Fare Thee Well, 2020
By Katalin Tarjan • December 31, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
Like all of 2020, our year-end reviews feel different this year. As an avid planner and reviewer I find it hard this time to put a full stop at the end of a chapter and form expectations about a fresh new one. In Michelle Obama’s „Becoming” journal (who else loves guided journals?) the other day I arrived to the end of the year question „How has this year been different from last year?”. At first I laughed. My short answer would be „in every single way”. Then I really started counting the ways… During these last days of the…
How do you deal with difficult clients?
By Katalin Tarjan • November 30, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
As lawyers we all work with people. Doing so, we come across difficult people from time to time and we have to learn how to deal with them. My favorite story (that was quite entertaining for my then colleagues’ too) happened in my previous job. I was a lawyer of a government funded organization in the construction industry (I wrote about it here). There were (at least) two parties in a case, meaning what this always means: unless there is an agreement reached, one of them is essentially dissatisfied in the end. One such person called me on this particular…
What makes a good worker?
By Katalin Tarjan • October 31, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
I got my first legal job after working in several other types of jobs, and I’ve always felt that every piece of knowledge and every experience I have gained along my journey contributes to being as successful in my current job as I am. Being good work force in my opinion is equal parts professional skills and life skills, and the latter can only be acquired by, you know, living. No-one expects a 1L intern to have the same kind of life experiences as a trained attorney, but you can learn something even from what you think is the…
People have the power - to vote
By Katalin Tarjan • September 28, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
Editor's Note: In honor of Election Day today, please read this piece from Writer in Residence Katalin Tarjan, and if you are able to, vote! We’ve all learned about the electoral process and its importance in functioning democracies, yet, we might have different opinions about voting in practice. I used to have a professor at law school who was very proud that he has never voted at any elections in his entire life. Ever. Not once. He talked quite a lot about politics – teaching administrative law –, his lectures were full of political comments and opinions about…
Three of the weirdest job interview results in my legal career
By Katalin Tarjan • August 28, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
Over the course of my career I have been through countless job interviews. Some were pretty regular and normal, but I feel I could fill a whole book with some wild examples too. You know those articles that promise to prepare you for the typical job interview and list the most typical interview questions? I am not saying they aren’t helpful, just that there are so many factors in your job application process that you cannot prepare for. As far as interviews go, I’ve seen so many things over the years, from the interviewer falling asleep while listening to me, through…
Some of the main differences between private vs. public service jobs as a lawyer
By Katalin Tarjan • August 02, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
Over the course of my career I have worked in jobs both in the private sphere and the public sphere. There are a couple of clear differences between the two worlds, that I will lay out here based on my unique experiences. First on my list is job stability, since during times like these it is a major thing to consider. Whether you work for a law firm or a private company, you work for profit, and if for some reason or another profit is scarce, you will have to start worry about the future. Government organizations are going to…
It’s time to be vocal about our values
By Katalin Tarjan • June 30, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
Have you ever engaged in a conversation where things were said that went deeply against your values, yet for some reason or another you chose to stay silent? It happened to the best of us. You could hear these past weeks many times the Angela Davis quote that “it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist”. I have to admit, although I’ve never considered myself racially biased, I haven’t exactly been actively anti-racist either. And I know many of us were educated and informed enough to know that those horrible things were happening to BIPOC people, yet…
Work ethics – six things you should not do if you want to be taken seriously at work
By Katalin Tarjan • May 26, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
Everybody wants to be liked at work. Well, everybody wants to be liked in general, but for most of us, it’s work where we spend the most of our time. Since we see them every day, it’s especially important to maintain good relationships with our co-workers, which is not always easy to do. Here is a couple of things that could easily ruin it. Being notoriously late Things happen. Even the most punctual person can be late sometimes, but not all of the time! If being on time is the exception, it shouts that this person cannot be trusted.…
How to learn anything online?
By Katalin Tarjan • April 29, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence
Last time I wrote about some of my favorite learning and brain training resources, now it’s time to check out some learning platforms for more specific knowledge. Again, I know this is not for everyone, I acknowledge those who are busier than ever this time around and hate these kinds of posts, please bare with me (although the sources in my previous post about learning how to learn could be useful for teaching kids too). But then, some of us are stuck at home with more time on our hands than usual, for whom reading, writing, learning or being creative…