TARGET AUDIENCE
LAWYERS AND LAW STUDENTS

Strategies & Tactics for Success

Pass the Baton works with law school career and professional development and student affairs professionals to create custom programming designed to serve the needs of both students and alumni.  Half-day and full-day workshops covering a variety of topics may also include individual student and alumni counseling.

 Professionalism and Professional Development:

• Professionalism attaches on the first day of school
• Pitfalls and problems for the unprofessional behavior – before and after the bar exam
• Networking: not just myfacebookspace.com/linkedin
• Working with ALL of the generations Working with support staff
• Identifying and navigating relationships with the stakeholders at work
• Your electronic persona: pitfalls and benefits
• Job descriptions – woefully incomplete performance roadmaps

Alternative Careers :

• What is an alternative career?
• How can I get one?
• What is the biggest mistake that lawyers seeking alternative careers make?
• What are the barriers for law-trained candidates?
• How can I make them look at my resume?

Challenge & Opportunity #182: Pitfalls of Generational Communication
Law student communicates with prospective employers by email, beginning each message with "Hey."  Student attempts to send a text message to her boss and gets no reply.  When given an assignment and told to "See George about this," instead of knocking on George's door, the law clerk sends George (the partner) an email asking for all of the information he has on the subject.  Summer law clerk spends most days in his office with the lights turned down and his earbuds in. While none of these activities appears to be career-enders, the cumulative effect of a series of them might be "no offer."  Because the elusive quality of "fit" is key to getting interviews and offers, introducing students to communication styles and behavioral expectations of the Generations who will supervise, evaluate and pay them is a critical component of a career services curriculum.

Challenge & Opportunity #278: No "work" but lots of "network"
Many law students have had little or no work experience and they come to law school knowing next to nothing about the world of work.  They do, however, have a vast network of "virtual" connections, highly evolved technical skills, energy, enthusiasm and curiosity.  How can you help them harness that energy while focusing on the professional norms that they will be expected to know?

Challenge & Opportunity #465: What is an "alternative career"? And when can I have one?
With the legal economy mirroring the global economy, students and alumni are genuinely and correctly concerned about their prospects.  They are intensely curious about the ways in which they will be able to use their legal training during the next five years.  How can you introduce them to the myriad opportunities for them to use their legal training in positions which may or may not have the title "lawyer?"  While they are thinking about "Alternative Careers," are they ready to leave the law, to tread on someone else's traditional career path or to use their skills to solve newly discovered problems? Have they considered all of the aspects inherent in career change?  What do they want to do? What are they prepared to sacrifice?  Whose permission do they need?