Jonah Perlin
@JonahPerlin
Dad | #LegalPractice Prof. @GeorgetownLaw | Ex: DDC, 2d Cir, W&C |šHost, #HowILawyer Podcast (Top 50 Career Podcast on iTunes) | Board: @legalmentors
20 Lessons from Interviewing 50 Lawyers
Law is a profession of passed down wisdom. But that wisdom is often siloed to a golden few. The internet offers an opportunity to share this knowledge asynchronously & at scale.
So in 2021 I interviewed 50 lawyers on the #HowILawyer podcast.
Here are 20 lessons I learned š§µ š
1. Career Paths Only Look Straight When You Look Backwards.
When you read LinkedIn bios top to bottom career trajectories can seem obvious. But the truth is that they are often unplanned, serendipitous, and the product of chance and risk taking.
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Do you really need to do it all?
Do you really need to do it all?
Every year students ask me the following question: do I need to do [fill in the blank]?
The blank is different for every student. Some examples:
ā¢ Journal Write On
ā¢ Moot Court
ā¢ Clinic
Hereās my answer:
Many folks come to law school having done everything and done everything well their whole lives. I donāt yet have teenagers but I hear the āyou must do EVERYTHINGā syndrome starts really, really early.
And so it is no surprise that folks come to law school with the same mindset.
Lessons from #HowILawyer Interviews
Had a fantastic time earlier this week sharing some lessons from #HowILawyer interviews with over 120 lawyers with UNLVās Virtual Lawyering Bootcamp
Hereās 6 takeaways (with thanks to @writedotlaw for the summary):
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1ļøā£We All Have a Story.
It's easy to forget that we all "have a story." We all have a path before our jobs, outside of our jobsāand those stories are often treated as tangential. But not so. Our stories are important. And we can learn a lot from every one.
Summer Associate Hub for Law Students
Anyone who follows me on social media knows that one of my primary goals is to demystify the legal profession in order to make it more transparent, welcoming, and diverse.
I am therefore excited to share my collaboration with @LateralHub on its Summer Associate Hub:
The Process of Writing: Thinking, Structure, and Exercise.
Writing is thinking so see how it writes.
One challenge I regularly see in student writing AND my own writing projects is believing that if I can figure it out in my head the first draft should be perfect (or close to it). Thatās an unreasonable expectation.
Donāt get me wrong, deep thinking leads to stronger writing.
But writing is also an exercise in thinking. In my own work I have found I need structure to start but I only see the shortcomings and breakthroughs when I try to put into something on paper and get out of my head.
Keeping in Touch with Mentors: A Practical Guide
I had coffee with a stellar former student yesterday who asked a great question:
"I know itās important to keep in touch with mentors & former supervisors but how do you recommend doing that?"
Here was my answer:
1. Donāt stress about quantity. Even checking in once or twice a year is plenty. I keep a birthday calendar for friends and professional contacts and always try to check in around their birthday. Itās an easy natural reason to connect and people are often (pleasantly) surprised.
Spiral Learning for Lawyers
š Spiral Learning
Lawyers are constantly learning new topics & tasks. In law school we try to teach "how to think like a lawyer" but also "how to learn like a lawyer."
One of my favorite learning techniques is sometimes called "spiral learning":
Spiralling is a strategy where you learn the same concept multiple times but each time learn it at greater depth/complexity.
For law students this means learning the same concept multiple times:
ā¢ Reading
ā¢ Class
ā¢ Post-Class
ā¢ Outlining
ā¢ Practice Exams
ā¢ Real Exams