After You Land Your First Legal Job

Be sure to open yourself up to other job opportunities that might come your way within your law firm. 

Let’s say that your department handles all of the estate planning documents within the law firm.  If there are litigators (attorneys who handle trials) in your firm, let it be known that you would be glad to help out when needed.  Believe me, when a trial is looming, organizational skills are needed.  This will allow you to enter into a field to (1) see if you like this type of work; and (2) build more of a “team spirit” within the firm.

Once you have some experience under your belt, volunteer to summarize a deposition.  If you’ve never done one before, simply ask one of the more seasoned legal assistants or paralegals if they could point you in the right direction.  Usually, there will be deposition summaries on the computer for you to review. 

Are you hoping to land a job as a personal injury legal assistant?  Insurance defense perhaps?  Again, once you’ve been in your position for six (6) months, perhaps a little longer, begin to investigate another area of law – perhaps estate planning, bankruptcy or real estate. 

I’ve worked in the medical malpractice, estate planning, administrative law, eminent domain, environmental, franchise and attorney discipline fields.  When I’ve needed to find a job quickly after moving to a new city, I found that having experience in a variety of areas made me very “employable”.