Feature
Promoting Yourself in Law School: Walking the Corridors of Power Each law school is a multi-state power base, and a positive perception from the student’s community can catapult your future work-life, whether as a lawyer or a politician, to heights you had never dreamed reachable.
Conversely, if you fail to project your image properly and are not held in high esteem by other students, it can have negative consequences on your future life. That said; let’s find out the ideal image you can cultivate and how to do it.
• • •
A good student, above all else Without going into a detailed comparison of all the roles, let’s say that in a community of learning, the logically respected position is that of a leader who leads from the front by dint of recognized subject expertise. This is the ideal role you can play, for it has the least weaknesses in a student’s community, and it’s a role, where maximum options of future roleswitching remain without sacrificing initial advantages and resources. Be the Leader Co-operate, don’t compete. If you truly want to establish yourself as a leader, co-operate with others and don’t compete. Academic competition is obvious in any school, but it should never gain personal or political dimensions. Always be helpful and cooperative to those who hold you as their competitor, and be ready to help them out at the first chance. Always try to garner positive relationships without excessive attachment. In any person’s life, only best friends have the chance to become worst enemies, and enemies often become best friends. To be a true leader you need others to view you as a source of positive direction and guidance. To achieve this you need to prove your academic expertise.
If other students respect your academic expertise they will presume that you have the power to help them out If other students trust your judgment, they will trust you as a counsel to guide their work and efforts If other students view you as an expert, they are more likely to consider your opinion on other matters seriously
How to Be the Leader • • • • • • • •
Become good in studies Promote an image as an academic expert Maintain credibility and protect your image Never expose lack of confidence in public Be informed and updated on subject matter and matters of common interest Never threaten the self-esteem of weaker students Be humble, not timid Be helpful to those who ask
If you maintain yourself well, your chances of gaining appellate briefs and consultations can increase dramatically, and provide you those first opportunities that are so hard to come by. Classmates from the district courts can provide your first appellate briefs. Though they can be specific, as to which attorneys should be on the case, they can and will trust you enough to believe that you would do the right thing. That trust would not come, at least in the matter of his or her own briefs, if you were only the best football player or the matinee idol at law school.
EmploymentCrossing is the largest collection of active jobs in the world. We continuously monitor the hiring needs of more than 250,000 employers, including virtually every corporation and organization in the United States. We do not charge employers to post their jobs and we aggressively contact and investigate thousands of employers each day to learn of new positions. No one works harder than EmploymentCrossing. Let EmploymentCrossing go to work for you.
PAGE
www.lawcrossing.com