As an incoming 1L, I knew nothing about the private sector. Like many 1Ls, I had no idea what kind of practice I wanted to go into or how to go about it. Luckily, the Office of Career Services has a lot of resources available. Toward the end of my first semester at HLS I set up an appointment with a career advisor. We talked about the kinds of activities I like, the classes that interested me and what areas of practice might be of interest to me. That was when I started to get the idea that I might be interested in transactional work. The idea of arguing in front of a courtroom full of people makes me unbelievably anxious so I don’t think it’s for me.
One of the greatest resources that OCS provides is the brown bag lunches. Practitioners from all sorts of private practices participate in discussion panels. They talk about their career paths and give their advice on how to approach life as a lawyer. I go to as many of these as I can so that I can get a feeling for what it’s like to work in a law firm and how I should decide what type of law I want to practice. A while ago, I was convinced that I wanted to be a tax lawyer. After taking the basic income tax course I started to have doubts so I went to a panel on tax practice to see if I could get more insight on the subject. The three lawyers were very different. One of them worked in house for a large company, another worked in a large Chicago law firm and the third worked in a boutique tax practice. They all seemed incredibly satisfied with their different angles on tax practice but I wasn’t convinced that it’s what I want to do. I think narrowing down my options is very valuable. A lot of students take advantage of these events to chat with the panelists afterward.
I also take advantage of career fairs and mixers that OCS puts together to chat with practitioners. At last year’s big event, I spoke with several seasoned practitioners. Many of them were Harvard alums, so breaking the ice was easy. It’s actually a great set up because a lot of them want to know how HLS has changed since they were here and I want to know what life is like beyond HLS. Most of the lawyers that come to these events are from New York or D.C. (at least the ones I had the chance to talk to) so I’m not looking for a job when I mingle at these events (I want to be in Chicago). I’m just trying to collect as much information as I can from people that have been through it first hand. HLS does a great job of providing these kinds of opportunities for students. I have friends at other law schools that say they wish they had more of these kinds of events available to network and learn more from their alums. I’m grateful that I have another OCS mixer to take advantage of next week.
– Elizabeth
