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What is the best means to get work?

It is also a good idea to combine your local bar association. Pupils might be able to join for a discounted cost, and membership provides a number of programs, including events and speaker systems with entrance. The bar association is a good resource for meeting different attorneys locating job prospects, and learning about the industry.

Was there anything that you wished you'd have done differently in law school that you did not understand until you began to practice?

I wish I had dealt with my discomfort over talking to people about, and asking them for, cash. When I opened my practice to talk to clients about cash and ask them write me a test, it was very uncomfortable. I had read Jay Foonberg's book, How to begin and Build a Law Practice, that had great suggestions. However, I wish I had worked with a money coach (or perhaps done job playing with buddies) to get over my discomfort of saying, "The retainer inside this matter is X, and I can't begin work without it." If you do nothing else, practice saying this until it feels like second nature.

Did any courses prove especially useful as you began practicing?

In my own experience today as a hiring attorney, the greatest failing I have observed with students and new attorneys whom I've interviewed or hired is the inability to examine each side of a problem and summarize the findings in a coherent memo or even persuasive short. Mastery of writing abilities and legal analysis in law school are critical--both because those tools make you an asset to a law firm and also because they're virtually impossible to spend on some time and improve in training.

Would you really have to drive yourself into the ground the first couple of years of practice to create it?

While the practice of law may make it hard to enroll in a course that meets at 6 p.m. every Thursday for six months, it does provide the flexibility to be outside the workplace when things come up--even during the middle of the work day--provided your job is finally getting done.

Can you see a bias against individuals who attend law school later in life?

Being a lawyer is not only about studying the legislation and problem solving. It is about understanding clients' objectives, both personally and within a company setting. From there, attorneys can develop plans for addressing those objectives, through a legal analysis, but always bearing in mind that the customers' costs, time demands, and business and/or individual plans. In a nutshell, implementing and understanding the legislation, while important to any attorney's achievement, is just one element of what a lawyer does. And lawyers who have experience in the workforce, prior expertise that is real-life, or adulthood in terms of life lessons are usually equipped to grasp the bigger picture of what it is to be a lawyer.