Professional Development for Students Doesn’t Take the Summer Off

By Susanne Aronowitz
Associate Dean for Law Career Services

A colleague of mine recently observed that summer presents many excellent opportunities for law students to expand your professional development activities. Regardless of whether you spend your summer in an internship, participating in HLP or 1st STEP, or studying abroad, we encourage all students to follow her advice:

• Join Bar Associations. Get involved with bar associations by joining committees, engaging in pro bono work, and attending receptions.
• Compete in writing competitions. Winning a competition showcases your strong legal writing abilities, enables you to develop expertise in a particular area, and can lead to networking opportunities. Law Student Services maintains a list of writing competitions.
• Attend CLEs. CLEs create an excellent opportunity for you to deepen your knowledge while meeting attorneys in your area of interest. Many providers like www.sfbar.org and www.pli.edu allow students to attend for free or at a discounted rate.
• Reach out to your contacts. Send an update email to your professional contacts. Let them know about any accomplishments you had this semester and what your plans for the summer are. Try to meet with your contacts for lunch or coffee.
• Social Media. Spend some time updating your LinkedIn profile and cleaning up your digital footprint.
• Go to court. Spend some time visiting courts and observing oral arguments. Consider attending a variety of courts (state/federal, trial/appellate) to compare these experiences and observe the styles of the judges and lawyers.
• Update your application materials. Make sure your resume is up-to-date and that your transcript includes your most recent grades.
• Catch up on your reading. Spend some time reading about practice areas and professional development guides. LCS maintains many helpful books in our resource library for you to check out.

Set some tangible goals for your summer professional development. If you need help getting started, meet with a career counselor at LCS to prioritize those activities that would be best for you.

(This advice is based in large part on Kristine D. Bridge’s article, “Professional Development for Students Doesn’t Take the Summer Off,” which appeared in the April 2013 NALP Bulletin.)