What are you up to these days?
Currently, I am clerking for a small law firm that specializes in cannabis law, business law, and criminal law in the Bay Area.
How did you get your job?
I had a few different opportunities during law school. I was a law clerk at CD Baby my first summer after my first year. Then I did the SBLC clinic for a semester. During that time, I did OCI and got a clerkship with a local firm. I was starting to feel burnt out when I started talking to some prosecutors for Clark County DA’s Office and they encouraged me to clerk for them. I also started working at the LITC at the same time. Prosecution was really why I had wanted to go to law school and I continued that clerkship until I graduated. After I graduated, my partner and I moved down to California, where I took the California bar. Even before our move, I started reaching out to attorneys in the field I wanted to be in: cannabis law. After several referrals and one attorney going to bat for me, I finally ended up where I am now.
What advice would you give to a graduating student who's looking for a job?
I have 3 pieces of advice for 3L students who are feeling burnt out:
(1) Just stop. Take some time. Take a day. Take a weekend. Stop thinking about getting a job. Do something you love to do – whether that’s hiking or going to the movies. Think about why it is you came to law school.
(2) Put yourself out there. People do not get jobs from just applying to jobs. You have do the research, take the initiative, and email people. I consider myself an introvert, and during the pandemic, I found it easier to put myself out there through emailing, texting, and Zoom. It still made me feel uncomfortable, but you know what? Finding a job is uncomfortable. But the end goal is finding the right connection at the right time so you have to just keep going.
(3) Finally, I would suggest picking a few industries that you love to do. I know of some classmates that had a specific job in mind and their whole world shattered when it wasn’t realized. Instead, I would pick a few industries and find lawyers who are doing those jobs. Reach out to them. Tell them you’re a law student and you just want to ask them about their jobs. Then, at the end of the informal interview, ask them for names of three other people you can talk to.