How to Choose a Law Firm
You’ve probably heard it time and time again: law school doesn’t teach you how to be a lawyer. That’s true! But, in all fairness to your law school professors, law school isn’t supposed to teach you how to practice law. Instead, it’s supposed to teach you how to think like a lawyer. And, while it’s definitely not perfect, it does do a pretty good job at this. The task of teaching you the day-to-day intricacies of being a lawyer, on the other hand, rests with your law firm. It’s therefore important to think critically about where you want to practice law. The point of this blog post, then, is to offer some advice when it comes to choosing a law firm—a decision that could end up shaping your career trajectory (not to be dramatic).
First, ask whether the law firm has a mentoring program. In your early days of being a lawyer, you’re not going to know anything. It therefore helps—indeed, it’s arguably essential—to have one or two senior lawyers who take on the task of mentoring you. Ideally, you’ll meet with these lawyers on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Amongst other things, they’ll ask you what matters you’re working on, if you have any questions for them, or whether you’d like to get involved on some of their current/upcoming files.
Keep in mind that, although many firms say they have a mentoring program, not all mentoring programs are created equally. A good way to learn whether a law firm’s mentoring program is actually as good as they might want you to believe is to ask current articling students (or junior associates) about their experience. Do they meet with senior lawyers frequently? Do those senior lawyers proactively take an interest in their work? Or are they routinely forced to reach out to senior lawyers just to get work? In other words, don’t just take what law firms say at face value! Do your best to get a look behind the curtains so that you have a better idea of what it’s actually like to practice law at that firm as a junior.
Second, consider whether your personality meshes with the culture of a prospective firm. You should be able to pick up on this during interviews and meetings with current lawyers at that firm. Do they have similar interests as you? Do they seem like people you’d like to work with on a daily basis? Are they caring and courteous? While you don’t need to be best friends with the people you work with, they should be people who you can tolerate (at minimum) and, ideally, are people who you look forward to working with each day.
Third, if things like remote work, parental leave, and EDI (amongst other things) are important to you, don’t be afraid to ask the firm about these subjects. Better yet, ask them whether they have a specific policy in place concerning such topics. Obviously, as a student, you probably just want a job and don’t want to be seen as coming across as “entitled” for asking about these topics. But keep in mind that, upon accepting a job offer, you’re going to have to work in accordance with that law firm’s policies. And so if a law firm’s stance on a particular issue (e.g., remote work) is going to make you unhappy, it may be better to pass on that offer and look for another one that’s going to make you a little more excited about work.
Finally, casting financial considerations aside, follow your passion. In law school, there’s a lot of pressure to follow the crowd and conform to the “big law” trend. But if you’re passionate about criminal law, for example, (and again casting financial considerations aside), then big law isn’t going to make you happy. Quite the opposite in fact. And so don’t be afraid to reject the common path and, instead, seek out a job in the area of law you’re most passionate about. Your future self will thank you.
