Strategies for Starting Your First Law Firm Job

Having turned the last corner, you may coast a while. Be vigilant in appearance, however, throughout the spring, summer, and autumn of the following year. Although the firm has indicated a professional interest in you, its risk is still large: the result of the match will not appear for many months or years. Concentrate now on the second "initial" impression, that heightened inspection possible only during actual working time.

Spring


The offer and acceptance have occurred. Before you begin working, maintain contact with the firm. During the spring numerous logical contacts are possible: determine a starting date for work; determine a working schedule, if any, during summer preparation for the bar exam; and arrange, if in a different city, for living accommodations. If moving afar, visit the firm during any apartment-condo-house search. The firm will not welcome insistent badgering but will be pleased at your demonstrated interest. The firm actually needs a conference because, by late spring, it must receive your input to formalize its summer work pattern.

Summer

Bar Exam

The summer following law school graduation is consumed by bar exam preparation. The method of preparation is up to you, but to compete on a uniform level, pay for a bar review course and choose it carefully. In most areas more than one course exists. Telephone each to discern contrasts in the programs. Ask graduates of your school who have undergone the process in that jurisdiction for recommendations about the courses. Take this seriously. A course that merely recites law and does not actively prepare you for test taking is inadequate. Inform yourself and choose a course that emphasizes the testing aspect of preparation. The most popular or best-advertised course is, in this field, often not the best. Courses can differ markedly, and consultation with former examinees is the only reliable means of discovery. If possible and not too indelicate, ferret out people who failed the exam and prepared the second time with a different course — they have a unique comparative ability.

Once you choose, remain aware throughout the course of the test that looms; do not become submerged in rote reviews of subject outlines. Resist the conception fostered by some bar review programs that simple reliance on the lectures and perusal of the materials will be sufficient. Rely on self-help. Utilize whatever testing materials the program provides; choose the course that affords the most practice testing and the most information about testing techniques.

Working

Arranging the summer schedule is another trick. In some locales, organizations encourage hirees to work part-time and attend the bar review lectures during the other part. This practice tends to coincide with a state-wide high pass rate on the exam. You can in this way become familiar with the office without too much office pressure. In jurisdictions with low pass rates, often the practice is full-time study. The disadvantage of full-time study is the lack of appearance-time at the firm during the summer and of opportunity to gain a familiarity with office personnel, procedures, and work.

Influences such as previous work experience at the firm, settling in a new city, and a traditionally difficult bar exam may cause a decision to forego summer work. Conversely, absence of previous work experience at the firm and financial woes may impel you to wade in part-time. Garner the views of graduated classmates working in that jurisdiction. Consider appearance if pro and con factors cancel each other. Especially if you have not worked before at the firm, you may want to ingratiate yourself a bit on a level less intense than full-time autumn work. The firm recognizes your time constraints and probably will deliberately avoid pressuring you. Superiors will be pleased that you are willing and able to carve out time for them. Significantly, if you fail the bar exam, a subconscious justification and guilt are at work:

AFTERMATH: KEEP THAT JOB

"We didn't give enough time to study." Twenty hours of daily study time are not necessary — concentration is more focused in shorter time frames.

General Appearance

Show up for all summer firm functions, such as field days, dinners, and parties. Attend any affairs held by individual lawyers or executives at the firm. Accept work with a smile, at all times evidencing a willingness to give your all, recognizing the unavoidable bar exam time demands. Become familiar with the secretaries and other staff; get to know lawyers' faces, names, and practices. Discover the library's realms. Locate the restrooms.

Vacation

Change the scenery following the exam. Break away, for a few weeks if possible. Unless, and even if, finance burdens are too great, attempt something different from law practice and law study immediately after the test. August is universally a slow business period, a vacation time at the firm. If you arrive eagerly on August 3, you will pass people streaming out the door for the mountains. The firm will therefore not resent, or even notice, your absence after the test. You will need this decompression chamber as a bridge between intensities. Autumn will be awesome; rest well beforehand. Simply notify the firm of the date you will begin; three weeks of vacation are not too many.

Autumn- Exam Results and Appearance

Appearance during autumn is crucial. If this is your first substantive appearance at the firm, make it count. It will be a while, in any event, before you feel comfortable with the work and the lawyers. A certain special circumstance, "Failing the Bar Exam," could complicate seriously your assimilation into the firm. Your approach to this difficult period can solidify or damage your appearance value.

Each jurisdiction varies in the date by which exam scores are released. Generally the larger the body of applicants, the longer the wait. The delay can benefit you by allowing a few months of acclimation before the big day. The firm can form a (positive) impression of you based on performed law work and not on a test largely unrelated to your daily tasks.

If you fail the exam, the nature of the firm and its awareness of a low pass rate and of the tribulations of a new lawyer can affect your acceptance there. In a corporation or public agency, the plethora of non-lawyers tends to lessen emphasis on this rite of passage. In a law firm not involved in litigation, your delay in passing is no burden. Only in litigation-oriented law firms and prosecutor's and defender's offices, in which every lawyer must enter court and sign pleadings, is first-time passing required. You will usually be aware of the mandate before a position is offered.

Your attitude is very important in relation to appearance. Strong and silent is a good motto for the aftermath. Do not withdraw from the people or the work. Be contained, and do not excuse any performance at work because of worry or time expended on preparation for the next exam. Allocation of time is your major concern. Successful juggling of heavy workloads with evening review courses and weekend study is admirable and may subtly impress your superiors. Appear, if possible, capable of shouldering the double burden without visible perspiration. The bar exam trauma is your largest substantive appearance challenge. It is serious business, but make the "look" good throughout.

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