when to quit your first job, navigating legal practice areas & wasting your recommenders' time
how soon can i leave my first job in law? how can i figure out which practice area suits me?
I graduated from law school last summer and got my first legal job as a legal consultant in banking/finance sector. (I am UK-based so the road to qualification as a lawyer is different here.) Overall, I am happy about the high level of responsibility, my team and overall professional development opportunities, but I am not excited about the products and what I actually work on. My plan is to move into international dispute resolution eventually, and I want to work in a law firm. Is there a rule as to when you should make the move? Seems like it’s globally frown upon to stay only 6-8 months (not sure if it’s a myth..)?
Overall issue is IMO how difficult it is to figure out which practice fits you best. Would be interested to have your opinion on this too!
- Anonymous
Length of time to stay somewhere before lateraling is more like cooking than baking--while it seems like there may be a precise science, there isn't. 6-8 months at your first job isn't the worst thing in the world, particularly if you have a strong reason (such as practice area interest) for the move. A consistent string of 6-8 months at jobs, on the other hand, does raise red flags, as it can lead reviewers of your resume to wonder why you haven't been able to stay anywhere for longer than a year. In general, a good rule of thumb is to try to stay at least a year at your jobs, but by no means force yourself to stay somewhere if you are miserable. (And if you find yourself miserable every single time, it may be time to take a step back to evaluate what type of work makes you feel happy and fulfilled.)
Practice areas can be a bit tricky to figure out, but it's actually a lot easier to figure practice areas out once you're already in practice as a lawyer. Take the time to talk to other attorneys at your company about what they do and what they like and don't like about it (if you are comfortable with them and don't think they're going to view you exploring practice areas as a negative), reach out to attorneys at other companies for informational interviews, and share with friends in other practice areas and companies--getting your foot in the door is often the hardest part of the legal profession, but once you're in, the opportunities to learn more and connect with other lawyers comes in like a flood. Take advantage of the greater resources that you now have at your disposal. While there are online resources for learning more about practice areas (as covered in my FAQs), there's no better resource than real-life discussions with lawyers in the practices that you want to learn about. Prepare some thoughtful questions for them about their day-to-day, the skills they use, and the elements which they like and dislike.
This is a process that will help you even outside of the law. My own calendar is full of informational interviews as I schedule time to chat with musicians, writers, editors, producers, etc., to learn more about industries outside of the law. One question that is always great to ask at the end of these informational interviews is, "Can you think of two other people whom I should talk to?" That helps ensure that follow-ups aren't lost in inboxes and gives a concrete next step for yourself, as well. Good luck!
if i don't get accepted, am i wasting my recommenders' time?
Hey Cece, I am currently in the process of applying to grad schools for highly competitive Comp Sci programs as an international student. I feel that in case I do not end up getting into any of them, I would just be wasting my recommenders' time, and they might not be willing to write me letters in the future. I compromised on where I did undergrad; I do not want to for a grad school. I have the safety net of a job in case I don't get into my choices, so I've decided not to apply to safety schools. Help me rationalise this period of grad school applications.
- Anonymous
While I don't have enough information to truly comment on whether applying to grad schools is the right path for you, I will say that you seem to be in an incredible position to only apply to the programs which you want to attend--it's awesome that you already have the safety net of a job. With that in mind, it seems absolutely appropriate to limit your applications--applications take effort, after all, and I always encourage others to take more time before deciding to go to grad school rather than make any hasty decisions that implicate 5+ years of their lives. If you aren't truly excited about a program, don't go--5+ years is a long time.
On the point about wasting your recommenders' time--rest assured that they will not view it that way. It's easy from the student perspective to view recommendations as a huge burden and potentially embarrassing if you don't get into the program (or get the job or fellowship or whatever the recommendation is for), but from your recommenders' perspective, supporting their former students is part of their job. If they agreed to write a strong recommendation for you in the first place, they want to see you succeed. If they didn't care to support you in your endeavor, they would not have agreed to write for you in the first place. Moreover, they have written recommendations for plenty of students before that have not worked out--in fact, they themselves have certainly solicited recommendations for jobs, programs, and fellowships which they have not gotten.
It's always easy to treat your recommenders as gods, but to help put things into perspective, I really enjoy writing and perusing other's anti-resumes--essentially a list of all the things which the person was rejected from--because it really crystallizes that the important thing in life isn't about getting everything that you apply to, but rather about continuing to try. (As potential inspiration, I found these two Penn lecturers in CS for you.) In particular, when it comes to smaller programs such as grad schools, your wins-to-losses ratio will likely be 1:9--and that is okay. Although in a different context, my very successful, professor friend's words may provide some comfort to you. It may seem like your recommenders are extremely successful and will judge you for wasting their time if you don't get into any programs, but I assure you that is more of your own self-judgment than theirs. Keep your head up, and don't be so hard on yourself <3
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