Law Students

Law Student Marketability
By: Natalie Cusick

There are never enough hours in the day. Personally, this is proven on a daily basis in law school.

As law students, many of us make efforts to squeeze in any extra time possible by building dangerous tolerances to caffeine, by consciously sacrificing getting enough sleep, and by choosing to spend our down time watching a 30-minute episode of our favorite show with a casebook or laptop. I am convinced that besides preparing us for the bar exam, law school is meant to physically condition us to experience the reality that there will never be enough hours in the day. 

While meeting with an employer at a recent event, it was explained employers sometimes question applicants: “If you are just a student, ‘what were you doing with your free time?’” My initial thought was “Free time? What is that?” I had to think back to my undergraduate days for a refresher. Secondly, this insight illuminated what students are expected to do after the 1L year. Good grades open doors to becoming involved in the extracurricular activities employers value.

For the sake of gaining practical experience, and acquiring important skill sets, many 2Ls and 3Ls find themselves saying “yes” more than they say “no.” Students get caught up in all the responsibilities of mock trial, moot court, journal participation, student organizations, internships, or clinic work. In addition to keeping up with school, this all becomes a cycle that demonstrates there are seriously never enough hours in the day.

Besides constantly hearing how competitive the job market is, students hear horror stories about involved students in the top of their class struggling to find jobs—even the realistic ones that do not start with a six-figure salary. Although we sign up for this experience, after the 1L year, we are called to take advantage of the opportunities to develop ourselves into practice-ready and marketable job prospects after graduation. Besides having an impressive GPA, one’s resume needs to have the edge of practice-ready skills set in a competitive job market and profession.

This edge is dependent on what type of law one wants to practice and career aspirations. If you’re top 10 percent, are you automatically expected to be on Law Review? If you are on another journal, are certain employers only going to prefer Law Review? Or is any journal experience sufficient? How much value does advocacy add to your resume? Given the subjectivity of mock trial and moot court, is the number of trophies what is valued? Or is it the number of competitions one has participated in? What about researching for a professor? Is interning and working while in school more impressive than not working and being involved? Or is the most marketable student expected to successfully juggle all of these and keep her grades up?

At some point, we are all human, and understanding what one can juggle in relation to family life and other obligations is the key to being successful in this experience. Also, understanding at least the environment you would like to work in can be helpful in determining how to best spend your “free time” in school, even if one is unsure what type of law she wants to practice.

Solid resources to refer to are Career Services, practicing attorneys and employers. Also, the Law Student Division of the State Bar of Texas has several resources that are helpful.  These sources can give students the insight they need to successfully navigate through this labyrinth of expectations. Career Services is not just for setting up on-campus interviews with big firms. They can provide insight as to what other employers are looking for, and provide connections to alumni or contacts who can discuss law student marketability.

Also, talking to real-life lawyers provides valuable insight. Personally, I have found that attorneys, regardless of their age and experience, have been able to empathize and relate about the struggles of law school, and in communicating what practice-ready skills are most sought after. 

Be proactive and strategize what you should be doing with your “free time.” In other words, make the time to consider how to best utilize your time. Being complacent can lead one to take on way too much and quickly become overwhelmed.

Remember, time is of the essence. Although law school is a daily grind, being knowledgeable on where to focus your efforts as a 2L and 3L can better help you balance, can help you be efficient in managing the few hours you do have in a day, and help you maximize what makes you as marketable as possible upon graduation.

Natalie Cusick is a 2L at South Texas College of Law Houston.