Counseling Students in the Lower Half of the Law School Class

I can’t tell you how many times I have seen law students simply outwork their Law Review colleagues and land the job (a paraphrase) . . .

·         Craig Raynsford, Esq. Legal Advisor, DHS, Office of General Counsel, NALP/PSLawNet Mini-Conference, Washington DC, October, 2011

           

 As the economy continues to struggle and law firms and public service entities search for new hiring models, law students find themselves in an extremely competitive employment market where even top students are finding it difficult to find jobs. Moreover, the current climate has led to recriminations regarding law school transparency and lawsuits against law school by their own students. In such a poisoned atmosphere – with law students already anxious and frustrated -- law school career counselors are faced with a specific set of unique employment challenges for all law students. However, employment concerns are far more acute for a group of students who are becoming law school’s version of the “silent majority” – students in the academic lower half of their class. . . silent” as in: feeling helpless and no longer bothering to visit their career services offices for advice.

We in Career Services need to identify these students and set to work on specific strategies (some new, some not so) to get them, once again, engaged in enthusiastically looking for work and careers. That may require more time and effort on our parts, i.e., more follow-up sessions as part of the norm. Moreover, the counseling may extend past assisting with job strategies and spending more time than in the past dealing with the students’ anger, frustration, and self-worth profile.

How to start? Get them together as a group. . . How about starting with a “Let’s Get to Work Session?”. . .

Have a general strategy session inviting students in this group to a general panel (perhaps an event discussing how to counterbalance the grade component of law school for purposes of making for a stronger resume). From such an initial session, more individualized meetings can be scheduled. 

Assist the student in a realistic self-analytical process.

First and foremost, be an “Encourager.” For example, tell the student about the quote from Mr. Raynsforth used as the introduction to this article. Students need to hear the positive and how recruiters still leave the door open for hard working students who show initiative and can demonstrate that they can “fit in’ and contribute.

Next, help the student with some self-evaluation. What has he/she exactly been doing to narrow career choices? How have they conducting their job searches? To what success?  What may be needed are realistic career course changes and new strategies that help the student to redirect their employment course. Walk the student through all job applications, and interviews that were unsuccessful and work with the student to try to determine why the job was not offered and how to proceed from this point forward. This process would include polishing interview skills through mock interviews and other “socializing skills” events that you may host through the career services office. Furthermore, try to identifying areas of deficiencies and coordinating academic support, if needed, through the appropriate channels at the school (i.e., working with tutors and/or the professors, the writing team, etc).

Build an Appropriate Resume

Help the student of build a resume that is solid in practice legal experiences. One that sets out a solid skill set from which the student can present him/herself confidently in a positive light that present experiences in legal research; writing and drafting of legal memoranda; client contact; and trial worthy experiences. In today’s completive market unpaid volunteer (or positions providing funding via law school stipend money) are examples of positions to obtain practical work-related experience. A frequently overlooked student job is that of being a Research Assistant for law school professors. Such a job will give the student the research and writing skill set needed to strengthen a resume.  Of course, participation in writing competitions, moot court, and journal write-on activities would also fit the bill. 

I try and remember that there is no “one size fits all” and that law students struggling to raise their GPA’s may need to be focused on their studies and not be involved in too many extra-curricular activities. This is the delicate balance that must be worked out with each student during consultations.

Work the Network

For students in the lower half of the class, networking becomes a critical component of a job search. Students should be encouraged to join local bar associations, alumni groups (attorney mentors for students in the lower half is a valuable tool), and attend attorneys law school events. Additionally, given what I have seen in my own experiences on Twitter and LinkedIn, students can find tremendous networking opportunities through connections made through blogging and social media.  I watch in amazement as law students on Twitter reach out and connect with industry leading lawyers who are more than willing to assist law students (In-house counsel to the Los Angeles Angels, and an In-house counsel at Warner Brothers Studios, to name just two). Plus, these types of connections are not based on GPA and class rank considerations.

In conclusion, many of our “best and brightest” lawyers are late bloomers. We should never forget that and, certainly, keep encouraging and pushing our law school late bloomers to the finish line. Make them feel just as important as those in the top ten percent of the class!

(Special thanks to Gary Greener, Esq., Associate Dean for Career Services, Southwestern Law School for providing excellent resource materials that were so helpful in writing this article).