Big Fish Tales

“It is amazing how much a fish can grow between the time you catch him and the time you tell the story.”

“Early to bed, early to rise. Catch fish big fish, tell big lies”

The first time I caught a trout, I was with my fly fishing guide, Ollie.  I couldn’t wait to tell everyone back at the shop about my first fish. 

But before I told my fish tale, Ollie had some advice.

“Make sure you add three inches. Every good fisherman knows you always subtract 3 inches for fish lies.”

That’s right. One of the most basic assumptions about fly-fishing is that the fish magically grows between the time you catch him and the time you tell the story. Exaggeration and fish lies are a natural part of the fishing community.

Exaggeration and big-fish lies are also part of the law school mind games that can wreak havoc on your sanity if you don’t realize they are there.

Take for example, “the library marathoner.” This is the person who claims they haven’t left the library for three days. They claim they are there from morning until night. During exams, they don’t sleep. They claim they have had 30 cups of coffee and 25 Red Bulls.

Tech U: Enhancing Your Professional Network Through Digital Mediums

I was taught that the most effective way to stay in contact with professionals after meeting them was to ask for their business card, wait a few days, and then mail that person a short, handwritten note expressing your gratitude for any insight they provided. This method reminds the professional that they met you and it opens the door for further conversation. This is especially effective when interviewing for an internship/externship or job. It shows the interviewer that you are truly interested in the position. Even if you aren’t chosen for the job, the professional that interviewed you will remember you for other opportunities.

While this method remains a useful part of networking and job interviewing, I have noticed a growing trend towards the use of e-mail and social media to reach out to and stay in contact with the professionals that I meet. While I would never knock the traditional pen and paper way of networking, I highly encourage following the trends of the professionals whose brains you want to pick. This past October, I attended my third ABA Entertainment and Sports Industries Forum in Las Vegas. The underlying theme of the forum was the impact of social media on the legal profession and how its usage could enhance attorneys’ relationships with each other, their clients, and mentees.

Nonprofit Volunteering: Learning How to Self-Promote

In the next few installments of this column, I am going discuss some of the skills I believe can be gained through nonprofit work outside of your day-to-day job. Today, I want to share with you how my nonprofit work taught me the art of self-promotion.

I was once on a panel about serving on a nonprofit board and the moderator asked me about the skills that I had learned from my service. One of the first things that came to mind was that I had learned a lot about how to promote myself, through promoting my nonprofit.

Let’s take a step back. We all know that we need to be good at promoting ourselves, right? And it is often suggested that women are not good at self-promotion even though it is critical to our success in the workplace. We know we must have an “elevator pitch.” We know we must be able to talk about our accomplishments. We recognize we must know how to “sell.”

The New Amazon is Self-Aware

“I think that [strength is] the capability to be self-aware, to be able to carry one’s self with a knowledge of one’s strengths, and to be comfortable in your skin.”

-Jill Engle

When I look at the women around me, from the law students studying tirelessly in the library to the type-A personalities I worked with in undergrad, I wonder where I fit in. I struggle with how to define my role as a young, educated woman. I want to be a successful attorney, a supermom, and a perfect wife. I want to be strong.  Sometimes I wonder how I can possibly achieve all of these goals while staying true to myself.

“I think a lot of times fear and discomfort with our own growth experiences can get in the way of us putting our best selves forward, for both men and women,” Jill explained when I sat down in her office.

Leverage Your Judicial Clerkship for a Successful Private Sector Career: The Organized Law Clerk: Lists to Keep

Last month I covered how to join local networking groups in order to leverage your clerkship into a promising private sector career. This month I discuss how to start preparing early for the impending job search.

During your clerkship you will surely become acquainted with the nuances of litigation and will no doubt expand your knowledge of substantive law. Although your mind may be caught up in complex legal issues, it is important to focus on how your day to day tasks tie into your long-term career plan. Maintaining the lists discussed below will help you organize your job search and obtain your career aspirations.

The goal of this exercise is to train yourself to conceptualize your experience in broad terms and then categorize your knowledge in a manner that will appeal to firms with specific practice groups. On the flip side, if you are targeting boutique firms, recognize that your versatility, rather than your expertise in a certain area of law will be your selling point.

After consulting former term clerks now in private practice, I came up with the following lists:

Your Monthly Mentor: Meet Mary Beth Bosco, Esq.

Mary Beth Bosco is a Partner in the Washington, DC office of global law firm Patton Boggs LLP.  She specializes in government contracts, environmental law and homeland security and defense.  She was the first female member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and is the co-chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee.

Your Monthly Mentor: Tell me about your journey to your current position.

Mary Beth Bosco: I attended law school at The George Washington University [in Washington DC], which was known for its government contracting department.  I had one of the founders of the government contracts practice area as my first year contracts professor.  I ended up doing research for him during my first summer, then went on to a law clerk job in my second year, and really liked the practice.  I went to that firm after I graduated.  Then, I decided I wanted to be at a larger firm.  Larger firms allow you to have access to more resources, which helps if clients have questions relating to other practice areas.  I’ve been at Patton Boggs since 1985.              

The Minority Report: Your Minority Status is Not a Burden

As minority women in the legal profession we are often told to eliminate elements of our personalities that are essential to our identities. Don’t be too feminine. Don’t act like one of the boys. Don’t be too black. We are reminded daily that who we are doesn’t fit the traditional mold of a lawyer.

Of course this issue is not unique to attorneys. The current United States Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey was advised by a professor to “unburden [he]rself of being black.” How problematic to consider one’s racial identity a burden to be shed in order to succeed!  
 
Though the image of the white male remains the industry standard, we are in a unique position to shift this paradigm. For the first time in the history of the United Sates the majority of the babies born in the previous year were from minority groups. Consequently, we are standing on the cusp of what could be major changes in the nation’s social, political and professional landscape.

Law by Design

It's an exciting time to be an attorney with an interest in design. From academia to the courtroom, design has been at the center of several recent high-profile legal developments.  Consider:

Fashion Law School.  Leading the way is Fordham Law’s Fashion Law Institute.  Launched in September 2010, the Institute offers cutting-edge fashion law programming, including continuing education courses, clinics and symposia.  And the enthusiasm for fashion law on campus continues to grow.  In 2012, NYU Law began offering a course in fashion law, and Loyola Law in Los Angeles is also launching a fashion law curriculum.

Fashion Law Resources.  For fashion-inclined law students and lawyers, there are now several hornbook-style resources, including Fashion Law: A Guide for Designers, Fashion Executives and Attorneys by Guillermo Jimenez and Barbara Kolsun, and Westlaw’s Navigating Fashion Law: Leading Lawyers on Exploring the Trends, Cases, and Strategies of Fashion Law.  And newly launched bar association committees, such as the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Fashion Law, offer professional resources to the rapidly growing fashion law community. 

Introducing the 2013 Writers in Residence!

The new year is upon us and Ms. JD is pleased to introduce the 2013 Writers in Residence. 

I was one of the 2012 Writers in Residence with my personal finance column Legally Thrifty.  Now I am deeply honored to continue my involvement with the program as the 2013 Writers in Residence Coordinator.  Through the Writers in Residence program, I was able to learn more about Ms. JD and the wonderful role that Ms. JD plays in supporting women in the law.   I hope that this year's writers have a similar positive experience.

I am also excited to be working with a group of beautiful and intelligent ladies and reading their inspiring posts.  This year's writing content will definitely be interesting, varying from topics such as -  life as a military spouse and new attorney, women in the media, technology in law practice, energy law, and much much more.

So please check out their column descriptions and click on their names to be directed to their blogs. You'll be seeing their first posts up on the site all this month.

If you have any questions about the Writers in Residence program, please feel free to email me at wir@ms-jd.org.  A huge thank you to everyone involved for your dedication to the blog!

Sunny Choi, 2013 Writers in Residence Coordinator

Tips on finding a mentor

As I made my way through law school, it quickly became clear to me that there was a lot more to the practice of law than the substantive material we were learning in the classroom.  The practical skills of dealing with clients and business development are often learned over time.  The process of choosing a practice area and environment is aided by the advice of an experienced hand.  The challenges that one could face throughout her career can best be navigated with the help of someone who has been there before.  At every stage in one’s career, but especially at the beginning, the presence of a mentor can be invaluable.

While this column will provide information and guidance on a wide variety of topics, the development of a relationship with a mentor on an individual level is also crucial.  Compatibility of personality, personal experience, and rapport are all important to developing a relationship in which you can call on someone with an individualized problem.