With this year’s application cycle for the most part behind us, this week’s post will consider professional development tips for future law school students.
I always advocate thinking far ahead in terms of preparing for law school applications. For students who want to take a gap year before attending law school, it’s a good idea to choose a post-undergraduate job that makes you as strong an applicant as possible when you do submit your applications. Here are three jobs that will help strengthen your profile.
[Consider the benefits and consequences of taking a gap year before law school.]
1. Paralegal or Legal Assistant: This is perhaps the most common and most obvious gap year job for recent college graduates who are planning on applying to law school in the next year or two. But just because it is common and obvious doesn’t mean you should shy away from it. This is the most common job my clients hold while preparing and submitting their applications.
Being a paralegal is a great way to get a huge amount of exposure to the actual practice of law. One common misconception about law schools is that being someone who loves to read and argue is sufficient to know that a legal career is the correct path. Although these two criteria are good indicators, it is difficult to truly know what the life of a lawyer will be like without viewing it firsthand.
For future applicants who know the area of law they want to practice, I recommend finding a position in a firm that specializes in that work.
For those who do not know which area they’d like to practice, I recommend finding a position in a firm that has many different specialties so that you can expose yourself to as much as possible.
One can use employment as a paralegal in the application process in two primary ways. First, most applicants who have significant post-undergraduate work experience will want to secure a letter of recommendation from their employer. Having a strong letter of recommendation from an attorney who knows your work well is an excellent component of any application.
Second, having a paralegal position on your resume and as a talking point in interviews will indicate to schools that you are serious about pursuing law school and have taken steps to make sure it is the right career path for you.
[Learn four ways paralegal experience can help law school applicants.]
2. Research or Policy Analyst: This job can come in many forms, such as in a think tank, working for a college professor, working in the office of a public official or working for a legislative body.
The common thread in all these jobs is that they require strong research and writing skills, and ideally involve long-term projects that result in a published work. Note that you do not need to be the author yourself — simply providing research and drafting assistance is enough.
The biggest advantage to these jobs is the amount of research, writing and critical thinking you are able to do. Strengthening and using these skills is important for all future law students, but particularly for those with stronger quantitative backgrounds and weaker backgrounds in the humanities and social sciences.
For example, one future applicant I work with who majored in engineering or mathematics will not have to convince law schools that she has highly developed logical and analytical thinking skills, but may need to reassure schools that she is a good researcher and writer. You can therefore use this type of job as a means to fill in gaps in one’s profile.
[How to decide if you should work during law school.]
3. Investment Banker or Management Consultant. Although post-undergraduate positions at investment banks and management consulting firms are most commonly associated with students planning on applying to business school, they can also benefit future lawyers.
These jobs are rigorous, time-intensive and demand careful attention to detail, all of which are characteristics of law school in general. If you are interested in the financial orbusiness side of the law, these jobs are ideal and can provide the backbone for a compelling personal statement about your interest in the law and your experience in the field you plan on going into as a lawyer.
Like paralegal positions, they also can provide applicants with excellent recommendations from people who have direct knowledge of your work product and can speak compellingly about the skills you possess that will make you an excellent law student.
Are you planning to take a gap year or two? Let me know how you are planning to spend your time in an email or on Twitter.
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3 Gap Year Jobs That Prepare Students for Law School originally appeared on usnews.com
