Jessie Zaylía's Law (and Law School) Blog

It's good to be back with another update: tomorrow will be my last day as a partner at my firm. I'm leaving it so that I can do... well... I'd rather do anything else. Being a partner and, in fact, being on the traditional track to whatever success is supposed to be is a sure-fire way to surrender yourself to the machine. No more. I have learned a lot while being at my firm. I have learned, for instance, how people should  not  be managed, how partners should  not  be spun to by other partners, and how money should  not  be spent. I've learned that you'll never please 100% of the people 100% of the time. I've learned that many law partners are absolutely shitty business partners with no sense of what it takes to be successful or what is required to move collectively in a positive direction. I've learned that many leaders of average or below-average organizations haven't the ability or the intellectual wherewithal to listen. I have also learned a great ...

Tonight, I was voted in by the partnership of my firm to be a partner. I wanted to share my joy with all of you. I also want you to know that, if you fail the Bar, your life is not over. I failed twice, passed the third time, and am now the Office Managing Partner of the Los Angeles office of my firm. This has been an incredible experience.

This is one thing that seems to really intimidate law students, especially the new ones. I also happen to know many attorneys who just don't know how to network. We're seldom taught how to do this and why it's crucial to our careers. I suppose there are two questions that I should address here: (1) how much time should one devote to networking? and (2) how does one network, precisely? But before we jump into all that, there are some things you should know. WHY NETWORKING IS IMPORTANT (the raw deal): Networking is important because attorneys are more experienced than you are. It's true.   If you connect with a few who think that you're awesome, you will inevitably meet them for coffee or lunch every so often. Then, when you have a tough decision to make down the road, you can call these people (who are now friends) and receive their invaluable pearls of wisdom. As a bonus, one of these people (now a friend of mine) did offer me a job right before I graduated...

Whether you’re an attorney seeking a change in employment or a “rising” 3L trying to land a job, publication, or clerkship, having a good cover letter can make or break your chances for consideration. But why stop with “good”? This blog entry will demonstrate the whats and hows of superb cover-letter writing. Before we plunge into the nuts and bolts of it, it may help you to have an inside look into the mind of the person who will likely receive your cover letter. Chances are that this person is (1) extremely busy, (2) extremely bored with the task of sifting through mountains of applications, and (3) extremely annoyed with all of the terrible cover letters that he/she has already read. Even when a résumé looks awesome, a crappy cover letter will certainly land you in the circular file. Crappiness can range anywhere from poor format to poor grammar, from too long to too not-paying-enough-attention-to-get-the-job-description-right. And even when a cover letter is concise, gramma...