New Zealand Law Society Guide for New Lawyers

"One thing you will find as you start work as a lawyer is that it’s very different to studying law and you’re going to have to learn quite a few new things. Law school and profs teach you how to think like a lawyer; when you enter the workforce, you’ve got to learn how to act like a lawyer." Jonathan Temm, President, New Zealand Law Society November 2012.

This Guide includes some excellent tips on sucessfully surviving those first few years after Law School. It covers topics such as: finding a job and tips for interviews;  work practices and delegation of work; court etiquette and what to wear in court and tribunals.

How Students Should Follow Up With Employers

by Emily Driscoll

College seniors who have sent out resumes and interviewed with hiring managers might be ready to sit back and hope for a job offer, but their application process is far from complete.
In the current competitive job market, following up after the interview has evolved beyond a common courtesy and into a necessary step....
Read more

my.lawsociety

Lots of interesting stuff at my.lawsociety.org.nz
It's a New Zealand Law Society thing.
Explore it, especially the Information for New Lawyers. There you'll find the really useful New Zealand Law Society Guide for New Lawyers. It includes sections on starting work as a lawyer (finding a job, the interview process), appearing in courts and tribunals, and some useful insights into corporate culture.
Parts of the site are restricted to members but much of it is free.
Very cool.

applying for jobs

We recently advertised for next year's team of student assistants. They're the ones (usually senior law students) who keep the library up and running in the evenings and weekends, when the permanent staff are home growing vegetables and feeding chickens and doing whatever else we do when we're not here.
We're always really impressed by the calibre of the applicants, and it's always disappointing that we can employ so few of them.
Anyway, for those of you thinking of applying for work here in 2012, or even if you're applying for summer clerkships or permanent jobs, here are a few tips based on our recent recruitment experience.

Please do:

• include a cover letter. It's the best way to get your voice across.
• sign your letter - old-fashioned but still expected in a formal context.
• keep your CV brief. At least for our purposes, a double-sided A4 sheet is about right.
• provide a work referee, if you have one, since it's a job you're applying for.

And please don't:

• send us the job description. We already know about the job. We want to know about you. With as few page-turns as possible.
• send us scruffy forms. Presentation counts, so don't change pens half-way through filling out a form. And if you spill coffee on it, get a clean one and start again.

These are minor points, but that's what counts when you have 50 good applicants and only five jobs.

And from the ridiculous to the sublime: thanks to the Law Librarian Blog I recently found the Yale Law School admissions blog. It's interesting, entertaining and potentially useful to anyone making any kind of application any time soon.