Author: firstgenjd

Academics

First Steps for First Gens: Finding Your Way to Law School (Even When the Path is Foggy)

By the time I left the arts education organization I founded in the early 2010s, I had spent the better part of a decade incorporating a business, writing and negotiating service contracts, and working with creative intellectual property. I enjoyed the nitty-gritty, down-to-details aspect of the law-related work I was doing, and I imagined I’d like to explore the other side of it—as an attorney. … Continue reading First Steps for First Gens: Finding Your Way to Law School (Even When the Path is Foggy)

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Personal Life

Black Lives Matter.

Once again, we have seen another Black life brutally taken by police violence. Once again, we demand justice, beginning with systemic change to stop the centuries of institutionalized, legal oppression of Black communities. And once again, we are forced to remind the world that Black Lives Matter. We four women of color— three Black women and a Brown woman— started FirstGenJD to uplift marginalized voices … Continue reading Black Lives Matter.

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Academics

I Just Got My Grades… Now What?

After the heart-stopping terror of the email that grades have been posted comes the leaden-stomach anxiety of wondering what those grades mean and where to go from there. What do these grades mean for me? Am I supposed to review my exams? What if I don’t like my grades? As many questions swirl around after taking an exam as had to be answered in the … Continue reading I Just Got My Grades… Now What?

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Personal Life

“Sleep is a Distant Memory, and There’s Nothing But Caffeine in My Veins”: Self Care for Law Students

My 1L Orientation was filled with stories of students who spent their first year munching Snickers bars for dinner and gulping Red Bulls between all-nighters. It was all heavily doused with advice we absolutely should not follow their example, of course— that we have to eat and sleep and be functional humans and all— but the message I really heard was that there is an … Continue reading “Sleep is a Distant Memory, and There’s Nothing But Caffeine in My Veins”: Self Care for Law Students

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Career Advice

We Can’t Do It Alone: Finding Mentors and Sponsors

It is a truth universally acknowledged that for every question to which we find an answer, there’s another one waiting to confuse us yet again. There will always be unanswered questions. As a law student, perhaps we have more questions than most. Indeed, as a student you are supposed to ask for help. There is zero expectation for anyone to traverse the legal field alone. … Continue reading We Can’t Do It Alone: Finding Mentors and Sponsors

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Career Advice

Finding an Area of the Law You’ll Love

The legal profession is filled with ample practice areas to select from. Choosing a particular practice area earlier in your legal career, rather than later, can reduce unnecessary stress in the job hunting process and maintaining a position thereafter. Many online sources offer beneficial tools and guidelines for picking an area of practice early on; this article summarizes some of those methods and provides an … Continue reading Finding an Area of the Law You’ll Love

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Career Advice

10 Things to Remember When Choosing a BigLaw Firm

This is the final article in a four-part series on BigLaw jobs. Find the first installment describing BigLaw here, the second installment here on parsing through BigLaw firms, and the third installment on the BigLaw application process here. The final step in the process once you’ve gotten your offers (congrats, BTW!) is to choose your firm. Fortunately– or perhaps, unfortunately–there’s no real science to it … Continue reading 10 Things to Remember When Choosing a BigLaw Firm

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Career Advice

When “OCI” Stands for “Oh, Crap, Interviews?!?”: Applying to BigLaw

This is the third in a four-part series on BigLaw jobs. Find the first installment describing BigLaw here and the second installment here on parsing through BigLaw firms to generate an application list. Okay, so now you know which firms interest you, how do you make them interested in you? What does the application process look like for BigLaw? And what’s the deal with this … Continue reading When “OCI” Stands for “Oh, Crap, Interviews?!?”: Applying to BigLaw

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Career Advice

Finding Your BigLaw 2L Summer Associateship

This is the second in a four-part series on BigLaw jobs. Find the first installment describing BigLaw here. The hardest part of the BigLaw application process is getting started. It may seem trite, but it’s true. There are thousands of firms out there, and trying to narrow down the list to a reasonable number to apply to can be overwhelming. Luckily, those of us who … Continue reading Finding Your BigLaw 2L Summer Associateship

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Career Advice

So You Want to Be a BigLaw Attorney…

BigLaw is often touted as the way law students Make It™. But, the BigLaw search was also one of the times I was most palpably conscious of my First Gen-ness because the entire process is so foreign to anyone outside the legal profession. I had never even heard of “BigLaw” before law school, so I didn’t have a single clue what pompous gibberish people were speaking when they … Continue reading So You Want to Be a BigLaw Attorney…

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