How to Get a Job After Law School

(The Job Won’t Find You)

Miller Leonard
 Table of Contents

1) Introduction ............................................................................ 1
2) Decide Where You Want to Live .......................................... 4
3) What Type of Law Do You Think You Want to Practice? 8
A. Clinics ............................................................................... 8
B. Career Services ................................................................. 9
C. What Things Do You Like to Do? .................................. 10
D. Practice Series Books...................................................... 11
E. Continuing Legal Education Seminars ........................... 12
F. My Story ......................................................................... 12
G. What do You Want? ....................................................... 13
4) Networking............................................................................ 14
A. You’re Part of a Profession ............................................. 15
B. Get Used to Asking for Help .......................................... 15
C. Some People Will Say “No” ........................................... 15
D. Get a Plan – Any Plan is Better Than No Plan ............... 16
E. Find a Mentor.................................................................. 16
Final Thoughts ..................................................................... 17
5) Small Markets....................................................................... 18
6) The Hidden Job Market and Your 5 Year Plan ............... 21
 5 years .................................................................................. 22
7) Adjuncts ................................................................................ 25
8) LinkedIn................................................................................ 28
9) Why You Need to Start Following the Legal Job Market 30
10) Closing Thoughts .......................................................... 32
11) Appendix 1..................................................................... 34
12) Appendix 2..................................................................... 37
 How to Get a Job After Law School

Introduction

M ost of us go to law school in order to get a job as a

lawyer. Yet only 10% of all law students will get a job
through On Campus Interviews. This figure, even if it is off by a
few percentage points, is stunning.

So how do you get a job as a lawyer if you don’t secure one

through OCI’s? This is the purpose of this book: To help you
get a job as a lawyer.

But before we get into the book and the suggestions, I want
to take you back in time. If you will, take a journey with me.
On a sunny day, in mid-May, I walked into my law school
for the last time to get items out of the law school office the
school provided to 3L’s. As I walked into school, two classmates
asked me where I was going to work. I had no answer. Even though
I had secured two internships and worked at two different law
firms during law school, I had no job lined up and I had no prospects.
I was, in a word, lost.
25 years later, I can see all of the mistakes I made. I don’t
want you to make the same mistakes. And I want to give you
hope that you can and will get a job as a lawyer. That is why I
am writing this book.

Before you start reading, remember a few things:

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• Feel free to throw out any suggestion.

• There is no right plan.
• Getting started is better than not starting at all.
• The process is not a sprint, it is a marathon.
• Learn to enjoy the journey.
• So much of your success as a practicing lawyer has
nothing to do with how well you do in law school or
the law school you attend. Rather, it has to do with
your network.

The end goal of this book is to help you develop a networking

plan. The plan will be yours. And the plan will enable you to take
the steps to get a job, make friends, gain colleagues, and learn more
about the practice of the law.

Does this book guarantee success? No. Nobody can guarantee

success and no plan is 100% accurate. That said, I have seen the
tips in this book work time and time again. Why? Because most
legal jobs are hidden and most legal jobs are the product of the
network you develop.
A word of encouragement: You can build a network. It doesn’t
matter if you aren’t the most out-going person. It doesn’t matter
if you know nobody in the legal field. It doesn’t matter if you
are a first-generation lawyer. It doesn’t matter if you are in the
bottom of your class. It doesn’t matter if you are attending a
T14 school or a school in the bottom tier.
As you read this book, I encourage you to do the following:

• Be open to the suggestions given.

• Commit to creating your own networking plan.

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• Commit to spending consistent time implementing

your networking plan.
• Remember that everyone who is competing for a job
as a lawyer is a lawyer.

This book isn’t very long. We are conditioned in law school

to write lengthy tomes. Then you start practicing and nobody
wants you to write like you did during your collegiate and law
school days. This book is written by a practicing lawyer in a
style geared towards the practice of law. My goal is to get you
a job. It’s to get you to use the tips I am suggesting.

The jobs exist. The map to getting the jobs doesn’t. This is
a map to the job you want.

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1) Decide Where You Want to Live

T he practice of law is, despite the changes in technology

and the changes to how we practice, largely centered upon
the geographic area where a law firm is located. This is even
more true the smaller the firm or if you work for a government
agency.

Since law schools are scattered across the country, many people
go to a law school in an area where they do not intend to live.
But even if you do attend a law school in the area you want to
live, the suggestions of this book are applicable – you just don’t
have to figure out where you want to live so you can skip ahead.

Deciding where you want to live is important for your

networking plan. So take some time to determine where you want
to live in order to focus your networking plan and get the most
out of it.

Having moved my practice after 10 years in one city and

state, I can attest to the challenges of finding a legal job outside
of the area one goes to law school. But it isn’t impossible and
the sooner you figure out where you want to live, the quicker you
can start making connections.
Narrowing down where you want to live can be a challenge.
In order to help you in this process, I have developed some questions

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that I ask law students who I work with.

Take some time and put thought into the following questions:

• Where is your family located?

• Do you want to be located away from family? If you
do, how far away do you want to be?
• How important is it to fit in with the “values” of the
area you live? This isn’t an endorsement of any
particular value or belief, rather it is about you and
what you value and believe.
• Do you describe yourself as conservative, liberal, or
does it matter? Do you know the politics of the area
you want to live?
• What is the cost of living in the area you want to
live?
• Does the area you want to live embrace the things
you enjoy doing? For instance, if you like to hike and
enjoy open spaces, are such things available? Or, if
church is important to you, is there a church you like
and where you can thrive?
• If you have children or plan on having children, how
are the schools? This is very important. Don’t assume
the schools are good just because an area is “nice.”
• If you are married or have a significant other, are
they open to moving? If they are open to moving, is
it also a place that they like and want to live? Can they
find work?
• Why do you want to move to the area?
• Have you been to the area you want to move outside
of a vacation?

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• Is the area you want to move to growing economically?

• If you like to travel, is the area you want to move to
someplace with a good airport or close to the areas
you like to visit?

There are, of course, a myriad of other questions you can

ask yourself about the place you want to live. Living in
Colorado, a place where many people want to move, I often
speak with law students who are going to school outside of
Colorado but who want to move to the state. These questions,
and one’s like them, are the questions we go over. The purpose
is to try to hone down the area or areas the student is interested
in so that we can then build a networking plan.

Taking a more in depth look at these questions is vital. Moving

is hard. It’s expensive. So you want to put the necessary time into
finding out about the areas you have interest in before you take
the leap. For instance, before I moved to Colorado, my wife
and I visited a number of times and looked at various areas. We
also went to the other area we thought we might like and looked
at both places with an eye towards daily life rather than vacation
life.

Two things stand out to me about moving. First, you want

to move to a place where you feel at home. Having community
is important. Second, you want to move to a place that isn’t
economically decaying. That doesn’t necessarily mean a big city.
Many smaller communities are thriving. Living in an economically
thriving area will help your career opportunities.
The other aspect of moving is family. If you are a traditional
law student, you are graduating around the age of 25. You likely

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aren’t thinking too much about taking care of elderly parents.

And if you don’t have kids, you may not be thinking about having
your kids around your parents yet. I encourage you to think
about these two issues. I don’t have the answer to what is right
for you but it is worth thinking 10 – 15 years down the road if you
are moving to a new area.
Next, as you think about where you want to live, it is important
to also have an idea as to what type of law you want to practice.
For instance, if your dream job is being a United States Attorney,
you will want to make sure that such a job exists in the town you
want to live in – and this goes for any practice area.

After you have gone through the questions outlined, look

into the amount of money the area you are interested invests in
its court system. Some states do a good job investing in their
court system. Others don’t and have attacked the funding of the
courts for years. This isn’t, necessarily, a reason not to move to a
state, but you should understand how the state you are wanting to
move to values and funds its court system.
Moving is not easy. But the adventure of moving is
indescribable. Moving allows you, in many ways, to recreate
yourself and chart your own course. If you want to move away
from either the area you are going to school or the area you
grew up, embrace the challenge. You’ll find that the spirit of the
journey will aid and assist you as you build your network. After
all, if you are a stranger, you have to force yourself to go out and
meet people.

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2) What Type of Law Do You Think

You Want to Practice?

D eciding what type of law you want to practice is, for

many, difficult. If you are a first generation law student, like
I was, you may find it even harder since you may only know of
a few areas of practice. Deciding what area or areas you are
interested in practicing is essential to focus your networking.

A. Clinics
Outside of clinics, law school doesn’t help you figure out what
type of law you want to practice, at least it didn’t help me. This
is especially true of the required classes that you take as these
classes, by and large, focus on the law related to the subject and
rarely deal with the practice side of that area of law.

The easiest way to gain exposure to a practice area is to do

a clinic. Many law schools have clinics and some have more
than one. This is a fantastic resource and one that you must take
advantage of if you are able. For instance, if you want to be a Public
Defender and your law school offers a Criminal Defense Clinic,
you need to do the clinic.

Thankfully, law schools have expanded their clinical

opportunities. I cannot emphasize enough how crucial it is to
do a clinic. Sometimes I will talk with a law student and they

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will tell me that they really don’t have an interest in any of the
clinics offered at their school. My advice is to find the one that
most interests you and to do that one.

B. Career Services
Career Services gets maligned. There are two reasons for
this: 1) Career Services didn’t used to offer much more than
OCI help; 2) Unrealistic expectations.

Let’s tackle the unrealistic expectations since most Career

Service offices offer much more assistance than they did in the
past. If you are expecting Career Services to find you a job, this
isn’t a strategy that will bear fruit. Rather, view Career Services
as a tool.
Since I am in Colorado, I am going to use an example from
The University of Denver. DU’s Career Development Office
offers a wealth of information to students. Their Career
Development and Opportunities handbook is fantastic and you
can read it even if you aren’t a student at DU.
Wherever you are attending law school, you need to make
sure that you know what services are offered by Career Services.
This means going over their website if they have one. It means
going in and talking with the people who work at Career
Services – on a regular basis. It means sitting down and telling
them what you want to do when you graduate. It means using the
tools they offer.

Remember, in all likelihood, the people in Career Services

know many lawyers in the community. This means that they
are a route to you getting to know lawyers in the legal community.

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But what if you are going to school in an area you don’t

want to live and work? This is where your Career Service
office may have less tools for you. Be open with them that you
are wanting to work outside of the area you are going to school.
See who they know who works in the area you want to live.
Are there alumni who work in that area? Do they know people
in Career Service offices at a school in that area? I’ve had
Career Service people from law schools outside of Colorado
contact me to see if I would talk with students who want to
move to Colorado and my only connection with the Career
Service person is via LinkedIn. So ask for help!

As an aside, take a look at other law schools Career Services

websites. Some are good, some are bad. But you will be surprised
at some of the very good information you find. For instance, I
once found a list of all public interest law firms in the DC area
that were offering internships on a law school’s Career Service site.
So be curious.

C. What Things Do You Like to Do?

The law is vast. Practice areas are not as vast. The journey
to figure out a practice area you think you can enjoy seems
daunting. But you already know what you like to do outside of
the law so use what you like outside of the law as a template to
help you determine a practice area.
Are you gregarious? Do you like public speaking? Are you
interested in solving problems where two sides disagree and
are fighting? Then litigation, broadly speaking, is something
you should consider.

Are you business oriented? Do you enjoy planning and

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creating? Did you go to school and pursue a business degree?

You should consider the transactional and advising side of the
law.

For most, this is the big divide: Do you want to do courtroom

work or do you want to stay out of court? Of course, just because
you want to be in court doesn’t mean you will always be trying
cases. But litigation and trial work and the lawyers who do this
type of work usually aren’t drafting contracts or doing business
deals and drafting documents. So for most of us, there is a decision
to make concerning the court or non-court route.
If you want to go to court, you have another decision. Do
you want to practice civil or criminal law? And if you want to
practice criminal law, do you want to be a DA or a defense attorney?

Ask yourself these questions. Be truthful to yourself. If you

really hate conflict and you really hate public speaking, forcing
yourself into litigation is not wise. Conversely, if you don’t like
drafting documents or reviewing contracts, you probably aren’t
going to like being a transactional attorney.

Some people will definitely know the area they want to

practice. Others have a vague idea. The goal is to narrow down
your desired area as fine as possible. This will help you as you
begin to network and search for internships and later jobs.

D. Practice Series Books

If you go to your state Bar association you will likely find
that they produce practice series books. Unlike law school
textbooks, these books tell you and show you how to do things.
They are like user manuals for different practice areas. I wish
I had known about these books prior to graduating law school.

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First, these books are a great overview of what various

areas of practice do. If you are interested in Family Law, for
instance, the Colorado Bar Association produces a fantastic
book on Family Law that covers almost all the major areas of
the practice. And you will find that the chapters of these books
are written, primarily, by practicing lawyers.
Another nice aspect to these books is that they cover areas
of the law that you don’t often hear about in law school.

E. Continuing Legal Education Seminars

Attorneys have to take continuing legal education classes
to maintain their license to practice. If you want to learn more
about a practice area, these are an untapped resource. Many are
now online. Although I would suggest going in person if possible
so you can network.
CLE’s offer you a chance to see what issues practicing attorneys
are dealing with. They are much different than a law school class.

In my 20 plus years of practice, I have seen exactly one law

student at a CLE.

F. My Story
I knew I wanted to be a litigator. I wasn’t sure if I wanted
to work on the criminal side or the civil. I was fortunate to have
a long clerkship with a civil firm that did a variety of civil litigation.
I didn’t mind it but I wanted to be in court more. That is what
drove me over to the criminal side of the Bar. After doing a
clerkship with the Missouri State Public Defenders, I knew that I
wanted to practice criminal law.

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G. What do You Want?

Ask yourself hard questions about what you want out of
your career. It’s your career. The right answer for you may be
very different than your friend’s answer. The right answer for
you might be in a non-traditional law job. But, and this is the crucial
part, the sooner you narrow down your options, the sooner you
can develop an actionable item list for your networking plan.

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3) Networking

O nce you have decided where you want to live and work
and the area of practice you are interested in, you can focus
on building a networking plan.

Lawyers and law students tend to lean towards perfectionism.

Don’t worry about your networking plan being “perfect,” rather
focus on getting one in place and then executing the plan you have
developed.

Your plan will be unique to you. And that is because you

are unique. So the steps I suggest don’t have to be followed in
whole, and you should throw out any you don’t like. Heck, maybe
you will find all of my suggestions worthless – except for
starting to network. And that’s fine. My true goal is to help you
find what you want from law school.

At the end of this book, you will find an outline and then a
one-page sheet. The purpose of these items is to allow you to
write down your plan. Again, you don’t have to use them. But I
encourage you to write your plan down. There is much evidence
that we are more likely to accomplish tasks we write down.

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A. You’re Part of a Profession

Law school doesn’t do a good job of welcoming you to the
profession. The moment you were accepted to law school you
became a part of the legal profession. Every modern lawyer
goes to law school. The vast majority take the Bar exam. All
recall being in law school and wondering how they were going
to find a job. This is a long way of saying that many, many
people in the profession are waiting and willing to help you.

B. Get Used to Asking for Help

There is no shame in asking in help. Part of effective
networking is asking people to help you. Asking for help is
different from asking for a job. And that is one of the nuances
of effective networking – you are learning about practice areas
and getting to know people but you aren’t asking for a job. The
jobs and opportunities will come. But they come from relationships
and shared interests and having people know who you are and
what you can do.

C. Some People Will Say “No”

Some people who you try to network with will say no. It
happens. Resolve now to not allow this to stop you. It’s part of
life. It’s not a reflection on you.
If I were writing your networking plan, I would put the
word ‘resilient’ somewhere on the top of the plan. Resilience
and consistency are a key trait to any networking plan.

Be resilient.
Be consistent.

Be determined.

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If you embrace these three traits, you will overcome the

doors that do not open.

D. Get a Plan – Any Plan is Better Than No Plan

Chances are you are a perfectionist. It is a personality trait
common in law students. And law school makes this trait even
worse. But getting a networking plan written is much more
important that making the “perfect” networking plan. You’ll
never have the perfect plan. Every plan you make will get adjusted
and tweaked and revised and maybe even thrown away for a
new plan. The key is to get a plan and to start executing on your plan.
Actionable Items: these are the things you can set out to do
each day or week. For instance, if you want to move to a new
town, you might have as an Actionable Item contacting at least
one person on LinkedIn who lives in that town.
Set aside some time every day to make your plan come to
life. It doesn’t have to be much. 15 minutes a day will add up if you
are consistent.
Set reasonable expectations – you won’t achieve all your
goals immediately.

E. Find a Mentor
Get a mentor! Mentors will help you put your networking
plan into action. Mentors often will also give you access to
their network. And mentors have a much, much broader view
of the legal world than you do as a law student.
How do you find a mentor? Often, your Career Service Office
has a list of possible mentors. So do local and state bar associations.
But you can also ask a lawyer you know or admire. There are

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some groups online that can link you to mentors. And there is
LinkedIn, which has a large number of people in the legal space
who are actively teaching.

Mentors are especially crucial for those of you who are first
generation law students. As a first-generation law student, I know
the difficulty of not having a ready-made network a parent built.
Mentors are a HUGE asset. The sooner you get one, the sooner
you are making strides to attack networking from multiple angles.

Final Thoughts
As we leave this chapter, remember: Your networking plan
will not be perfect, no matter how much time you devote to planning
it. It is far more important to get started and to incorporate actionable
items than anything else. And the longer you wait, the harder it gets.

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4) Small Markets

M uch has changed since I graduated law school in 1998.

First among those changes is the rapid growth and
acceptance of technology. A person in a small firm has the same
access to legal research and case law as a person in a large firm.
This didn’t used to be the case.

As you start to search for jobs and internships, don’t ignore

smaller markets. This is especially true if law school hasn’t
really been your thing and your grades do not reflect your
capabilities.

Smaller legal markets are often overlooked. But the law is

the same in Grand Junction, Colorado as it is in Denver.

Small legal markets have some definite pluses:

1. Usually a lower cost of living.
2. A smaller Bar so more collegiality.
3. Less competition for jobs.
4. Often you get to handle your own cases faster.
5. The potential to move up the ladder in a firm faster.
6. Greater community.
7. Better commute, if any.
8. The chance to be a part of the legal community and
be known.

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Smaller markets tend to also have less billable requirements

and since the pace of life is, often, less hectic, you get to enjoy
your work without having your work become your entire life.

The commute aspect of smaller markets is very nice. It isn’t

uncommon to have a 5 or 10 minute commute in a smaller market.
I wish I had been encouraged more to pursue a smaller
market when I was in law school. As a person who wants to do
things rather than contemplate them, I would have loved the
opportunity to handle my own cases early in my career and
then to advance quicker than is possible in a bigger market.

For those of you who really are looking for community, a

smaller market is someplace you should take a serious look at.
It’s no secret that in many large cities, the sense of community
is lacking. And despite the trend for remote work, the reality of
the practice of law, especially for younger lawyers is that you
spend much of your time working at the office. So community,
commute, the things that you are working for, become much
more important since you are going to an office most days.

Smaller markets do come with a caveat: not all small markets

have every type of legal practice. So if you are wanting to
practice federal criminal defense, for instance, living in Eagle,
Colorado is not a great place. But Brunswick, Georgia is a small
town with a federal courthouse. So do your research, investigate
your options.

As more and more people have concentrated into larger

metros, there is also the issue of smaller markets having an
aging lawyer population. This presents an opportunity for a
younger, ambitious lawyer to gain a footing and become a valuable

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member of a firm in short order.

Don’t forget about government jobs in smaller communities.

Every town or city will have a city attorney (sometimes a
private law firm), the county will have a county attorney’s
office, there will be a prosecutor’s office for the county or district,
and there will be some type of public defender. These types of
jobs often allow a young lawyer to take on more serious matters
much earlier than if they were working in a like-kind larger
metro office. And for those who work for a state public
defender, even though you are in a small office, you are connected
to the much larger system, with its training and resources.

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5) The Hidden Job Market and Your

5 Year Plan

M ost legal jobs are hidden. At least they are hidden to you
as a law student. Why is that? Most firms aren’t large
enough to have a hiring director. Many government firms have
their own ways of finding prospective hires. And many very
good firms are only looking to hire people they know – they
aren’t going to troll through a ton of resumes.

Because so much of the legal market is hidden, the need to

get out and find out about the practice is all the more pressing.
For some of you, this is an adventure and you enjoy the exploration.
For others, this is a nightmare. How are you going to get the
doors to open? How can you ask people for help? Where do I
start?

No matter if you enjoy the search or not, you need to do it.

Unless your strategy is to rely on OCI’s. And for some people,
OCI’s will get the job done. This little book isn’t really designed
for the OCI crowd, although the suggestions I have will help
them build business and gain skills.

Back to the hidden job market, when I left government

practice, I had two jobs with law firms before I started my own
practice. Neither job was posted. I obtained both through
relationships. And my story isn’t unique.
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There is another aspect of the practice which doesn’t get

discussed in law school – many of your smaller firms make
good money and have a nice work/life balance. It’s rare to see
a small firm call themselves a “Lifestyle Firm.” No doubt there
are some that exist, but they are rare.

You discover the hidden job market through your network.

And this is an added benefit to networking, you start to see the
legal job market that you couldn’t see from the confines of law
school.
Another good way to discover the hidden job market is to
see who is presenting various CLE’s. Usually, the people who
are presenting at CLE’s are interested in networking and their
interaction in the CLE world means that they are exposed to a
wide variety of legal groups, firms, and people.

Bar Associations are another way to gain exposure to the

hidden job market. Check out your state Bar Association. See
if there are specialty Bar groups. Specialty Bar groups have
many activities and are a wonderful way to gain traction in the
world of practicing lawyers.

If I could go back, I would tell my much younger self to

view the exploration of the hidden legal market as a bit of a
game. Be open to the discovery. Enjoy the process. Have fun.
I suspect my younger self might have ignored this advice. That
would have been a mistake, one of many.

5 years
Where do you want to be in 5 years? And why 5 years?

Let’s take the last question first. At about the 5-year mark

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of practice, you see the world of the law much differently than
when you are at the 1 or 2 year mark. By now, you have been
practicing for a sufficient amount of time to understand your
practice area, to know many people in the legal community,
and you are well on your way to becoming a subject matter expert.

So where do you want to be in 5 years? And how are you

going to get there? The answer is yours and only yours as to
where you wish to be. But having this goal in mind is helpful.
For instance, if you want to be working in-house for a company,
it makes little sense to start your legal career as a Public Defender.
The other reason to have a 5-year goal is that it allows you
to focus on gaining meaningful experience and skills that allow
you to achieve the goal you have set. This goal also gets you
focused on you – don’t expect that everyplace you work for
will have this goal. Some places don’t care about your development.
This is your career and your professional life; you must take
charge.

Sometimes I am asked by students or young lawyers, “What

happens if my 5-year goal changes?” It’s a good question. Your
5-year goal isn’t set in stone. That is not the purpose. The
purpose is to give you a metric by which to keep moving
forward. You want to be moving forward at this point in your
legal career, expanding your options, maximizing your potential,
and achieving the goals that you set out. And, likely, your 5-
year goal will change, at least a bit.
Lawyers who set goals achieve them. Lawyers who wait for
others to discover how spectacular they are find themselves
disappointed.

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As we move to the next chapter, keep this at the forefront

of your mind: Nobody else will champion you the way you
champion yourself. This isn’t being selfish. It isn’t being arrogant.
It’s the reality of life and the practice of law.

Some of you may need some coaching in order to feel

comfortable being your own champion. That’s ok. If this is
you, reach out. I’d love to be your coach and if I am not a good
fit, I can give you some referrals to those who might be a good
fit. I strongly encourage you to get some coaching if you are an
agreeable person as being your own champion is much harder for
you than for those of us who are not as agreeable.

If you are interested in working with me as your coach, my

information is at the end of this book.

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6) Adjuncts

D uring my time in law school, I took several classes taught

by adjuncts. These lawyers were active in the profession.
They had hundreds of contacts. They were doing what I wanted
to do. Exactly what I wanted to do. So what did I do? I went to
class and never once asked my adjuncts for help. Not once.
This, looking back, was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made
in law school. Stupid doesn’t begin to cover my failure to act.

But you have an advantage. You can learn from my failure.

Your adjuncts are a hidden source, a hidden wealth of

information and contacts. They are practicing attorneys. They
are good at it too, otherwise they wouldn’t be teaching as adjuncts.
These attorneys are there, at your law school, because they
want to teach. They want to help. And that means that there is
a 99.9% chance that if you ask them to assist you in networking,
they will help you.
Nobody ever told me I should seek out my adjuncts for
networking help.
I never thought of asking them for help. I should have. I
should have asked every single one for help. I should have
asked them the questions I needed answered, like:

1. How did you get started?

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2. Do you know of any internships?

3. What can I do to become the type of lawyer that you
are?
4. Do you know other lawyers that I can connect with
and talk to?
5. What classes should I take that would be helpful?
6. What questions should I be asking?
7. What can I do to be more competitive in getting a
job in this type of law?

I do recall some people in my classes taught by adjuncts

taking time to talk to them. Some of my classmates were way
ahead of me in taking advantage of the opportunities that law
school provided. That said, none of my classmates viewed the
adjuncts as a networking source.

As I look back, I threw away opportunities to network with

at least 10 lawyers who were practicing law in the area that I
wanted to practice. Some of those lawyers would later go on to
become judges. All remain well respected. All had and have
deep connections to the legal community.
In terms of a layup, this suggestion is it. Every single law
school has adjuncts.

Don’t ask for a job! That is not how to approach your adjuncts.
Rather, approach your adjuncts as a bridge between academia
and the practice of law.
As an example, if I were an adjunct professor teaching
criminal defense topics and I had a student approach me who
wanted to become a criminal defense lawyer or a prosecutor, I
could give that student plenty of valuable, actionable information

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in about 30 minutes. Any other adjunct could do the same for

their area of practice.
I am often asked how to start networking with practicing
attorneys. This suggestion is a very easy way to get started.

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7) LinkedIn

H ow I wish that LinkedIn existed when I was in law

school. As a first generation lawyer, I could have learned
so much. If you are not on LinkedIn as a law student, that needs
to change.

Get a profile. Make sure your profile has a good headshot.

Let people know you are in law school.
Connect with lawyers who are practicing law. Engage with
the lawyers who post. Once you have engaged, then send a
DM. You’re much more likely to get a response as opposed to
an unannounced DM right when you connect.

LinkedIn is both a learning tool and a networking tool.

As a learning tool, LinkedIn gets you connected to some of
the real thought leaders in the law student space, like Jordan
Gardner and Amanda Haverstick both of whom are working to
make law school easier for you. And you also get a chance to
experience the work of people like Ross Guberman – he WILL
make you a better legal writer.

As a networking tool, LinkedIn allows you to see and

interact with lawyers practicing the type of law you want to
practice. And everyone on LinkedIn is on it to interact. So once
you start engaging, it’s normal to DM other people and establish

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more in depth relationships.

LinkedIn is also a space where you can make posts saying

what you want to do. If you tell people that you are a law
student and your goal is to practice insurance defense, you will
get responses and likely will get contacted with advice.
I firmly believe that most law students don’t utilize
LinkedIn to their advantage. But that doesn’t have to be your
experience. You can use it to your advantage and if you do, it’s
a platform that offers you much for free.

My advice to any law student is to devote 15 minutes a day

to LinkedIn. Add connections. Interact and comment on
relevant posts. Start posting yourself. Do this every single day
for 90 days and you will be surprised at all the information and
contacts you will have gained. All for free.

LinkedIn is invaluable if you plan on moving to a city

where you didn’t go to law school or grow up. I have helped
several people find law jobs in Colorado via our LinkedIn
connections.

So how do you best use LinkedIn? Connect. Engage. Post.

DM. Do this and you will have new friends and colleagues.
And this network will continue to grow and will follow you
after law school.

There is another reason to be on LinkedIn – you learn about

marketing and sales. I cannot recommend enough following
and connecting with Cooper Saunders. Cooper isn’t a lawyer,
but he will revolutionize how you view opportunity if you read
his books and follow him.

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8) Why You Need to Start Following

the Legal Job Market

D o you follow the legal job market? I didn’t when I was in

law school. I should have.

It’s much easier today. But why should you? I wrote about
the hidden legal job market earlier. Along with the legal job
market being largely hidden, many legal jobs you have never
heard about because your law school isn’t talking about them.

How do you follow the legal job market? Here’s what I do:

1. Indeed: go to the geographic area you have interest

and search under “lawyer” or “attorney.” Do this on
a weekly basis and see what jobs are posted. See what
they want in terms of experience. This is a great way to
find out what you need to do to get those jobs.
2. Go to your state bar’s website. Go to their job site.
Review all of the jobs.
3. Go to groups like the National Legal Aid and Defenders
website and look at their job postings.
4. Take a look at the Association of Corporate Counsel
website and look at their career postings.
5. USA Jobs – the federal government job site. Search
“attorney.”
6. State job websites – search “attorney.”
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7. Fd.org – lists almost all federal public defender jobs.

8. DOJ’s website – AUSA job postings and other DOJ
attorney jobs.
9. NeoGov – lists a ton of government jobs.
10. City and County websites – often list attorney jobs.
11. Find your states’ Prosecutor Association – search their
job postings.

Since you are in law school, many of these jobs are not
likely entry level. That isn’t the point. The point is to educate
yourself about the type of legal jobs that exist.
Do this and you might find a niche you are interested in
pursuing. Some of these jobs you will never hear about if you
aren’t doing what I suggest in this chapter.

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9) Closing Thoughts

T his book contains the advice I would give myself if I were

starting law school all over. It’s the advice I will give my
son should he decide to go to law school. It’s the advice I wish I
had before I went to law school.

No doubt you will not agree with everything I suggest. That’s

fine, modify any of the advice so that it fits your plan.

If you take only one piece of advice I offer, I hope it is this:

Start networking now.

The advice works. I have seen law students who follow the
advice this book offers get internship and jobs. I have seen law
students who follow this advice successfully move from a state
they are attending law school to a new state where they have
no contacts. And I believe so much in the advice offered in this book
that I wrote it.

I appreciate you for trusting me by purchasing this book.

I’m rooting for you and if I can help, please reach out.

If you want more help than this book provided, I would love
to work with you. We all need a coach. If you think that we’d
be a good fit, I look forward to helping you achieve your career
goals. If you want to get some coaching, please call my office

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at 720-613-8783 or email me at [email protected]

and put “Coaching” in the subject line.

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10) Appendix 1

Quick Outline

1. Where do you want to live?

a) Just because you are going to law school in a city of
state, doesn’t mean that is where you want to practice.
b) Knowing where you want to live and practice will
help you target your networking plan.
c) Figure out where you want to live and work.
d) Smaller markets are overlooked.

2. What type of law do you think you want to

practice?
a) Trial work and litigation?
b) Transactional work?
c) Non-traditional legal routes?

3. How to learn about practice areas?

a) Take a class in that area.
b) Go to the state or local bar association and go through
practice sets – these books are all about a specific
practice area. They are very good.
c) Look at on-going CLE’s offered to practicing lawyers.
Go to these and learn about the practice areas – and
meet people in those areas.

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d) Talk to adjunct faculty who are practicing in the area

you have interest.
e) Use LinkedIn to establish connections with practicing
lawyers in the areas you have interest.
f) Go to court. It’s free. There are many different practice
areas at work in the court.

4. Once you have identified practice areas, now

what?
a) Contact lawyers doing what you want to do. Ask to
meet, grab coffee, or have a phone call.
b) Have questions ready if you can meet or connect.
c) Don’t expect a job – look to make further connections.
d) Try to understand what hiring managers in an area
of practice are looking for? For instance, do you need
to do a clinic in that area? Are there certain internships
that are helpful?
e) Try to figure out how a person gets started in the practice
area, how to progress, and what it looks like 5 – 10
years down the road.

5. Design your networking plan for consistency

a) It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
b) Schedule daily time to work on your plan.
c) Set up check points – every two or three months, go
over your progress.

6. Be bold but not rude

a) You are selling yourself – so get used to contacting
people you don’t know.
b) On LinkedIn, connect and comment on posts before

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sending DM messages.
c) Ask people you meet or talk to if they can introduce
you to people.

7. Follow up
a) The sooner you learn that there is no set route to a
job, the better off you are.
b) Follow up on suggestions, contacts, and tips.
c) If you have been given help, follow up with a thank
you letter or email.

8. Don’t lose hope

a) This isn’t a short-term plan.
b) Don’t expect to get a job or an internship right away.
c) Like running a distance race, don’t focus on the end
as much as you focus on taking the next step.
d) If you take the daily steps, you will soon find that you
have a large network.

9. Don’t overlook OCI’s

a) Do as many OCI’s as possible.
b) You might find that your networking helps you in
your OCI’s.

10.Be open and inquisitive

a) The more you learn about the practice, the more you
can tailor your networking.
b) Much of law is sales. Developing your network helps
you become a person who gets business.
c) The practice area you end up wanting to pursue might
not be what you originally thought.

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11) Appendix 2

Questions to Ask Yourself

Practice Questions:
1. What is your 5 year goal:
2. Are you interested in working for the government:
3. Litigation/trial or transactional:
4. Civil or criminal trial work:
5. Where do you want to live (rank them):

Questions about you:

1. Where is your family located:
2. Do you want to be located away from family:
3. How important is it to fit in with the “values” of the
area you live in:
4. Do you describe yourself as conservative, liberal, or
does it matter:
5. Are there types of law you know you have zero
interest in practicing:
6. Are you interested in a clerkship:

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