Picture this: you are asked to email your application for your dream summer job. You have your resume, cover letter, and references at the ready. You are ready to apply… but are you? Are you sure your materials are in the correct format? Do you know what to put in the email body? Is your signature correct? Do you have a signature? Is your email … Continue reading Writing Professional Emails 101
Erin Scherzer is the Executive Director of Career Services at Seton Hall University School of Law. In this role, she manages student counseling, works on event and planning for the office, meets with employers, and advises students on career planning. Prior to joining Seton Hall Law, Erin worked as a Business Law Associate in the New York office of Goodwin Procter LLP. There, Erin represented … Continue reading Erin Scherzer, Executive Director of Career Services, Seton Hall University School of Law
“Soft skills” are essential for young lawyers and law students to succeed. Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact harmoniously with others, such as communication, presentation skill, time management, and networking. Each of those skills add value to your career and distinguish you as a candidate. This article focuses on a particularly tricky but essential one: networking. “It’s not what you know, … Continue reading Networking: Yes, You Have to Do It, But Yes, You Can Do It.
I raise my hand a lot in class. The unwritten rule of law school is to avoid being called on at all costs— and here I am voluntarily subjecting myself to scrutiny— so it earns me a lot of strange looks. But it’s actually immensely important to me because it’s important to me to take up space— not physical space, but metaphorical space. I will … Continue reading What Does a Lawyer Look Like? Reflections on Representation in the Law
Career services offices are filled with skilled professionals who have done this longer than you may think and are exceptionally knowledgeable; they are the link between the law school and the real world. For the most part you will hear about job opportunities through your career services via emails or designated sites for job postings. However before applying for a summer position, you must first focus your … Continue reading Getting Your 1L Summer Job
Some days, the law feels like a world of its own, complete with a “No non-lawyers allowed” sign. And on those days, I both feel like I haven’t earned my place in that posh, exclusive “lawyers” club but also feel like I’ve definitively left where I came from behind just to get this far. It’s a strange limbo where I don’t belong wholeheartedly in either … Continue reading From Layman to Lawyer
As a first-generation law student, you might face challenges financing your legal education– paying for things like tuition, books, rent, professional clothing, and, of course, food. It can seem overwhelming. Just know that regardless of how the odds may stack against you, there is always a way to make ends meet if you are willing to take on the challenge. Already, by getting into law … Continue reading Making Ends Meet in Law School
Being black in predominantly white spaces can feel like drowning. Not only do we feel isolated because of our status as a minority, but we feel erased by the persistent and often ambiguous use of “people of color” to address so many struggles that it addresses none. The relationship Black people have with the world is anything but vague. The systems that oppress back people all over … Continue reading Blackness in White Spaces
im·pos·tor syn·drome (noun) — the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills When I got the email my 1L year that first semester grades were posted, my hands were quite literally shaking, and my pulse was beating so rapidly that I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t decide if I … Continue reading No, They Didn’t Admit You on Accident: Conquering Impostor Syndrome
One of the first “law school-isms” that you hear is that a law school semester is “a marathon, not a sprint. ” It’s supposed to be an encouraging message—that there’s a long road ahead but there’s time to work your way to the front of the pack. If you just keep running, you’ll make it to the end. But don’t people spend months training for marathons? You … Continue reading 10 Ways to Ace Law School Classes
First Gen JD 