Apr 08 2008
networking for law students 101.
I have law students asking me for career advice all the time. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I was a Mentorship Committee Co-chair for the Asian American Bar Association ( AABA) for the past 3 years. And I don’t mind. Really.
One constant question is about how to network with people. How can you network with people who are doing what you want to do? Well, let’s assume you are a law student interested in doing international law in China. Yes, that’s a little different than just networking at your local bar association because your interests are more focused. But there are still a number of ways:
- Go to the right conferences. The international law community is pretty small actually. Especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you can’t actually work with them, then at least try to meet the lawyers doing the stuff at conferences. I post about new conferences that relate to international law constantly. Stay tuned here and you won’t miss too much about local conferences.
- Take classes taught by actual practitioners who have the experience that you want to get. Locally, Tom Klitgaard of my old firm Dillingham & Murphy, and a China expert, teaches an Asian Comparative Law course at the University of San Francisco ( USF). Tom is always opening up his network to promising USF law students who express interest. My partner, Bart Selden, teaches International Business Transactions and Intellectual Property courses at various universities, including Golden Gate University ( GGU). He even hires some of his students to be interns at the firm. When I was at Hastings, I took corporations with Anna Han of White & Case (and SCU Professor), another China business attorney. (though we never spoke about the topic because I was only interested in litigation at the time, and corporations was merely a bar course)
- Talk to people. Dan Harris at China Law Blog makes himself available for questions constantly. (I should know, I’ve asked some) When you see an article or blog post you like, contact the author. Do informational interviews locally with people who you want to meet. The worst thing you can do is be timid and afraid. Don’t be.
- Just get out there. Do a summer exchange program your 1L summer in China. Preferably one of those that allow you to take classes and intern at a local Chinese law firm. That’s a good experience and will let you meet people (and hopefully learn something). This applies to not only China, but anywhere else too. Here are some I found by a quick google search: Indiana, Willamette, Georgia.
- Blog. Travis Hodgkins, Brad Luo, and Will Lewis have made quite a name for themselves by blogging. It isn’t terribly hard to do–just somewhat time consuming. Yes, you are in law school. No, you don’t have a lot of time. But you have some time. You are either wasting it on watching TV or reading the local legal gossip rags. Whereas these law students now have published the Transnational Law Blog, China Business Law Blog, and Experience Not Logic. Obviously you need to get your feet wet first, so this is not for the absolute neophyte. But after you have done #1-4 enough times over a year or two, you can do #5. In fact, I believe Travis is always looking for co-authors… (why set up your own if there are opportunities out there already?)
- Set up online networking profiles. There are plenty of social networking online services. Like Facebook or Friendster. But I mean the professional networking sites. Ryze and LinkedIn are the two best places to start. Especially LinkedIn. Yes, I have both: here and here. And then be aggressive to meet the people you want to meet. (see #3 above)
I hope this is at helpful for those who shudder when they think of the idea of “networking”.
UPDATE: Travis mentioned this program at Duquesne, which is a combination of summer class and internship in a Chinese firm. Really, I don’t think this sort of experience can be beat for the aspiring lawyer wanting to go into a China practice. Will Lewis recommended Santa Clara University’s programs. They have one in Shanghai and another in Hong Kong.
This is an excellent article (and I appreciate you mentioning my blog!). I’ve done 1 through 6, including emailing Dan Harris excessively, and it has worked out for me. My summer exchange during 1L summer was absolutely one of the best networking decisions I ever made. I participated in the Duquesne University School of Law summer program in Beijing and I did an internship at a Beijing law firm. The best part of the summer program was meeting so many different law students from all over the USA who have the same interests as I do. I am still in contact with many of the people I met that summer. Plus, there is no better way to learn about China than going to China!
And I am always looking for guest bloggers! If you’re a law student and you’re interested in transnational law issues and you feel like trying your hand at some blogging, then drop me an email! The potential for networking through blogging is infinite, and blogging is very educational. Honestly, I’ve learned an unbelievable amount through blogging– reading, analyzing, and writing about current events– it can’t be beat!
Good luck everyone!
Travis:
Thanks for the compliment. I will add the Duquesne program to my post because that’s precisely the sort of program that I think benefits law students.
I also concur that there is nothing like blogging, which forces you to read a lot and research before posting. You can learn China business or other very specialized fields (at a very basic level) in a condensed amount of time. I know I have learned a lot from the process.
Keep up the good work on your blog!
Tom
Paul,
I don’t know who you are since you did not have the courtesy to add a url-link, but Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson are some of the best practitioners in their field. More importantly, it is not the job of the blogger to be impartial– perhaps you’re confusing blogging with journalism– the blogger’s job is to assess situations and give their opinion. You should give Dan Harris some credit for openly admitting when he is being impartial, which he does regularly. I’ve been a dedicated reader of China Law Blog since its inception and the only form of bias I’ve seen exhibited by Dan Harris is his optimistic view that China will continue to grow, it’s judicial system will continue to improve, corruption is subsiding, and he likes Paris Hilton. Frankly, I appreciate his bullishness when it comes to China rising. It’s a nice change from the opinions I get from other professionals in the field who tell me not to trust China’s legal system, to bribe anyone and everyone, and to never expect any improvement. If we don’t have any hope for China’s future, then what are we doing there? Why are we telling our clients that this is a good investment? Other people might say it and not mean it, but Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson believe in China and their genuine belief in China’s future is reflected in their work. Anyone who has ever worked with them knows this to be true.
And I encourage law students to contact Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson. They are a valuable resource that you should use! Besides being good at their jobs, they’re also really nice guys who like talking about China and helping law students.
–Travis
Thanks, Tom!
Tom,
You cover networking real well, here.
As for blogging, I started reading CLB over the summer. I got some confidence and started commenting. I then started to feel a little guilty how often I was commenting, so I decided to give this blogging thing a try. It is a lot of fun and really time consuming. But you’re totally right, we could spend a couple of hours watching ESPN or a couple of hours putting together a post. Plus, I second everything Travis wrote about blogging, especially the part about learning.
Last summer I did the SCU summer abroad in Shanghai. Anna Han runs the program and it is excellent. The program is split into two parts, 4 weeks in the class room and 4 weeks in an internship in Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong. Last summer the 4 weeks in the classroom was further split into two parts. The first 2 weeks were spent at Jiao Tong’s suburban campus learning Chinese law from Chinese law professors (in English). The second 2 weeks were spent at Jiao Tong’s Puxi campus, and Professor Han brought in practitioners each day to teach us about how law is practiced in China. These first four weeks also included a weekend day trip to Suzhou, and an afternoon at a prominent multinational company for an in-depth presentation by one of the in-house counsels and a VP.
Will:
Thanks for dropping by. I will add that SCU program to the update of this post.
Tom
Tom:
Very good advice.
I’d add “Be persistent” as a general attribute in doing all of these activities. Networking really takes a lot of time and it is easy to be “lazy” and not follow through, which I have done many times.
I would also echo the point that both Travis and Will mentioned–be in China when you can (if you want to do China-related work. Otherwise, go to the target country of your interest). If there were something I wished I had done earlier, it would be going for a China clerkship/internship during my first or second year (I’m in a four year evening program). But family obligations kept me from going alone. Fortunately, I’ll be going this summer.