In order to effectively network, you must determine your career goals.   Have you always wanted to be a judge? A public interest attorney? A law professor? A politician? A law firm partner? Not sure what you plan to do with your law degree?  Goal setting is an integral part of achieving success during law school and beyond.

I encourage first and second year law students who are not sure what they want to do with their law degrees to be open to attending a wide variety of events. Many 1Ls are sure they want to practice in a particular field of law, only to see their goals and interests shift after exposure to other practice areas during the first few semesters of law school. 

Third year law students and attorneys should be more focused in their networking.    While many networking occurs on the fly during impromptu meetings and events, I suggest that students and attorneys have defined goals when deciding what events to attend and who to approach.   

1

Create a plan of attack – Write out your goals. If you have several legal practice area interests, write them out.   Create a document that lists the courses you have taken that relate to each topic, people you have met that practice in the area, events you have attended on the subject etc.    This will be a “living” document that you can frequently update to monitor your progress as you build your network. 

2

Research - Once you know the areas of interest on which you’d like to focus, start gathering more information. For example use Google or other web searches to identify organizations focused on the specific area of the law. (ex. Search: Intellectual Property +New York City + Organization).  Set up weekly Google Alerts for this search to stay informed of new events, or other updates. Within your results, look for organizations, newspaper articles, trade papers, list serves and speaker profiles. You should also join mailing lists for any helpful organizations you find.  This will assist you in identifying networking opportunities and legal practitioners in your preferred practice area. 

3

Identify Networking Opportunities

a. Law School Events – Check your school’s calendar for practice area panels, featured speakers and other special events.

b. Bar Association Events (National, Local, Diverse etc.) Look for General Bar association events and other events sponsored by Bar association committees and sections.

c. CLE Courses – Continuing Legal Education (CLE) courses are presented by various accredited entities including bar associations, law firms, non-profit organizations, and corporations.    The courses are offered on a variety of topics and practice areas and are required to maintain your law license. Many times, law students and newly admitted attorneys can attend CLE courses for free or at a significant discount. 

d. Community Events – Look for events hosted by City Council members (or other members of government). These events are usually presented by attorneys.   Also look for community events on subjects such as bankruptcy, elder law and landlord/tenant, in order to learn more about the subjects and to meet attorneys in these areas.

e. Alumni Events – Stay in close contact with your former schools’ alumni offices in order to stay informed about networking events that bring alumni together.