telephone interviews with firm associates. But four years ago, the company integrated a survey component as well. “I got the impression that over the phone, people were not [willing to] speak as bluntly,” Cooke said. “And it was relatively difficult for my researchers to draw comparisons [among] firms.” From Cooke’s viewpoint, this survey data helps to validate the qualitative data that his researchers collect through their interviews. In addition to its profiles, Chambers also has what Cooke describes as “performer rankings.” Breaking Media : Breaking Media takes a different approach to surveys. The company has produced a variety of rankings, including ones that are reputational-based, editorial-based, and data-driven. According to Dalton, “We’ve not taken a particular consistent approach to any of these." Of the company’s rankings, Dalton focused on the law school rankings during the panel, which are based on employment outcomes.   No Need to be Tired Another important issue that arose during the panel was survey fatigue—a concern that firms often raise regarding the multiple surveys in which they participate. So what’s a firm to do?   First, they shouldn’t avoid surveys completely, especially with NALP’s latest change to the recruiting standards. “It’s so important to take the surveys,” said Grillo. “With the new NALP rule that there are no rules—or however you want to describe it—we’re seeing that is bringing firms on campus more … the students are not passive any more throughout the year. They’re more active because of the firms' time on campus.” And surveys provide insights into the firms that can help students as they research. Plus, firms can embrace the value that surveys bring, especially the transparency that it lends to the industry. As Cooke shared, “I think there definitely is a place for surveys in the market. They add a level of transparency that otherwise wouldn’t exist.” But that doesn’t mean that firms should be left with zero tools to better manage surveys. Grillo suggested a variety of ways to assuage survey fatigue. For one, she proposed that companies like Vault and Chambers collaborate on scheduling to make the survey roll-out more manageable for firms. Grillo also offered some creative ways that firms can manage the survey, such as providing a tighter deadline for associates, having a point person who can encourage participation, and being transparent with associates about when they can expect each survey throughout the year.   And, of course, if a firm is feeling overburdened by too many surveys, Dalton offers a simple answer: Don’t take every survey. “I would identify myself as a survey fatigue skeptic. I say this because I believe I have a solution. And it’s quite simple … stop doing them or stop doing most of them.” Dalton went on to explain his view that firms would benefit from diving deeper into survey platforms that have “real market traction.”  What’s Trending? While some surveys provide a window into a firm, they also can offer insights into the legal industry and how it is evolving. “At Vault with the survey data we produce, it not only becomes a resource for students and laterals to research firms, but it becomes a source for Vault to understand the industry,” said Grillo.   Below are some trends that the panelists have uncovered through survey data. 1. Culture is King A decade ago, prestige reigned as the top factor in candidates’ decisions, according to Grillo. But times have changed, and culture has now become the top driving factor for selecting a firm. 2. It’s All About Quality In its recent 2019 Millenial Attorney Survey of around 1,200 millennial attorneys, Breaking Media found that the number-one-identified criterion for selecting law firms was the idea that there would be a better quality of life, said Dalton. 3. Practice Over Location And students and laterals are much more focused on quality of work and a firm’s practice area strengths. In fact, quality of work is the number two factor in selecting a firm, according to Vault’s 2019 survey. “Candidates are more aware of the substantive work,” said Grillo. “The work itself is something this generation is really focused on beyond the prestige of the firm.” Grillo shared her recent experience speaking with students at a top 10 law school: Around eight or nine out of ten students knew what practice area they wanted, but only one out of 10 students knew the location in which they wanted to work.   4. Male vs. Female Other interesting data shared during the panel came from Breaking Media’s 2019 Millenial Attorney Survey, which presented a stark contrast in how female and male millennial attorneys perceived certain law firm issues. Dalton shared the following data: 45 percent of female respondents agreed with the idea that law firm culture is inherently sexist, compared with 14 percent of male respondents 56 percent of female respondents believe there is a real gender pay gap in law firms, compared to 18 percent of male respondents 63 percent of female respondents agreed with the idea that a diverse and inclusive workforce should be a priority at law firms, compared to 37 percent of male respondents. Overall, the panel provided an interesting glimpse into different approaches to surveys, as well as new strategies for managing the process and interesting trends arising from recent data. /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/decoding-legal-industry-surveys/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/decoding-legal-industry-surveys/ Thu, 11 April 2019 20:00:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/legal-career-spotlight-tv-news-correspondent-to-divorce-attorney-to-political-candidate/#detailed_comment Kristen Prata Browde is the principal of Browde Law, P.C. , a firm based in Chappaqua, NY. During a decades-long career as a news correspondent (most notably for CBS, WNBC-TV, and CNN) under her former name, Browde earned her J.D. from Fordham Law School in 2000. Today, her law practice focuses on divorce and family law, IP, media law, and white collar defense. She is the president of the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and co-chair of the National Trans Bar Association, and in 2017, she was nominated by the Democratic Party as their candidate for Town Supervisor of New Castle, New York, becoming the first transgender candidate to run on a major party line in the state. Vault got to chat with Kristen about her remarkable career path after meeting her at the Columbia Law Women’s Association’s Women Running for Office conference .   Vault: What initially drew you to law school and to divorce/family law in particular? Kristen: It’s a rather bizarre and long story. I was a reporter at WNBC-TV in the early 1990s, and as home computers and the internet were starting to become important, I got excited. I’d been the president of my high school computer club, had always been a bit of a nerd, and I went to my boss and insisted that we start a weekly—just before Saturday Night Live —two-minute feature on computers. I called it “Data File”—it was, at the time, the only regular reporting on this new part of life, and it quickly became a huge success. One of the things I talked about—a lot!—was adult content on the internet, and the then-early attempts to regulate it. It turned out that Fordham Law School’s Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal ran a First Amendment Forum each year, and that year they chose to do it on internet regulation … so the professor organizing the panel on the Communications Decency Act decided that the guests she had, while experts in their field, were going to be a bit boring. So she invited the guy (yes, back then, guy) who was on television every week talking about it. After the panel, in which I basically called the CDA legally unconstitutional and technically unworkable, and explained that it was an absurdly large tool to use against a tiny problem, the professor who had invited me said, “I didn’t realize that you were a lawyer.” I told her I wasn’t. She said, “Well, you know, you talk like a lawyer.” I told her, a bit sarcastically, “Thanks a lot…” and she said, “No, this is a law school. That’s a good thing here.” And she asked if I wanted to go to law school. I told her, “Clearly, you haven’t seen my college transcript.” But she insisted that if I applied to Fordham, I’d be admitted. And I did. And I was. And I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun in school. Not only was studying law fascinating, I could approach it with no pressure at all: I’d never planned to be a lawyer—I only wanted to be a better reporter. After all, I’d been CNN’s first Supreme Court correspondent, not really knowing much about the law, and I covered crime and politics regularly. I thought the new knowledge would be nothing but helpful … and it was. As to divorce and family law, that was also relatively simple. Not only was it a subject with which I’d, unfortunately, had personal experience, it was a practice in which I could manage my caseload and be available to put my kids on a school bus and put them to bed at night … while doing the one thing I’d always loved doing: getting to the facts and using them to solve complex problems. And I could get paid for it. Vault: You were a TV news reporter/correspondent for more than 20 years before heading to law school—did a mid-career move like that feel natural, or were there more challenges than you expected? Kristen: It was actually a lot easier than I expected, though there were some surprising moments. After my first midterm [as a] 1L, in Contracts, I pushed back from it and exclaimed, “Christ, that’s the first college exam I’ve taken in 25 years.” The student sitting next to me looked at me in shock. “You took a college exam 25 years ago?” she asked, in seeming disbelief. As I nodded “yes” she said, “I’m only 23.” One of the questions I was asked over and over again by interviewers for firms was, “Will you have problems taking orders from people much younger than you? My response was simple: “Of course not. They’re going to be people who know more than I do, and I’m going to be learning from them.” Vault: What made you decide to hang your own shingle rather than joining a big firm (or even a small firm)? Kristen: I’d summered in medium-to-big law, loved the money, and didn’t mind the work—and as I graduated I had offers from three large NYC firms. But around the time I entered Fordham Law, I’d seen the Grisham-novel-based film The Rainmaker, and one of the lines from it had more than struck a chord—it was instantly and permanently etched into my heart. The line was about “changing the world, one case at a time.” Besides, by picking and choosing my own cases, while continuing to work (by then at CBS News) as a reporter and anchor, I knew that I could truly have my cake and eat it too—without taking a big pay cut by becoming a first-year associate. Thus, it wasn’t a really tough call. And when I left CBS five years ago, my practice, which had been going strong, completely blossomed … something that was all but unaffected by my decision, one year later, to publicly come out as transgender. Vault: What does your day-to-day look like? Kristen: I’m up at 6:30 to get my younger son out the door for a 7:12 a.m. school bus. At 7:30, I’m at my desk, catching up on developments before the phones start going crazy. I practice in multiple counties, so I could be headed for a courtroom anywhere from Putnam County in the north to Westchester, Queens, or Manhattan. Or I could be working on discovery or trial prep in the office. Clients are often on the phone until well into the evening—their problems don’t stop at the end of the business day, and it’s important to be available when they need you. Atop that, there are pro bono activities that take up a good portion of the day and evening. I’m the president of the LGBT Bar Association of Greater NY; the co-chair of the National Trans Bar Association; a director of Equality NY and the Trans United Fund; and a trustee of a $2.5 billion-dollar, multi-employer pension fund. I’ve also been appointed by Governor Cuomo to the Steering Committee of the New York State Council on Women and Girls. And, after serving on his transition team, Westchester County Executive George Latimer appointed me to the county’s Women’s Advisory Board. I’m also a Democratic Party district leader in my town, a founding director of the Stonewall Democrats of the Hudson Valley, and I am active in state and local races. I try not to let all that get in the way of being a good parent—my rule is to try to avoid more than one dinner away from home per week and never have more than two in a week unless it’s either a unique circumstance or my ex is in town to take over the parenting. Vault: Could you speak to your experience running for Town Supervisor (analogous to the mayor) of New Castle, NY? What was the most important thing you learned from that experience? Kristen: Though the end result wasn’t what I’d hoped for, running was a wonderful experience on so many levels. I knocked on the door of more than 1,500 of the 6,000 homes in my town, and got to meet many of my neighbors and hear their concerns on issues from the environment to traffic to taxes. As a reporter, I’d had a very cynical approach to politicians—suddenly I was running for office (something that hadn’t been my idea, but which I quickly embraced), and I discovered that at least in this era, almost all of the new people running on the local, county, and state level are doing so for exactly the right reason: that they want to bring about change for the better in their communities.  That had been my goal, and if I’d been better at doing my job as a candidate I might have had a different result. The important lesson of that piece was that, while it’s great to be the first, you can’t let that first be what defines you as a candidate. In my case I was the first transgender candidate in NY to have the endorsement of a major political party. But I was seen as, and couldn’t shake the label of, the “first transgender candidate”—when what I needed was to be seen as the Democratic Party, Working Families Party, and Women’s Equality Party candidate. Vault: Do you have any advice for law students who, knowing that you can do anything with a law degree, still might be feeling some anxiety about their careers? Kristen: You’re nuts if you’re not anxious when you start out. But anxiety isn’t a bad thing, it’s your way of telling yourself that you still have a lot to learn. And coming out of law school, you have no idea how much you don’t know—you’ve been taught the theory of law, not its practice. So, if you’re practicing law, be anxious, but power through it … and let the court clerks be your advisors. They can’t give legal advice, but they can and will tell you what you need to do … if you treat them with respect and listen to them. If you choose another path, you’re going to have a real advantage. Thinking like a lawyer—issue spotting—is what you’ve had drilled into you. If you harness that in analysis of opportunities in any field, you’re going to be analytical and flexible in ways that should help.   Learn more about Kristen and Browde Law, P.C. here . /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/legal-career-spotlight-tv-news-correspondent-to-divorce-attorney-to-political-candidate/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/legal-career-spotlight-tv-news-correspondent-to-divorce-attorney-to-political-candidate/ Tue, 09 April 2019 08:04:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/how-do-you-run-for-office-five-key-take-aways-from-the-women-running-for-office-conference/#detailed_comment Last week, on March 29, 2019, Columbia Law Women’s Association hosted its second annual Women Running for Office Conference, aimed at giving women a look at what it would be like to run for office. The event featured speakers from such organizations as Run for Something , Amplify Her , Eleanor’s Legacy , 21 in ’21 Initiative , and NOW-NYC , as well as keynote speaker Darcel Clark, the Bronx County District Attorney. The event was essentially a clinic on running for office, and the advice and insights shared were both useful and inspiring. For many, the prospect of pursuing a political office is daunting, especially if you don’t have any political connections, resources, or experience. Below are some key takeaways from this conference for women who are considering running. Consider The Differences in How Men and Women Get Involved. How many times do you have to ask a woman to run for office? According to Brette McSweeney, executive director of Eleanor’s Legacy, the old adage goes something like, “A woman needs to be asked seven times to run for office. A man wakes up one morning, looks in the mirror, and says, ‘Good morning, Senator.’” McSweeney shared that while this figure may be out of date, it usually takes at least two asks to get a woman to agree to run for office. On a positive note, this tendency may be changing, at least as it relates to women’s participation. Amanda Clarke, regional director of Run for Something, spoke about the founding of the organization after the 2016 presidential election. They expected to get about 100 applications from people looking for support in the first few months. Instead, 1,000 people signed up in less than a month. Candidates Should Think Locally. One resounding point made at this event was that, in order to effect change in one’s community, you have to take aim at the local level. When we think of elections and elected officials, most of us go right to the top: the president and Congress. But the speakers at the event pressed the importance of local positions. City council members and heads of school boards can often make tangible differences to communities that can’t be made at the national level. Amanda Clarke shared a story about a candidate who ran for county coroner on the platform of correctly gendering transgender individuals after death. That’s a hugely important issue, but probably not one that you’d see go through the House and Senate. So it’s important that passionate people find positions where they can accomplish good, in a capacity well suited to them—and these positions can often be found in their own backyards. It’s About Smashing Barriers, But Candidates Need Support. I guarantee you that every woman in this country is sick to death of smashing barriers: From workplace discrimination right on down to the pink tax, not to mention the countless additional issues faced by women of color and LGBTQ+ women, sometimes the walls that are systemically put around us can seem like they form a concrete room (with a glass ceiling, of course). Well, running for office is more of the same. It’s another boys’ club that women have to use everything in their arsenal to get into—and getting in is just the first step. No person who spoke at this conference wanted the women attending this event to leave uninformed about how difficult running for office is. They explained that, although you become a public figure, running a campaign can be extremely lonely. This is why so many organizations exist to help candidates, and now many of them are aimed at getting women and diverse individuals in office. Candidates Shouldn’t Underestimate Themselves As is often the case with barrier-smashing, women running for office face considerably more challenges than their male counterparts. One issue that was brought up quite a bit at this event was the question of qualification. Not merely in comparison to other elected officials (although that was brought up plenty) but also in that, oftentimes, women don’t feel qualified to run for office in the way that a man might. Amanda Clarke cited that women often feel hindered by not having a specific plan in place for the change they would attempt to effect in office. In reality, voters don’t generally expect a candidate to have an exact plan—they merely want to know the candidate’s values and goals, and assume that the candidate will form the plan once they take office. And as for qualifications? Most speakers seemed to agree that, instead of spending all their time “proving” that they were “worthy” for the position, it’s more useful for the candidate to talk about the issues and why they’re so passionate about them. When asked about any backlash her campaign faced, Melissa Sklarz, Senior Government Relations Specialist at SAGE (who ran for NY State Assembly in 2018) offered this piece of wisdom: “If I was afraid of people being mean, I’d have stayed home and played with my cat.” Running for office requires bravery and belief in oneself and one’s capabilities—something I think the speakers at this event who have run for office have in spades. People Can Prove More Useful Than Money. Campaign funding was another hot topic—from the amount one is expected to contribute to one’s own campaign (nothing, ideally) to various ways in which to secure the funding one needs. Amanda Clarke gave a great model of “the hard ask,” while Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer encouraged potential candidates to just ask people. According to Brewer, people want to be called up and asked to be part of the electoral process—they simply need the candidate to ask and give them the opportunity. And she would know—Brewer has been running for offices (and winning) since 2002. That said, candidates also agreed that, by and large, “people power” proved more useful to campaigns than finances—at least at the state and local levels. Amplify Her is a grassroots organization that had people on the ground in 2018 for Alessandra Biaggi, Catalina Cruz, and Jasmine Robinson, among others—all women who took office. If You to Run for Office, Take Action. The most important thing that could be taken away from this event was that, if you’re a woman who has thought about running for office, you should certainly do more than think about it. It’s important that women are seen at every level of governance. So don’t be afraid to act on your desire to bring change to your community. Be prepared and be aware, but not afraid—because your voice matters. /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/how-do-you-run-for-office-five-key-take-aways-from-the-women-running-for-office-conference/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/how-do-you-run-for-office-five-key-take-aways-from-the-women-running-for-office-conference/ Tue, 02 April 2019 16:57:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/which-legal-practice-area-is-right-for-you/#detailed_comment Deciding to go to law school is one thing; selecting what type of law to practice is an entirely different matter—and a confusing one at that. If you’re not quite sure which firms excel in your desired practice area or even what the differences between certain practice areas are, you’re not alone. In fact, I was on a panel last week on law firm recruiting, and the most-asked question I received afterward was how to research practice areas. As a law student, you want to sound informed about your future goals, so understanding the differences between practice areas and career paths is important. Below are some tips on researching and understanding the myriad of practice areas out there.  1. Read. This tip may seem obvious, but reading about practice areas is a good way to gain an initial understanding of the general tasks and work associated with each area. Various legal websites include practice area descriptions. Practice Perspectives: Vault’s Guide to Legal Practice Areas , for example, includes in-depth Q&As from attorneys who work in top-ranked practice areas, providing insight into what it is like to practice in that area, what kinds of cases and clients they have, and why they chose that area. (Students can access this ebook for free if their school is a Vault member, so check with your career services office for your login).  2. Speak with Attorneys You’ve probably heard the term informational interviews, and you also may have wondered if they are any use. I’m here to tell you they absolutely are, especially if you are trying to learn more about your future legal career path. Speaking with attorneys who actually practice in your target areas—or speaking with attorneys across a variety of areas to gain more understanding—is probably one of the most valuable tools you can access. Of course, connecting with those attorneys is the difficult part, but it doesn’t have to be if you use your network. First, sit down with career services and ask if they can connect you with some alumni practicing in your target areas. My experience has been that practicing attorneys are happy to speak with budding lawyers and share their experiences; they were in your shoes once and understand how difficult it can be to choose a path. Another resource is the alumni base from your undergrad. Use LinkedIn or your own connections to see if any alumni are now practicing in your chosen area. Don’t limit your outreach to alumni, however. Network broadly with your own connections and family to see who they know. Finally, if you are interviewing with law firms, don’t be afraid to ask the recruiting teams to connect you with lawyers from specific practice areas—this route will allow you not only to ask the attorneys about their experience in a practice area but also what it is like to practice at their specific firm. And the firms will be more than happy to connect you with their attorneys as you mull over an offer.  Prepare in advance so that you maximize the time with the attorneys, who will likely have time constraints. Potential areas to explore include, examples of cases, examples of clients, how the practice area interacts with other areas, examples of junior-level work, possible career paths stemming from this area, suggestions for law school classes and internships that can help one prepare for this area, and the most challenging and most rewarding aspects of the practice.  But also be open to seeing where the conversation takes you, as the attorneys will probably raise topics that you hadn’t even thought about. Also, don’t use these informational interviews to ask for a job; they can be great for building your network which may help with your job search down the line, but their purpose should be to inform. 3. Attend CLEs   You heard that right. You don’t have to be an attorney to attend a CLE, and spending a few hours learning about developments in a practice area, practice tips relating to a certain area, recent cases in an area, or whatever other topic is available, can help you develop a more sophisticated understanding of the area. And, no doubt, attorneys practicing in that practice area will be in attendance, giving you yet another networking opportunity. Sometimes, CLEs even have networking events attached to them or opportunities to ask the presenters questions, so you may be able to delve even deeper into an area. 4. Seek out other industry events. Continuing legal education isn’t the only way to get involved with a practice area. Check out your local bar association, and see if they are holding any events relating to your practice areas of interest. Oftentimes, bar associations have student memberships. Also, law firms will sometimes host events, panels, and webinars relating to a specific legal topic—take advantage of those opportunities if they are open to the public. Sometimes the key is thinking outside the box. And if you are interesting in getting to know the ins-and-outs of a particular practice area, you may want to involve yourself in the types of events and classes that lawyers in that area attend. 5. Consult rankings. It can be confusing selecting the right path for your chosen practice area because it can appear that all of the firms do the same thing. But that doesn’t mean they all excel in every area or that they all focus on the same types of cases. Determining whether a firm is a right fit for your goals in a practice area will be personal to you. But if you are completely lost, a good first place to start is to look at practice area rankings . And don’t limit yourself to one set of rankings—look broadly across multiple publications and see which firms show up repeatedly across rankings. This information can provide a good starting point to continue your research. 6. Delve into the firms’ work. Once you create a list of potential firms or employers based on your initial research, explore the actual work that the employer does. Look into the kinds of clients it takes on and consider whether those are the types of clients you are hoping to counsel. Also, delve into the recent cases a firm has handled in this area, which can give you a snapshot of the breadth of work, level of work, and patterns of work—if any—that the firm handles. Often, the firm will share recent cases on the press release section of its site or via social media, but you can also find information via legal publications. You also may explore notable attorneys in your target practice areas and at which firm or employer they work. 7. Try a few on for size. This option may not be possible for everyone, but if you have the opportunity, try working in a variety of practice areas as a student through internships and summer associate programs. Internships can be a great way to explore real legal work and gain school credit for it. And if you work at a firm as a summer associate, the firm may offer the opportunity to rotate through practice areas or accept work from multiple practice areas—if you are on the fence (and even if you aren’t), take advantage of this opportunity to see how the different areas compare. (Some firms do not allow summer associates to work across practice areas, so if that is a priority to you, make sure you choose a firm that will.) Working in a law school clinic can be another way to gain direct exposure to specific legal work, as well as those practicing in that area, to give you greater insight into whether a particular area suits you. The reality is that you won’t know what it is like to practice in a certain area and whether it is a true fit until you are actually practicing. But you can put in the legwork now to narrow your options and find an area that you think will best align with your goals. /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/which-legal-practice-area-is-right-for-you/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/which-legal-practice-area-is-right-for-you/ Mon, 01 April 2019 10:51:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/alternative-summer-opportunities-for-law-students/#detailed_comment So, you didn’t snag a summer associate spot at your target law firm or a coveted internship at your dream nonprofit? Chin up. While a prestigious summer gig has its benefits, there are plenty of alternative opportunities that can make your 1L or 2L summer worthwhile and provide useful experience for your future legal career. With April around the corner, it’s time to nail down your summer plans—check out some of our suggestions below. Keep studying—but not law. With only a few short years left to enjoy “summer break,” the idea of going to summer school may be low on your list, but hear me out. One of the complaints from both lawyers and legal employers is that law school doesn’t adequately prepare lawyers for practice. Whether you agree with that notion or not, there is always room to grow your skill set. If you already know your intended practice area, consider the aspects of that area in which you could use a stronger foundation. For example, if you are interested in transactional work, consider enrolling in some business-related and accounting classes through your university’s business school. If you are leaning toward litigation, seek out some writing and public-speaking courses. If you hope to go into family law, seek out courses through your school’s social work or psychology departments. Science and technology classes would be useful for those considering a career in IP. The list goes on, of course, and the courses that will be the best fit will depend on which practice area you pursue. (Also, don’t be afraid to reach out to practicing attorneys in your network and ask which courses they feel would be most useful for someone in their area.) Or just study law. You don’t have to take non-legal courses; taking classes at your law school over the summer is great idea too. Completing coursework over the summer—if your school offers it—can give you more time during the semester to focus on other activities like journal or moot court. Or summertime can be a prime opportunity to immerse yourself in a difficult topic so that you can tackle it head on. Summer school is also a good time to take classes you otherwise wouldn’t have time for but find interesting.  Take your studying on the road. Study abroad isn’t limited to undergrad; there are a number of interesting study abroad options for law students . Obviously, for those drawn to cross-border work, a study abroad program can be particularly useful. But you don’t have to be set on an international legal career to benefit from studying abroad. You’ll make connections that can last your entire legal career, explore aspects of the law that you may never have considered while confined to a classroom, and travel to new places. Of course, these programs aren’t free, so you’ll have to consider whether one will fit into your budget. And if you’re interested, you need to jump on your application now as many deadlines are fast approaching in the next week or two (and some have already lapsed). Work with a professor. Don’t underestimate the value of spending your summer as a research assistant for one of your law school professors, especially if the professor is a scholar in your preferred area of law. Not only will a research position provide an opportunity to learn more about a particular legal area, but it will also allow you to develop a stronger relationship with the professor. As with every career path, connections are everything. You never know what doors will open with the right letter of recommendation or phone call. So a summer working under a respected legal scholar is a definite plus. Find a Legal Judicial Internship. While some of the more competitive judicial summer internships may have already been filled, you might still find opportunities with state judges. Consult with career services to see if there are any judges who frequently hire from your law school. You can also find a directory of judges on a state’s judiciary website. Interning for a judge will provide invaluable experience in observing the inner workings of the judiciary. You will be able to observe arguments, read motions (and see what works and what doesn’t), and gain insight into the judge’s decision-making process. Think small. Mega firms and corporate legal internships aren’t the only paths to valuable legal experience. Local law firms and solo practitioners can offer useful learning experiences, as well. While you may not walk away with a hefty paycheck, you may gain valuable mentoring and an opportunity to shadow one attorney, rather than being lost in a sea of interns. When I was in college, I interned for a solo practitioner who gave me challenging research opportunities, talked through the research with me in detail, and brought me to court with him (and introduced me to judges and lawyers). I walked away with sharper research skills and greater confidence in my legal writing, and observing arguments in court gave me new perspective. Smaller firms and solo practitioners may not have formal internship programs, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to take on an intern (although it will probably be on a volunteer basis or for school credit). Check with career services for a list of alumni to contact, ask professors if they have any connections, or reach out to your network to find some local lawyers who may be a good fit. Volunteer. Other volunteer positions, aside from local firms, may also still be available, so cast your net wide. Working for free isn’t ideal, but if you can swing it, gaining experience that will help you develop as a lawyer may be worth it. And you still have time to snag a spot working at some pretty amazing places. For example, the Department of Justice hosts Volunteer Legal Internships , and there are still some summer positions posted on its website; the New York State Office of the Attorney General is still accepting applications for volunteer interns in the New York City office; The Legal Aid Society is seeking Criminal Defense Practice Law Clerks in Brooklyn, New York; and the National Parks Conservation Association is hiring a Summer Sun Coast Legal Intern in Florida—to name a handful of options. In some cases, you may be able to get school credit for these opportunities, making them even more valuable. Or get paid. Of course, unpaid internships aren’t the only ones still hiring. With summer programs starting in just a few months; however, time to apply is running out. Set up a meeting with career services to see if they know of any available opportunities. And search broadly on your preferred job search board. In a few weeks, you’ll be bogged down with finals preparation; take time now to find your summer job if you haven't already. /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/alternative-summer-opportunities-for-law-students/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/alternative-summer-opportunities-for-law-students/ Mon, 25 March 2019 02:14:00 /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/selecting-the-right-law-firms-for-oci-bidding/#detailed_comment Bidding on law firms for on-campus interviewing can be an overwhelming process. Many law students are entering the legal world for the first time, and firms can start to look the same as you try to whittle them down to your top choices. Not to mention, the pressure to choose the best firm from which to launch your legal career is tremendous. But with some planning, researching, and networking, the interview bidding process will be a lot less stressful. Below are some tips for narrowing your list of law firms so that you can breeze into recruiting season this summer. Start Early. Recruiting season may seem really far away at this point, and you may be tempted to tuck away any thoughts of firm research and bidding until second semester is over and finals are complete. But you should probably rethink that strategy. First, this decision is a big one—the offer you accept through OCI will likely be the firm at which you begin your legal career. This firm will be where you meet your first mentors, gain the foundation for your future practice, and make the connections that will help you pave your path. Take time to carefully consider the options. Also, summer is unlikely to be a free-for-all; no doubt, you will have a busy internship, travel plans, or summer coursework, with limited time for bidding research. And finally, being in school provides access to resources that are essential in navigating this process, including your classmates, the career services office, and professors. Whatever you do, don’t wait until the day before bids are due and hastily put together a list based solely on rank, location, practice area, or some other factor. Take your time. Determine your priorities. The most important first step in narrowing your law firm list is to do some self reflection and decide on your personal career goals and priorities. Key to this step is ignoring the noise around you—what is important to your peers may not be important to you. Some areas you may consider are: • Reputation.
 • Practice area (including whether you must choose one immediately or have an opportunity to rotate). 
• Location.
 • Compensation structure and requirements. 
• Bonus eligibility.
 • Commitment to diversity.
 • Pro bono opportunities.
 • Assignment system during the summer, as a junior associate, and as a mid-level and senior associate. 
• Face-time requirements and remote working capabilities.
 • Training and mentoring. 
• Promotion prospects and exit opportunities.
 Tailor your research based on those priorities. Once you have determined the factors that are essential for your career satisfaction, you can tailor your research to find firms that meet these requirements. For example, if you know that you want to practice in a certain practice area, you can dig into the firms that specialize in that area, review recent cases the firms have handled, read up on notable attorneys who practice at the firm, and get a sense for the types of work attorneys in that practice do. On the other hand, if you aren't sure which practice area is right for you, you can narrow your list to those firms that allow summers and associates to rotate and/or work in a free-market system before committing to a specific practice. Nailing down your priorities will help you find the firms that align with your career needs, and hopefully maximize your career satisfaction. Research broadly. While you want to narrow your search by the factors that are important for your future legal career, you should be broad in terms of the resources you consult. Don't limit yourself to one set of rankings, one type of resource, or one person's opinion. Take responsibility for your career by being as informed as possible. For example, if you are drawn to a particular practice area, you should review practice area rankings across multiple publications to see how firms measure up and which ones have recurring appearances. Also, different resources will provide varying information on the firm, so consulting multiple resources will provide a more comprehensive picture. And speaking with a variety of people—from peers to lawyers to professors to recruiting professionals to career counselors—will provide you with a variety of perspectives to make a more educated decision. The key is understanding the value of each resource and bringing them together to help you assess each firm. And in the end, the decision must be your own after digesting all of this information. Talk to fellow students. Some of the most valuable resources in deciding on which firms to bid on are your fellow students who previously were summer associates at your target firms. These students went through the OCI process, so they understand exactly what you’re going through. And they have direct experience working at the law firm. They can share insights on being a summer associate at the firm and what the interview process was like. And you will likely feel more comfortable asking fellow students some of your tougher questions (and peers will likely provide the candid responses that you're seeking). Use Career Services. Don’t underestimate the value in discussing firms with your law school career counselor. Many of these professionals have been in the legal industry for years—some as lawyers and some as recruiting professionals. By discussing your priorities with them, you can work with them to pinpoint firms that meet your requirements. Plus, they can give you some insights into the firm’s culture and summer program, not to mention interview tips. And—perhaps most importantly—career services may be able to connect you with alumni who work at the firm, as well as current students who were summer associates there. Making these connections are invaluable in gaining real perspectives on life at the firm. Be positive. If you don’t get an interview with every firm on your list, stay positive—there are other ways to secure an interview. Many firms conduct resume collections in addition to OCI, so you can still submit your resume to a firm. Also, if a firm has a hospitality suite during OCI, you can stop by to mingle, and while you’re there, submit your resume for consideration. (Sometimes, firms will even squeeze in a promising candidate who didn’t get an interview slot.) Good luck with your research! /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/selecting-the-right-law-firms-for-oci-bidding/ /blog/vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/selecting-the-right-law-firms-for-oci-bidding/ Wed, 20 March 2019 04:37:00