Law School Advice For 1Ls From Amal Clooney, Chief Justice Roberts, And Other Notable Legal Figures

You are now officially on your way to becoming an attorney. What you do now matters.

Amal Clooney (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty)

“The system will defeat itself / Nothing stays in a steady state, it overheats and melts / It only feeds itself.”Nas

Many of you have now enrolled in your first year of law school. The books have been bought. Labor Day weekend has passed. It’s time to get serious — well, for some of you anyway. For others, with just a few weeks of law school under your belt, you may have more questions than answers at this point in the semester.

In the past couple of years, I have written articles for American Bar Association’s Before the Bar Blog. I warned incoming law students that their grades matter, just not equally, and how they should be selfish with their schedule, but generous with their time.

In the past few years, I’ve also had the opportunity to interview notable figures in the legal profession and gather their advice for law students and recent graduates. I hope this article gives you the benefit of hindsight and helps you understand what is truly important during your time in what can be a very insular bubble.

Without further ado, here are some of the top tips Above the Law has gathered for law students:

  1. “For those students who are about to start law school, make sure you study but try to take a step back to enjoy all that school has to offer, including your classmates. For those of you who are about to graduate, it is an exciting time and I hope you will take calculated risks. Don’t be afraid to fail. This is the time to push boundaries and achieve your dreams. Love what you do — including when you fail, because learning how to pick yourself up again will be invaluable as you move forward.” — Minority Corporate Counsel Association President Jean Lee

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  1. “You don’t need to start your career with a long-term plan, it’s better to see where the work takes you.” — Attorney and Activist Amal Clooney
  1. “For entering law students, my advice is to take this seriously. Law school is different than undergrad and having only one or two evaluative devices to be graded on is intense. My advice is to use all of your school’s resources — Academic Affairs, Career Services, etc. The Administrators and staff in your school are invested in your success and you should not feel ashamed or afraid to ask for help when you need it. Lastly, start to establish your network now! Join a few bar associations, attend events, connect with people and follow up! Also connect with alumni and colleagues, and establish new connections on social media. LinkedIn and Twitter are excellent tools to grow your personal and professional brand and increase your networks.” — Metropolitan Black Bar Association President Paula Edgar
  1. “Don’t enroll in law school if your ego is fragile. Don’t wear a suit to class. Don’t EVER raise your hand like an obnoxious dork, especially on your first day, but always be prepared for every question, every day. If you’re a 23-year-old 1L dude in a class with a 45-year-old 1L woman with three kids, she is smarter, more accomplished, and more impressive than you are. Don’t be jealous of that, and don’t forget it either. And remember to keep it real: Make friends and make fun of yourself. If you have a healthy sense of humor, you will survive; it’s a more important indicator than an LSAT score.” — Bayou Brief Founder Lamar White
  1. “Be hungry. Stay hungry. Stay the course. Much of success is sheer will. Nothing can replace hard work and a good network of people who are willing to mentor and/or sponsor your success. Another thing, don’t forget to be kind to others. Treating people right will pay dividends in the long run.” — Precipice IP, PLLC Founder Angela Grayson
  1. “Choose a law firm where you think you will have a good mentor because a good mentor is absolutely critical to having a successful career. My advice on how to choose a good mentor is to look for someone who they themselves had a good mentor.  Someone who had a good mentor is much more likely to be a good mentor themselves.” — Former Managing Partner and Prolific Podcaster Richard Hsu

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  1. “The law is all-consuming. You will never think the same way again, and you will never have a moment where some part of your brain isn’t thinking about work. So, you better love the job you choose. This isn’t a profession where you can simply tolerate your job, or where you can dial it in for the paycheck. Lawyers get paid to think — we have to be fully engaged the whole time. But, if you get it right with your career path, you will be incredibly fulfilled. I am.” — Former American Apparel CEO Chelsea Grayson
  1. “As lawyers, we get to open doors and have conversations with many people we normally would never meet. Use those connections to help everyone in the world around you. We’ll all be better for it. As I learned long ago, wherever you go and whatever you may do, the eyes of the bar are always upon you.” — Attorney and Community Organizer Rudy Metayer
  1. “Seek out and try different opportunities. You will be surprised at what you enjoy. In law school and very early on in my career, I would have never thought about being an AUSA. I learned about what AUSAs did and talked to former AUSAs. And now I look back and know that it was a great opportunity for me to grow as an attorney and become a great trial lawyer.” — Former Federal Prosecutor Jessica Ortiz
  1. “Be thoughtful, deliberate and consistent about how you develop your brand and export it, whether it is writing articles, using social media, participating on panels, getting involved in your own or different outside organizations, etc. Cultivate a strong, ever-growing network of valuable relationships. Give to others as much if not more than you receive. If you focus on the ‘give,’ the ‘get’ will follow.” — Major, Lindsey & Africa Partner Sonya Som
  1. “If you are reading this, the odds are you were the smart one growing up. The best at school. The most serious-minded. You are still that person. You can do whatever you want. You have much more in you than you’ve been led to believe.” — Venture for America Founder and Author Andrew Yang
  1. “There is a lot to balance, with the backdrop of the pressures and stress, in our profession. I can say from personal experience that it’s exhausting, but also fulfilling, especially if you are involved in the community and passionate about causes important to you. Please remember to take of yourself as you are not alone in times of stress, anxiety, and pressure, and we all need to take a deep breath and be cognizant of the present, so we can enjoy this journey of a long and fulfilling legal career.” — NAPABA President Cyndie Chang
  1. “The last bit of advice I’ll give you is very simple, but I think it could make a big difference in your life. Once a week, you should write a note to someone, not an email, a note on a piece of paper. It will take you exactly ten minutes. By the end of the school year, you will have sent notes to forty people. Forty people will feel a little more special because you did. And they will think you are very special because of what you did. Now what else is going to carry that dividend during your time at school?” — Chief Justice John G. Roberts

Before you know it, your first semester will be over. Hopefully, you will learn the ropes and adjust well to your new life as a pupil. Remember, you are now officially on your journey to becoming an attorney. You have taken your first steps as a legal professional. What you do now matters, especially for bar admittance.

In their recent interview, Eilene Zimmerman and Robin Young reminded us that all too often, “people enter law school with a certain set of values and a certain level of passion and humanity. They come out the other side without it. It gets stripped out.”

So keep your heart and call your parents often. They have invested in you more than you know. As Chief Justice Roberts recently reminded us:

“Your success in life is not just about you. It is about your parents (and guardians) and what they have sacrificed to bring you to this point. If you are going to look forward, to figure out where you are going, it is good to know where you have been and to look back as well.”


Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact Renwei by email at projectrenwei@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn