Valuable Law School Advice: What 5 Attorneys Wish They Knew in Law School

Updated: October 3, 2022

This article is filled with valuable law school advice from five attorneys who answered this question: “What is something you wish you knew when you were in law school?”

Emiliano Farciert, Jr. – Associate Attorney at Ramsey Law Group in Houston, TX

I wish I knew the value of my network in law school. One of the things that I always enjoy as a practitioner is finding people that went to school with me who practice in different areas. I take pride in being able to help my clients navigate the unknown world of personal injury but so often I get questions about real estate closings, divorce, or even criminal matters. You can always refer someone to the lawyer referral service your state bar association has set up, but it is always nice to have someone in the back of your mind that you trust who practices in the same area of law a client needs help in. Being able to tell a potential client ‘I may not be able to help you but here is someone who can’ is a way to ensure the person who contacted your office does not leave without an avenue to seek competent counsel. Plus, it helps you build a referral network, which is always a nice thing to have. So go to those bar review sessions or join in on the SBA sponsored events, you never know who you may meet at one of those events.

Attorney Bio:

Emiliano Farciert, Jr. is an associate attorney at Ramsey Law Group in Houston, TX. Emiliano is a first-generation Texan and received his Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law – Houston.

Egan Kilbane – Principal Attorney for Elk & Elk at the Seattle-Tacoma Office

Take Some Classes Taught by Experienced Attorneys

It is, of course, very important to learn the law as it exists in texts and classrooms. These skills will help you pass the bar exam and will undoubtedly help you in your subsequent career, but they alone are a fraction of what you need to succeed in the practice of law.

Many of your professors have spent most of their careers as professors; there’s nothing wrong with that, but its merits are accompanied by limitations. I recommend signing up for some classes with professors who spent most of their careers actually practicing law. My favorite class in law school was taught by a professor with several decades of experience in private practice and on the bench – that was not a coincidence. And classes with those adjuncts who are also practicing full-time? Do you know where they find law clerks and associates to hire? Bingo.

On a related note, if you think you might want to litigate – join the Mock Trial team. They’re coached by – you guessed it – practicing litigators, who use the program to recruit new hires.

Work More, Both Volume and Variety, Until You Find Your Lane

It gets harder to change lanes the longer you wait. In my opinion, a student or young lawyer’s top priority should be trying to find what professional work you will enjoy doing and will do well. Some people land there on the first try, whereas others may spend years, but any time spent in a job or field you know you don’t like is wasted time. Working a lot, and if necessary, working many jobs is not just about the paycheck but also about maximizing exposure to the various lanes until you find your own.

Show Up and Do the Work

I know, very “Boomer” advice. But most of everything is about just showing up and doing the work. The classics are classics for a reason. Here’s another one: on time is 10 minutes early.

Your Real Resume is the Reputational Capital You Build by Your Work in the Community

When you are putting the work in, it’s not happening in a vacuum. You’re interacting with other lawyers, firms, judges, staff, and clients. If you show up on time and put the work in long enough, you will grow a community of lawyers, firms, judges, and staff that now know and respect you. That reputational capital gets jobs, resolves cases, and earns favorable rulings and client referrals. Cultivate it well, and you and your clients enjoy the benefits… plus you won’t need to update your resume anymore.

Network and Seek Mentors – Older Attorneys Want to Help but are Busy, so Make it Easier for Them

One of the most gratifying parts of my career is advising younger lawyers and law students, and yet I don’t do it nearly as much as I would like to or should. My outside life is much busier than when I was a student or young associate. I have a wife, kids, dogs, an old house, a yard, and so on. Don’t expect me to expend time and effort finding opportunities to provide you guidance; serve the opportunities up to the lawyers whose guidance you seek.

Seek out input, interaction, advice, and mentorship wherever you can. I’ve found jobs for people that cold-called me because of some aspect of my profile. Formal mentorship programs are great, but you can also find it through work (and if you work a lot, it’ll come naturally), organizations, networking functions, etc. Don’t expect mentors to prepare lesson plans or seek you out – have specific questions or things you want to discuss and track them down. Experienced lawyers charge their clients at least several hundred dollars for an hour of their time; if we’re offering it to you for free, please don’t squander it.

You Can Learn From Your Own Mistakes or From Somebody Else’s

You’re probably sensing a theme by now. School will give you some tools to use when you eventually get to do some lawyering but doing a lot of lawyering is the best way to get good at it. Suppose you don’t aggressively seek out experience when you are a law student or young lawyer because you are scared to make mistakes. In that case, you’ll become an old attorney with no experience, and instead of being a little scared to embarrass yourself or lose, you’ll be completely and utterly paralyzed by that fear. You might as well get the bloody noses out of the way early.

Trust me, notwithstanding all the false bravado and excuses, these lawyers are easily identified, and experienced opposing counsel can leverage that inexperience and fear to their clients’ advantage. That advantage was probably earned through a bloody nose early in their career.

And, of course, where possible, it’s much more pleasant to learn from someone else’s bloody nose. Talk shop with people on the frontlines – war stories can be hilarious or riveting, but everyone also has a lesson to be found and tucked away. One of those lessons might single-handedly win a case in the future.

Listen

A lot of children get told (incorrectly, in my opinion) that they would make good lawyers when they grow up because they argue a lot. In my experience though, what separates truly superlative lawyers is not their skill in debate or public speaking; it is that they know when to shut their mouth and pay very close attention.

Attorney Bio:

Egan Kilbane is licensed to practice in the states of Washington and Ohio and is fortunate to actively practice in both venues. He is a principal attorney for Elk & Elk at the Seattle-Tacoma office.

Allison Jacobs – Member of Jacobs & Jacobs, LLC

One thing that I wish I had known is that getting to know my classmates and developing relationships was equally as important as my schoolwork. Sometimes the instinct in law school is to hide away in the library and work around the clock, especially for someone who is an introvert and/or an academic overachiever. And it is hard to make time for social activities when you barely have time for sleep! But after law school you will encounter your classmates frequently, as colleagues and adversaries. They may even be interviewing you for a job. And down the road, you may run into them as judges or in other positions of authority. So, it really helps to have connected with them previously and made a positive impression. Not only can it help you, but it can also help your clients. Incidentally, you might find a kindred spirit (or several!) who will become a close friend and lifelong support to you. So don’t skip the Barrister’s Ball and extracurriculars, you never know what opportunity you will be missing.

Attorney Bio:

Allison Jacobs has been a member of Jacobs & Jacobs, LLC, since 2013. She’s been recognized as a “Rising Star” in the New Haven legal community for her hard work and dedication to her clients. Allison has experience in personal injury law, family law, public service law, and health law. 

Rachel Gezerseh – Trial Attorney at Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP

I wish I had known how vital it is to step out of the law school bubble and connect with attorneys and find out as much as possible about their practice. In law school, I was very focused on academics and doing the best I could on what was in front of me. I did not have good understanding of what actual attorneys did. I thought the end all be all was Big Law and that is what I went for. I worked in defense at an amazing Big Law firm and stayed ten years but ultimately the better fit for who I am and what I want to accomplish as an attorney is on the plaintiff side. I have no regrets, but I would tell my law student-self now to conduct more in-depth informational interviews with attorneys so that I understood what different practices were, what typical days looked like in those practices and what the actual work entailed. My advice to law students now is to be a sponge and soak up as much knowledge as you can about the real world of practicing law. If you do that while still in law school, you will be better informed as you embark upon your legal career.

Attorney Bio:

Rachel Gezerseh is a trial attorney at Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP who specializes in litigating complex catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death and products liability cases.