"How to Get Hired as a Lawyer" by Brian Potts - an Aussie perspective

"The Jobless Lawyer's Handbook - How to Get Hired as a Lawyer" by Brian H. Potts: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7143752086655021056/

Photo by Studio Media on Unsplash

While law school provides you with a legal education, the unfortunate reality is that law school doesn't teach you how to land a job in the law.

Brian H. Potts' book "The Jobless Lawyer's Handbook - How to Get Hired as a Lawyer" is a frank and practical step-by-step guide on how to land a job as a lawyer.  Brian Potts is a partner at international law firm Perkins Coie.

While Brian's book is probably targeted at an American audience, here are just some of my key takeaways which are just as relevant for Australian law students:

• "Here’s the bottom line: for many of you, getting a legal job is going to be hard. Very hard. So, don’t half-ass your attempt."
  
  This is particularly true for the most sought-after roles in the law, such as BigLaw clerkships, in-house legal graduate roles or judge's tipstaff/associate positions. 
  
  Everyone knows that the number of law students graduating each year far exceeds the number of legal jobs being created each year.  If you're serious about your legal career, give it your all during law school.
  
  

• "Now it’s time to set your expectations. You need to figure out where you stand in the marketplace. None of this is to say that you should not apply to jobs that are seemingly out of reach for you. You can never apply too much or too often. Apply, apply, apply."
  
  Be realistic about your competitiveness as a candidate.  However, at the same time, never self-vet yourself out of any job application process.  Where in doubt, apply anyway.
  
  

• "Get rejected as often as you can. Lean in. Enjoy it. Revel in it... Wear rejection as your badge of honor. You only need one “yes.” You only need one job you love."
  
  One word. Grit.  
  
  Confucius says:  "Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail."
  
  

• "Growing your network is essential to your professional, and thus, personal, success."
  
  As the saying goes, "it's not what you know, but who you know”
  
  

• "Ask for advice. Always. Advice, advice, advice. Not a job!"
  
  Focus on gaining knowledge (and not a job) from every mentoring session or coffee chat you may have.
  
  

• "Your resume therefore HAS TO STAND OUT."
  
  Focus on building a strong resume (including grades, work experience and extracurricular activities) from day one of law school.
  
  

• "If you can, you should also use your resume as a space to make yourself look interesting... Use your resume as a place to really showcase who you are, what you bring to the table, and where you plan to go from here."
  
  Does your resume tell the reader your professional story and what makes you different from other candidates?
  
  

• "If you have a stellar resume and have a great chance of landing the job, then sure, be conservative with your cover letter. Don’t take any chances. You don’t need to. But if your resume is weak compared to your competition, then be bold in your cover letter. Tell them the most interesting thing about yourself, regardless of its relevance."
  
  If you have weaker credentials (e.g. grades or work experience), the cover letter is perhaps your only chance to make a significant difference to the attractiveness of your job application. 
  
  

• "You need to convince everyone you interview with both that you really want the job and that you are the best person for the job. To that end, make sure you tell every person you meet how excited you are about the possibility of working there. Be specific. Have a few pre-prepared reasons why you want to work there and point to those reasons in the interviews."
  
  Never come to an interview unprepared.  Do your research.  Come having practised your answers to common interview questions.  Come with a list of pre-prepared questions to ask your interviewers at the end of the interview.
  
  

The book is full of career-related gems for law students in any jurisdiction and is worth a read if you're serious about taking your legal career to the next level.