Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks: Practical Advice for New Lawyers
By Grover E. Cleveland • February 01, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Q: I dread looking at my phone in the morning. Every day I am inundated with emails, usually from offices in an earlier time zone. The emails often contain random requests that don’t seem as if they would take much time, but they end up blowing up my mornings. Sometimes partners want me to find documents for them. Or people want status updates. I am a morning person, and I theoretically could do my best work in the morning, but I end up chasing down information. I try to get up earlier and earlier, but I can only get up…
Career Advice for the Long Road: Build Relationships
By Kim Tran • January 29, 2019 •Writers in Residence
The number one piece of career advice I have received is that being a successful lawyer means you need to prioritize the building and cultivating of relationships – relationships with colleagues, with clients, and with the community. The relationships you make both in and outside of the practice of law are what sustain you for the long road. Early in your career, forging relationships of trust with partners and other colleagues based on your work ethic and work product is what will provide you with a steady stream of billable hours within your firm. Those relationships lead the way to…
Law School & Parenting: Accepting, Embracing, and Loving the Mayhem
By Hend Alhakam • January 28, 2019 •Ms. JD
“I don’t know how you do it.” That is the usual response I receive when I tell people that I am a single mom in law school. To be honest, I don’t know how I do it either. When I zoom out and look down on my life, it looks exhausting (and it’s MY life). I am a single mom to a 5 year old boy. I am also a first year law student. Crazy, right? (Yes. It’s crazy). While I am still fuzzy on how I manage to survive on a day to day basis, I do know one…
Interview with Jacques Anderson, Counsel at The Players’ Tribune - On the Field: Women in Sports Law
By Tatum Wheeler • December 31, 2018 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Issues, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination, Women and Law in the Media
I’m excited to introduce Jacques Anderson, Legal Counsel at The Players’ Tribune. A graduate of Harvard Law and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, Jacques Anderson worked as a Mergers and Acquisition Associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates prior to joining The Players’ Tribune in 2018. Welcome, Jacques! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I was hoping you could share with me your path to The Players’ Tribune. Did you have an interest in sports during your undergraduate and law school education? Jacques: At a high-level, entering the…
Testing Accommodations are not a Gift of Extra Time
By Katherine Macfarlane • January 10, 2019 •Writers in Residence, Law School, Other Law School Issues, Issues, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination
Late last year, a University of Michigan Law student sent an email about testing accommodations to a public listserv. The subject: “People using ‘extra’ time.” In the email’s body, the student wrote: “I see you messing up the curve for me thanks.” Michigan Law’s Assistant Dean for Student Life issued a compassionate response affirming the law school’s commitment to diversity and its disabled students. Above the Law condemned the student’s complaints in a late-December column. Still, the idea that testing accommodations are a gift which might unfairly ruin another student’s grades persists. I want to debunk this myth. Accommodations are…
Dear Future Lawyer: Advice for Minority Women Law Students From Author Neena R. Speer, Esq.
By Roberta O. Roberts, Esq. of Grace for the Grind™ • January 17, 2019 •Careers, Law School, Pre-Law, Issues, Mentoring and Networking, Features, Guest Bloggers and Profiles of Women in the Law
In 2018, the American Bar Association reported that less than 40% of lawyers in the United States are women, and that less than 20% of lawyers in the United States are people of color. As the statistics make clear, women of color are overwhelmingly outnumbered in the legal profession. Having experienced this isolation herself, lawyer, author, speaker, and nonprofit founder Neena R. Speer, Esq. seeks to help provide solace for this underrepresented population by sharing her experience with other women of color on their journeys to becoming lawyers. As a minority woman lawyer myself, I am happy to share this…
Business Etiquette: Readers’ Top 3 FAQ
By Tori Keith • December 28, 2018 •Writers in Residence
I have really enjoyed blogging each month on an aspect of business etiquette and exploring some of the social nuances and modern interpretations of classic etiquette expectations in a business setting. I hope these blogs have helped you gain more confidence in your professional interactions and improved your professional relationships. I have received many questions and suggested topics along the way, so this month I thought it would be beneficial to collect a few of the most frequently asked questions to address. Here are the top 3 business etiquette questions I received: Question 1: What is the best way…
Making A Choice: Is Law School Right for You?
By Dennis Hung • January 07, 2019 •Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job
Going to law school is a popular decision among those looking for a prestigious career path. Motivated by what they've seen on television and the movies, many go to law school only to quickly find out that the reality of practicing law is much different than what they've seen in fiction. If you are considering law school, you'll want to ask yourself the questions below before you send in your application. Do You Want to Go to Law School? The most important question to ask yourself is if you really want to go to law school. Don't go because you…
What is the number one piece of career advice you have received?
By Molly Timko • December 22, 2018 •Ms. JD
I received invaluable career advice back in the early 2000s, which was before I even thought about going to law school and when people still “snail mailed” resumes. Although I have changed professions since that time and technology has drastically evolved, I continue to benefit from this advice today. As a graduate student in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration at Canisius College, my professor, who was also the director of the program, taught me about the importance of membership in professional associations. In fact, part of the curriculum included attendance at a national student affairs professional development conference. I learned how membership in…