Expert Advice When You Need It Most
Posted about 3 years ago. 1 helpful vote, 0 comments
1
Go to the right conferencesThe international law community is pretty small actually. Especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you can’t actually work with them, then at least try to meet the lawyers doing the stuff at conferences. I post about new conferences that relate to international law constantly. Stay tuned here and you won’t miss too much about local conferences. 2
Take classes taught by actual practitionersTake classes taught by actual practitioners who have the experience that you want to get. Locally, Tom Klitgaard of my old firm Dillingham & Murphy, and a China expert, teaches an Asian Comparative Law course at the University of San Francisco (USF). Tom is always opening up his network to promising USF law students who express interest. My former boss, Bart Selden, teaches International Business Transactions and Intellectual Property courses at various universities, including Golden Gate University (GGU). He even hires some of his students to be interns at the firm. When I was at Hastings, I took corporations with Anna Han of White & Case (and SCU Professor), another China business attorney. (though we never spoke about the topic because I was only interested in litigation at the time, and corporations was merely a bar course) 3
Talk to peopleDan Harris at China Law Blog makes himself available for questions constantly. (I should know, I’ve asked some) When you see an article or blog post you like, contact the author. Do informational interviews locally with people who you want to meet. The worst thing you can do is be timid and afraid. Don’t be. 4
Just get out thereDo a summer exchange program your 1L summer in China. Preferably one of those that allow you to take classes and intern at a local Chinese law firm. That’s a good experience and will let you meet people (and hopefully learn something). This applies to not only China, but anywhere else too. Here are some I found by a quick google search: Indiana, Willamette, Georgia. 5
BlogTravis Hodgkins, Brad Luo, and Will Lewis have made quite a name for themselves by blogging. It isn’t terribly hard to do–just somewhat time consuming. Yes, you are in law school. No, you don’t have a lot of time. But you have some time. You are either wasting it on watching TV or reading the local legal gossip rags. Whereas these law students now have published the Transnational Law Blog, China Business Law Blog, and Experience Not Logic. Obviously you need to get your feet wet first, so this is not for the absolute neophyte. But after you have done #1-4 enough times over a year or two, you can do #5. In fact, I believe Travis is always looking for co-authors… (why set up your own if there are opportunities out there already?) 6
Set up online networking profilesThere are plenty of social networking online services. Like Facebook or Friendster. But I mean the professional networking sites. Ryze and LinkedIn are the two best places to start. Especially LinkedIn. Yes, I have both. And then be aggressive to meet the people you want to meet. (see #3 above) Additional ResourcesRelated Questions1 Attorney answers: 
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