Increasingly, law firms and chambers recruit applicants who have a portfolio of specific skills to equip them to succeed in legal practice. When talking to the graduate recruitment managers of leading law firms about what they look for in desirable candidates, there are qualities that come up time and time again. Law firms spend a phenomenal amount of time and money in searching for the most talented students; developing their trainees to become talented lawyers and future partners of the firm. Skills are something that you can work on and develop over time. As they say: practice makes perfect! Here are a few that you should consider working on if you aspire to be a successful lawyer:
Good Communication
Lawyers must be orally articulate, have good written communication skills and also be good listeners. In order to argue convincingly in the courtroom before juries and judges, good public speaking skills are essential. Lawyers must also be able to write clearly, persuasively and concisely, as they must produce a variety of legal documents. But it’s not all about projection. To be able to analyze what clients tell them or follow a complex testimony, a lawyer must have good listening skills.
Judgment
The ability to draw reasonable, logical conclusions or assumptions from limited information is essential as a lawyer. You must also be able to consider these judgments critically, so that you can anticipate potential areas of weakness in your argument that must be fortified against. Similarly, you must be able to spot points of weakness in an oppositions argument. Decisiveness is also a part of judgment. There will be a lot of important judgment calls to make and little time for sitting on the fence.
Analytical
Both the study and practice of law involve absorbing large quantities of information, then having to distil it into something manageable and logical. At times, there will be more than one reasonable conclusion, or more than one precedent applicable to resolving a situation. A lawyer must therefore have the evaluative skills in order to choose which is the most suitable.
Research Skills
Similarly, being able to research quickly and effectively is essential to understanding your clients, their needs, and to preparing legal strategies. Preparing legal strategies requires absorbing and comprehending large amounts of information, then distilling them down into something manageable and useful.
People Skills
Law is not an abstract practice. Irrelevant of how well someone does academically, at the end of the day lawyers work with people, on behalf of people, and the decisions that are made effect peoples’ lives. They must be personable, persuasive and able to read others. This allows them to gauge juror’s reactions and the honesty of witnesses. This allows them to decide upon the best approach to take in order to achieve the desired outcome: either clients taking their advice or reaching a favorable negotiation with the opposition.
Perseverance
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” Even studying to become a lawyer takes a great deal of perseverance and commitment – and that’s before you even start work! Typically, a lawyer will do an undergraduate law degree, an LPC, and then a training contract before qualifying.When working on a case, you must have the perseverance to complete the work necessary to drive it to a successful finish.
Creativity
The very top lawyers are not only logical and analytical, but they display a great deal of creativity in their problem solving. The best solution is not always the most obvious and it is often necessary to think outside the box.
Task 4. Make up 8 questions to the text and answer them in writing.
Task 5. Read an example of cover letter. Write your own cover letter.
SAMANTHA PIERCE
14 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-3108
spierce@jd13.law.harvard.edu
December 1, 2010
Miriam A. Nunberg Staff Attorney
U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights 32 Old Slip, 26th Fl.
New York, NY 10005-2500
Dear Ms. Nunberg:
I am a first-year student at Harvard Law School and am writing to apply for a volunteer summer internship with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in New York City. I learned about your organization through Harvard Law School's public service database and through Harvard students who have interned at branches of the OCR in other cities. Interning at the OCR would allow me to continue my commitment to civil rights in education, and I feel confident that I could contribute substantively to the work of your office while strengthening the skills I’ll need for a career in education law.
As a senior at Cornell University, I wrote an honors thesis on the politics of bilingual education in California and New York, focusing on strategies for protecting minority students’ language rights. Because my career goal is to work on language issues, and discrimination generally, in American education, I wrote my master’s thesis on language policy in Spanish schools in order to gain knowledge of how other countries handle these complex issues.
This semester, I’ve gotten involved with Harvard Law School’s Advocates for Education, as well as the Child and Youth Advocates, organizations which have exposed me to the work lawyers can do to promote education rights. Additionally, joining the Latino Law Review has kept me
updated on the issues facing minority students. My work with the Harvard Defenders has begun to give me experience in public interest litigation, and working at the OCR would allow me to
gain experience advocating for the specific client populations I hope to assist in my career.
Because of my familiarity with language issues and New York’s bilingual education policies, as well as my fluency in Spanish, I would be very happy to work on cases dealing with language or national origin discrimination, but I’d also be delighted at the opportunity to work in any of the areas on which your office focuses, including LGBT and disability rights.
I have enclosed a resume highlighting my education and work experience. I hope to have the opportunity to interview with you about a summer position, and I will call your office in a few weeks to see if I may schedule a time to speak with you. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Samantha Pierce
Task 7. Make a dialogue (10 questions and replies). Interview for a job of a lawyer at an advocate office between a chief advocate (Ch.Ad.) and an employee (Em.). Put the following words and phrases into the correct order.
- a) Where have you got a work experience?
- b) Have you got a CV?
- c) Good afternoon. I’m looking for a job of a lawyer.
- d) I wrote and analyzed agreements for delivering goods, prepared some other corporate documents, and well, I communicated with clients of the company.
- e) Mmm, My specialty is civil cases.
- f) OK. My first name’s Tony, my surname’s Brown.
- g) Introduce yourself.
- h) Hello. Take a seat, please.
- i) Well, I worked as a lawyer at a trade company.
- j) Oh, something about $15000 per month.
- k) Oh, yes. Here is my resume.
- l) Here it is written, that you’ve graduated from the university, but what specialty do you have?
- m) What salary would you like to have?
- n) Thank you for your coming. We’ll phone you soon.
- o) What were you duties?
-
Ch.Ad.: 1__ Ch.Ad.: 9__
Em.: 2__ Em.: 10__
Ch.Ad.: 3__ Ch.Ad.: 11__
Em.: 4__ Em.: 12__
Ch.Ad.: 5__ Ch.Ad.: 13__
Em.: 6__ Em.: 14__
Ch.Ad.: 7__ Ch.Ad.: 15__
Em.: 8__
Task 8. Make up your business card. The example has been given for you.
