As a law student or new attorney, you may not find it easy to network, but your professional success depends on how effectively you master the skill. Here are several resources that offer some useful advice:
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Cultivating Your Existing Network: Tips for New Associates stresses that even new law school grads have a range of relationships around them that can bring value to their career if they can nurture and capitalize on these relationships. This existing network of relationships includes senior lawyers in your firm, secretaries and other staff, clients, mentors outside of your firm, peers and classmates, and family and friends.
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Networking Tips for Lawyers: The Art of Schmoozing recaps a panel discussion by the NY City Bar Committee on Law Student Perspectives. It includes practical networking tips ranging from breaking the ice, preparation, appearance, and connecting. The bottom line from the discussion is that, when it comes to networking, you have to put yourself out there and conquer your fear by doing it.
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Shy Lawyer’s Guide to Becoming a Rainmaker, a podcast from the ABA Journal, features an executive coach and author of Selling In Your Comfort Zone, along with a practicing attorney, discussing the ways in which lawyers can overcome their anxieties and discover that they are much better at networking than they think. A transcript of the podcast is also included.
The following titles from the library’s collection are also worth checking out:
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The Young Litigator: Tips on Rainmaking, Writing and Trial Practice
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Excellence in the Workplace: Legal and Life Skills in a Nutshell
