Best two pieces of advice I've heard here so far:
(1) The secret to legal writing is not to obsess about getting the format precisely right, it's assuming that your audience is busy. I had philosophy TAs tell me that the key to good philosophy writing was to assume that your reader was both dumb and mean, and then write so that they still can't misinterpret you. Even if they try. Legal writing is kind of the same. Once you keep in mind that though the person reading your memo is probably very smart, they have to get through it really fast, the whole structure makes a lot more sense. Just think about the last time you read ... well just about any legal scholarship. It was horribly written, wasn't it? Ever read a Posner opinion? Don't be that guy.
(2) The secret to making networking non-awkward is to not just call people up and ask them for a job, but to call them up to ask for advice. Lawyers have notoriously big egos, and would probably love nothing more than to regale wide-eyed you with war stories. People love to give advice, because it makes them feel important. So this is a great way to get lots of great info about how to find and land a job, without feeling like you're a mooch begging everyone you know for help.
No comments:
Post a Comment