career

Past Experience Pays Off: How A Podcasting Career Prepared Me For 1L

/ Ian Hurley / Leave a comment

“It is not down on any map; true places never are.”
― Herman Melville, Moby Dick

A little more than four years ago, I found myself in the producer’s chair, attempting to put together my first podcast for Wondery Media. The episode centered around a mystery story, one that remains unsolved. It was no unsolved murder or whodunit yarn, but instead a tale about what happened to a 7-foot 900 lbs bronze statue of Joe Paterno, the disgraced former-head football coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. The statue disappeared in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal that rocked the State College community back in 2011 and led to Paterno’s firing; a previously unbelievable outcome for a coach who at that time led the NCAA in career victories. The whereabouts of the statue remain unknown, and while that mystery remained, what became clear to me as I bumbled my way through putting that story together was just how little I knew about what an adequate producer does every day. 

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It Takes a Village: Why Mentorship is So Important

/ Haley Cole / Leave a comment

Today, law students are primarily sculpted in classrooms, with the chances for out-of-class experience strewn throughout summer work, school clinics, and externships. But becoming a lawyer in the U.S. was originally premised on the experience of apprenticing. Direct observation, hands-on work, with a touch of baptism-by-fire-shaped lawyers. On a broader level, apprenticing was premised on mentorship. Though law students must endure the modern right of passage that is the dreaded 1L year spent in structured doctrinals, mentorship has remained a mainstay of a legal education. 

“Networking” is a daunting word for most in the professional world and known all too well by those in the legal field. Law students understand early on that building a network is a crucial part of forming their careers. But mentorship is just as important as – and in fact both encompasses the nature of and is an expansion of – networking. As a remnant of early legal education, having mentors from the moment you start law school until your last day of retirement at that fancy law firm you started is vital to success in the legal field. Having a network is important, but having people in your corner to guide the ship that is your career journey is what makes your network rich.

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The Most Important Advice I’ve Received about My Summer Job Search

/ Michael Deere / Leave a comment

Along with every other 1L, I am applying for a summer job. I’ve been to networking events, workshops, panels, and how-tos. My notebook overflows with well-meaning advice and guidance. The problem is that none of it applies to me. I don’t have a resumé; I’ve never had one. 

I’m what people call a “non-traditional” law student. I came late to law school after building a career as a professor. I did have a distinguished undergraduate career, filled with awards, accolades and accomplishments. But I can’t put those things on my resumé. That was twenty some years ago. It would look weird, my notebook says. Out of place (underlined). They were important things. Bright, big things. They mattered then, and they matter now. But it won’t help me land a summer job. Employers don’t want to see that, quotes the notebook. So, /select/highlight/delete, and just like that, parts of my life are cut away. Besides, I need that space so I can focus on my strengths (circled; exclamation point). Because the resumé manuals tell me I have to…wait, where is it…oh, right. Lead with my core competencies (question mark). And above all, circled and twice underlined and given arrows all around it, the number-one-most-important-thing-to-remember-is…just be yourself!

But the problem with being yourself is that it’s hard to know who that is.

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Inside BC Law’s Career Services Office: A Q&A With Assistant Dean Jen Perrigo

/ Courtney Ruggeri / Leave a comment

Landing a job both as a law student and post-grad can be stressful to say the least. You hear about all the ways in which your law degree can help you professionally, but how do you really know where and when to begin your search? Law firm or government? Clinic or externship? Do networking coffees really make a difference?

Whether you are a prospective student, current law student, or recent graduate, we can help. We sat down with Jen Perrigo, Assistant Dean of Career Services at BC Law, to answer some of these top-of-mind questions. 

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1L Boot Camp Practice Area Panel

/ Rob Rossi / Leave a comment

For the third year in a row, the LSA has partnered with Career Services to put together a series of presentations that are collectively known as 1L Boot Camp. These Boot Camp programs, headed by past Impact blog author Cara Fonseca, provide 1Ls with the skills and knowledge to succeed in networking, job hunting, and in their future careers.

One of the key elements of Boot Camp is exposing the 1Ls to different practice areas and potential career paths. This is where BC 2Ls and 3Ls are able to take the help we’ve received in the past and pay it forward. The most recent Boot Camp presentation was a group of panels composed of 2Ls and 3Ls who have worked in various practice areas over the past two summers. Continue reading →