Having a plan goes along way!
I was recently reading an article in the February 2016 NALP (National Association for Law Placement) which tied in nicely with our February 6th 1L Boot Camp. The article focuses on how to help 1L’s network. It reminded me of the conversations I have on a regular basis with attorneys and law students at all levels around the dreaded practice of…Networking!
Networking is a dirty word to so many people, not just lawyers, but for lawyers I think it takes on special dread! Most lawyers are introverts, despite popular opinion, and their practice is not much like what we see on TV. Further, law students, who are bombarded with hours of preparation for each classes and legal writing are just trying to survive their first year of law school! Well, unfortunately, building your brand starts the day you decide to go to law school and if you are not working on it as part of your law school career, you will be seriously behind those that get it.
Well let’s back to the article in NALP bulletin “Helping 1Ls Network”. There were some great practices they suggest and I am highlighting them below:
1) Networking is not about asking for a job, it is about building a relationship with those in the legal 
community with whom you may someday work with, appear before or against!
2) No one expects you to have vast legal knowledge, take advantage of this to get to know different areas of law and what types of people practice in each. Focus your requests around informational interviewing or learning about the actual practice of law.
3) Set specific networking goals and find someone to hold you accountable. You cannot just put your head down and hope that a job appears! As Nancy Howard, from Fredriksen & Byron said on our panel discussion at the boot camp…”Hope is not a job search strategy”!
4) Seek out easy first calls or emails like alumni from your law school or undergrad, look at LinkedIn to do an alumni search, also look at people in your network, they do not have to be lawyers to know one!
5) Do not forget the Judiciary, I reached out to a Judge in Juvenile Court because that was where I thought I wanted to practice and asked if I could come and observe her courtroom. We built a relationship that evolved into a clerkship opportunity after I had taken the bar!
6) ONCE YOU HAVE MADE THE CONTACT…FOLLOW UP! I cannot emphasize this enough. In the NALP article they have some great suggestions for reasons to stay in contact; you did great in a class in their area of law, you saw a CLE ( Continuing Legal Education) class they might be interested in or you saw their firm, organization or the lawyer themselves in the news ( Of course only for something positive!!).
If you follow these basic steps and have a plan as part of your law school career, you will be ahead of the game and starting to build a reputation for consistency, follow-up and initiative.