Although many students do very well academically, it does not guarantee success in Professional life once they graduate. Professional development – determines their level of success and job satisfaction to a great extent.
Connecting with Experienced legal professionals like Advocates, Judges, Corporate Lawyers etc. is an essential component of professional development and plays a big role in their ultimate success.
These connections bring forth opportunity to build professional relationships, which in turn, provide career:
- Guidance from someone who has “been there, and done that”: Fundamentally, every professional relationship has the potential for mentoring – viz., for helping the aspiring law student to get “real time” advice on current trends, as well as rules and customs that are still unwritten. Advocates can share stories from their personal journeys – the mistakes they made, the victories along the way and the reasons they chose their particular field.
- Insight on your personal career: As the professional relationship develops, the Legal Professional can guide the student to focus on his/her strengths and weaknesses, and their natural bents toward an area of law. By determining what makes the student rouse with passion, the mentor can give strong feedback about realistic career options.
- Opportunities regarding potential job openings: A large portion of openings are not publicly posted; instead, they are filled either through staffing firms or word-of-mouth among those already working within a specific company or arena. And, an ongoing professional relationship with an established legal professional opens the door for potential recommendations, which can lead to future connections and opportunities.
Building strong professional relationships takes more than creating the initial events. Some important keys include:
- Putting “professionalism” before the word networking: This is not about connecting with friends – it’s about connecting with professional groups within the law arena. It includes participating in forums and discussions, posting relevant articles, seeking advice, etc.
- Effective Presence on social media: If a students desires respect and guidance from professionals, an effective presence on social media is the need of the hour.
- Building personal strength, authenticity, and integrity: It has been found that practicing advocates and other legal professional mentors will be much faster to build a professional relationship with an individual who are trustworthy and honest in their approach.
The journey of professional development is stimulated when students understand which field of law is their cup of tea and in which direction they would like to make their career from amongst the diversified and challenging options which Law as a field offers them.