Internships & Mentors

Gearing Up For The Second Semester Professionally – Networking

Gearing Up For The Second Semester Professionally - Networking

There is no reason to wait to begin networking simply because you are in your first year of law school. Many law students believe networking starts after law school. However, networking begins in law school and continues well into your legal career. Many believe that networking is easiest when a student is still in law school. The first important point to remember is that networking occurs everywhere at any time. Even your fellow students sitting next to you in class are potential networking partners whether they work in private practice, for the government, or a non-profit organization. Networking events offered by the state bar, non-profit...

Continue reading

Networking In Law School

Networking In Law School

When you start law school, the idea of networking takes a backseat as you focus on your 1L classes, and, more importantly, preparation for these classes. While many new law students may have some special interest in a certain area of law, they might lack the confidence to talk to strangers, let alone ask for help from them, They may even have reservations about competing with other law students for attention. What may make it difficult, especially for law students who are introverts, is the prevailing buzz about networking that takes center stage early in their academic careers. From even before...

Continue reading

Top Five Legal Internships

Top Five Legal Internships

Legal internships provide law students with the opportunity to broaden many facets of their “legal personalities.” Internships help students increase their knowledge of the substantive areas of the law while participating in the environment of a real law practice. Interns also make valuable contacts that may provide useful later in practice. While some internships compensate participants, many do not. Nonetheless, many internship programs allow students to earn school credit. Many of the larger law firms base internship hiring decisions on superior academic performance and skills related to research and writing, thus, law review experience is typically very helpful. Here is a...

Continue reading

Summer Law Jobs 101

Summer Law Jobs 101

For law students, it is hard enough to get a good summer law job, whether at a private firm or public agency. Once this is achieved, the elation is immediately tempered with a stark fear of failure. You experience the realization that you will soon be making the transition from student to lawyer, albeit in a limited sense. Once you have a summer job at a firm, how can you ensure that the people who hired you will be satisfied with your performance and, more importantly, remember you as a worthy candidate for an associate’s job in the future? *Always exercise...

Continue reading

Things Every Law Student Should Do Over The Summer

Things Every Law Student Should Do Over The Summer

For law students, “summer vacation” typically means only one thing - work. Law students shift their focus from studying and school to working and employment. This job may be in the form of an internship or clerkship. A summer legal job provides an excellent, if not the best, opportunity for a law student to apply basic lawyering skills and gain real, practical experience. However, work should never consume any law student’s summer. These hot months also provide a chance to recharge for the following school year. The following are some things every law student should do during the summer. Focus Most law students work...

Continue reading

Planning for the Summer of 2021 as a Law Student

Planning for the Summer of 2021 as a Law Student

While there is some cause for optimism based on the present distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, despite the bureaucratic pitfalls that accompany it, law students may still wonder about what future changes await their academic journeys, which once seemed so predictable and fit a common scheme. Unfortunately, planning for the summer of 2021 as the pandemic continues necessitates dealing with this umbrella of uncertainty. Nonetheless, as any law student would under normal circumstances, it requires a reasonable amount of planning well in advance. While there is no way of knowing the extent to which the effects of the pandemic and any resulting...

Continue reading

Stay In Touch With Your Mentors!

Stay In Touch With Your Mentors!

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) places great emphasis on the role, contribution, and importance of mentors. The CDTA encourages all members of its student body to seek and find someone to mentor them as they pursue the knowledge and experience to become effective attorney-advocates. Beyond law school, it is important to maintain contact with your mentors and continue to build this valuable relationship. It may be challenging to stay in touch with those professional mentors who have substantially made a difference during a law student’s time at law school. After all, anyone who has the qualifications and attributes to mentor...

Continue reading

Best Film Depicting Law School – The Paper Chase

Best Film Depicting Law School – The Paper Chase

Arguably, there are simply not that many movies about lawyers that depict their experiences in law school prior to practicing law. Perhaps because films with Paul Newman as a sole practitioner suing doctors defended by big firm-lawyer James Mason in The Verdict or Spencer Tracy as a judge hearing cases of heinous war crimes in Judgment At Nuremberg are just a bit more compelling. Spencer Tracy was also in one of the most interesting films about lawyers, playing a character patterned after Clarence Darrow in Inherit the Wind. The Paper Chase always seems to be at the top of the list...

Continue reading

The Perks Of A Student Mentor

The Perks Of A Student Mentor

For those who have already graduated from law school, imagine yourself on your first day of law school. Remember the nervousness, trepidation, and feeling of utter cluelessness. Then, imagine yourself in your last year of law school, cool, calm, ready to take on the world as an attorney-advocate. Well, almost. Imagine if, as a first-year law student, you had the older, more experienced you as a mentor to answer questions, clarify legal concepts, and just tell you where to get a good pizza in town. There are many perks of having a student mentor whose studies are advanced beyond yours. There...

Continue reading

Keeping The Perfect Mentor

Keeping The Perfect Mentor

Now that you have found an excellent mentor, it is time to allow the mentor to get to know you and see your dedication and commitment to the practice of law. After all, the mentor must see purpose in his or her mentorship and that the protege is worthy of the mentor’s time and contributions. Ask It will come down to one simple question: “Will you be my mentor?” Similar to the idea that you must look for something to actually find it, you must also ask someone to be a mentor to obtain a mentor. It is essential...

Continue reading
Font Resize