Ms. Prof: Mario, the Bar Exam, and Thoughts on Balance
By Ursula Furi-Perry, Esq. • October 31, 2010 •Writers in Residence, Legal Academia
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to spend with my kids. This year, Halloween weekend also fell on one of the most important days of the year in my professional life: the release of bar exam results. So, I’ve been balancing: balancing parades and trick-or-treating with the Super Mario brothers with sending congratulatory messages to former students. Both are important to me, and I want to make both work. To do so, I balance.We’ve had no shortage of discussion about work-life balance among women lawyers. For a while, there were also countless media accounts (likely set off by Lisa…
Ms. Prof: It All Starts in Law School! Networking Tips for Law Students
By Ursula Furi-Perry, Esq. • August 22, 2010 •Writers in Residence, Law School
Your professional career doesn’t start when you graduate law school—rather, it begins during law school. If you are a current law student, you shouldn’t just be aiming to get through your classes and coursework; you should also aim to build, cultivate and maintain a professional network of peers, attorneys and legal professionals.A new academic year is beginning. Take this opportunity to work on your networking skills and start establishing your professional network.Ten tips to consider:1. First, establish professional, cordial relationships with your professors. Introduce yourself; impress in class by being prepared and attentive; and be polite, friendly but proper.2. Talk with…
Ms. Prof: Five Lessons for New Associates from Bar Prep
By Ursula Furi-Perry, Esq. • August 06, 2010 •Writers in Residence, Other Law School Issues
Another bar exam is behind us, and my fingers are crossed for everyone who sat for the test.As I assisted students with bar preparation, both individually and in study groups, it struck me that there were some great parallels between the nerves getting to bar applicants and the nerves that get to recent law grads who are starting a new job. The same advice that I give to bar applicants is sound advice for new associates. For example:First, don’t count yourself out. I’ve seen too many students “give up” on a particular type of question because they “just aren’t good…
Ms. Prof: “Diversifying” at Work, but Is It Working? Snippets from the Dialogue Regarding the Recruitment of Women Law Profs
By Ursula Furi-Perry, Esq. • May 21, 2010 •Writers in Residence, Legal Academia
It’s no secret that there are fewer women law profs than male counterparts: according to the American Association of Law School’s 2007-2008 data, women make up 36.9% of law teachers. For the same year, the ABA reported that female first-years make up 47.4% of the 1L population; in fact, that number has been hovering in the upper-40s since the late 1990s. Over the past couple of years, various people in the profession have weighed in about the potential problems with the recruitment of women law profs, along with potential reasons why potential problems exist. Snippets from their discussions make for…
Ms. Prof: Socratic? So Ineffective!
By Ursula Furi-Perry, Esq. • April 19, 2010 •Writers in Residence
Admittedly, I have some beef with the Socratic method. For starters, “Researchers…cite the use of the Socratic method in the classroom and the faculty's emphasis on linear thinking at the expense of student creativity and personal values,” write Todd David Peterson and Elizabeth Waters Peterson in their article, Stemming the Tide of Law Student Depression: What Law Schools Need to Learn from the Science of Positive Psychology. “Others have found that law school fosters certain personality traits in its students that can lead to unhappiness, such as defensiveness and pessimism.” See 9 Yale J. Health Pol'y, L. & Ethics 357…
One-Elle: Female Law Students in Pop Culture
By Ursula Furi-Perry, Esq. • March 23, 2010 •Writers in Residence
I admit it: I have a love-and-hate relationship with Elle Woods and what she represents. Law students and recent law grads are shown in several places in popular culture, from movies like Legally Blonde to shows like The Deep End. Undoubtedly, each time, they are depicted as stereotypes: the ditzy sorority girl with oodles of mom and dad’s money; the cunning associate with man-eating prowess; the clunky, insecure new girl who seems to stumble on every work assignment; the activist caught up in her cause and little else. Female law students in pop culture can pretty much be grouped…