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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 🧵 👇

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. twitter.com/JonahPerlin/status/1466789842688389122?s=20

6 months ago

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Post-It Notes

First day for many summer interns and summer associates! That means I get to share one of my favorite and most impactful pieces of advice. Want to know the highest value, low-cost way to get more from the experience? Post-It Notes. Yes, seriously, Post-It Notes. Here’s why:

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The Power of Public Engagement for Law Professionals

Last week I presented to 150+ law professors on the topic of Public Engagement. My core message was if you are a law professor (or lawyer or even law student) to start creating public facing content! You have something to add to the conversation. Here’s a Playbook for How:

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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: • Journal Write On • Moot Court • Clinic Here’s my answer:

Many folks come to law school having done everything and done everything well their whole lives. I don’t yet have teenagers but I hear the “you must do EVERYTHING” syndrome starts really, really early. And so it is no surprise that folks come to law school with the same mindset.

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Lessons from #HowILawyer Interviews

Had a fantastic time earlier this week sharing some lessons from #HowILawyer interviews with over 120 lawyers with UNLV’s Virtual Lawyering Bootcamp Here’s 6 takeaways (with thanks to @writedotlaw for the summary): twitter.com/jonahperlin/status/1661922826125803523?s=46&t=F9Tqy7WkaNb5hZ_S9rbL6A

1️⃣We 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 jobs—and those stories are often treated as tangential. But not so. Our stories are important. And we can learn a lot from every one.

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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:

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Value of Non-Legal Skills for Lawyers

💼 The Importance of Non-Legal Skills & Experiences to the Life of a Lawyer:

One of my favorite realizations from 110+ How I Lawyer interviews is how important the skills and experiences gained prior to law school are to finding a successful legal career.

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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). That’s an unreasonable expectation.

Don’t 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.

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Keeping in Touch with Mentors: A Practical Guide

I had coffee with a stellar former student yesterday who asked a great question: "I know it’s important to keep in touch with mentors & former supervisors but how do you recommend doing that?" Here was my answer:

1. Don’t 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. It’s an easy natural reason to connect and people are often (pleasantly) surprised.

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