Ms. JD Fellows Present...Acing Law School | Page 34

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s you wrap up your internship or summer experience, you may not know whether your work

will result in a job offer. That is okay. Even if the internship was unpaid, your experience was valuable for many reasons.1 Internships are students’ opportunity to expand their network, hone their legal research and writing skills, and develop professional work habits like getting to work on time, meeting deadlines, and dressing appropriately.2 Many who participate in public interest jobs return to law school reinvigorated about the law because they have seen how good advocacy can empower society’s least powerful citizens.3

These young lawyers become inspired to

create wide-scale change and strive to make their future careers exceptionally meaningful.4 Therefore, an offer may be a great goal, but there is a plethora of ways for both you and your community to benefit from your internship and summer experience. The following are some creative ideas to build your resume, leverage contacts, and make yourself an even more marketable job applicant.

Recommendations, References, and Mentorship for Future Opportunities

The first important career-building move before leaving your internship is to ask someone you did good work for or got along well with to serve as a reference or to write a letter of recommendation for future internships, jobs, and scholarships applications.5 This may be a direct supervisor, staff attorney, or any employee with whom you worked well. This contact must be able to vouch for your work product and most of, if not all of, the universally recognizable signs of hard work discussed in the prior chapter, Getting the Offer.6 In addition, he or she should be a zealous advocate for you. A strong letter of recommendation or referral often makes the difference between not getting an interview and getting a call back.

Work contacts can also act as mentors or advisors to help you prepare for your next internship or the next rounds of interviews. For example, after completing my fall internship at the Attorney General’s Office, I reached out to an attorney I had gotten to know well and had observed in court hearings. He generously took the time to review the fundamental regulations and codes we had worked with at the Litigation Bureau and highlighted how the skills I had learned in would transfer nicely to the position I was applying for. His insight helped me tremendously in my interview and resulted in my being prepared and feeling confident.

benefits besides the offer

making the most of your experiences

by: Celina Caban, CUNY School of Law

Work contacts can also act as mentors or advisors to help you prepare for your next internship or the next rounds of interviews. For example, after completing my fall internship at the Attorney General’s Office, I reached out to an attorney I had gotten to know well and had observed in court hearings. He generously took the time to review the fundamental regulations and codes we had worked with in the Litigation Bureau and highlighted how the skills I had learned would transfer nicely to the position I was applying for. His insight helped me tremendously in my interview and resulted in my being prepared and feeling confident.

Host Events & Invite Work Contacts as Guest Speakers/Panelists

Another great way to make the most of your internship is to bring what you have learned back to your school. You can ask your former colleagues to consider coming to speak at your school and host an event on their behalf. Taking the initiative to create fun, informative events benefits you, your work contacts, and student attendees in several ways. First, inviting work contacts to your school gives them an opportunity to develop a base of students who would want to intern or volunteer with them in the near future. Second, it gives your contacts a platform to educate students about the issues they face in their work and promote the mission of their organization or firm. Third, inviting work contacts to your school allows them meet and network with your school’s distinguished professors, deans, and other guest speakers.

Events are also a great opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism, ability to organize, and leadership. By organizing and hosting, you cultivate a reputation as a person who follows a plan through to its successful execution.7 Your credibility will then allow you to launch future events at school

future events at school. If you are a member of a student organization, such as your school’s Law Review or Labor Coalition, your internship may give you some creative ideas for your student organization’s next educational event. Finally, hosting events establishes “good will” between you and your internship contacts. Contacts, impressed by your hard work and dedication, will be more willing to help you in your professional development. If you have asked them to be a reference or to write a recommendation, they would have an additional talking point for a potential employer. Most internship contacts are happy to contribute to and be apart of

your success.

One event that accomplished many of the points discussed was my work on CUNY’s Judiciary Night, fall of 2013. As one of the Special Events Editors for the CUNY Law Review, I organized a panel of six judges from a variety of courts to come speak at my school. Using my contacts from my summer internships in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the support of my Ms. JD mentor, Judge Denny Chin, and CUNY alumni, the Special Events team was able to successfully execute a two-hour panel and one-hour dinner reception. The judges discussed a wide range of topics such as how they each got to the bench, how their work has helped underrepresented communities, and how students can stand out when applying for clerkship jobs or internships.

After the panel, students were able to network with the judges. A handful was even able to secure judicial internships for the fall and upcoming semesters. In addition, a professor who teaches CUNY’s 2L Judicial Writing Seminar was able to speak with the panelists about her course. A few of the judges volunteered to participate in her seminar so that there would be more internship placements for 2L students. The judges were also able to benefit because they would soon receive highly qualified and enthusiastic students to help with legal research and opinion drafting. It was incredibly rewarding for me to know that simply bringing a dynamic network of outside contacts to school could have such positive results for the CUNY community and for our distinguished guests.