The Care and Handling of a Boss
By Guest Blogger: Carolyn R. Young, Director of Externship Program
Chapman University School of Law

As the Director of the Externship Program at Chapman, I have gotten to know a lot of bosses; in fact, I used to be one myself. Whether they are enjoying the fruits of your free labor or paying you obnoxious amounts of money, all bosses want pretty much the same thing. Not that they’d ever tell you what they want, of course. So until “The Art and Application of Mind Reading 101” is offered at Chapman, I’m here to give you a few tips on how to impress the most important person you’ll ever meet: Your Boss.

• Talk to the support staff as you talk to the Boss, and show them the respect you would want to be shown. The legal assistants and file clerks really run the show, so if you cop an attitude, believe me, your boss will hear about it.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions when getting an assignment. Make sure you understand exactly what the Boss is asking, the meaning of any unfamiliar terms, the key background facts, when it is due, what research sources you might use, and anything else that seems relevant. In fact, you might repeat the assignment back to the Boss to make sure you’ve gotten it right and that she hasn’t forgotten to tell you something important.
• Before you begin an assignment, go over the file or issue thoroughly and pay attention to the details – if you are grounded in the big picture of the case you will make fewer mistakes, and you just might catch something the Boss missed.
• Outline, or at least jot down, a research strategy. That strategy should rarely begin with a term search for cases on Lexis and Westlaw, especially if the issue you are researching is new to you (and most will be). Start with treatises (Witkin or a relevant specialist), practice guides (Rutter Guide), and digests (West). These all come in book form and are also on Westlaw.
• Keep your writing clear and concise. Edit out unnecessary words and phrases and legalese. If you want help in this area, try Plain English for Lawyers by Richard C. Wydick, or one of Bryan A. Garner’s many books.
• Turn your work in on deadline. If the Boss forgets to ask for your work when it’s due, or if you need more time to finish, go to her. And never leave tasks unfinished, especially if you know you won’t be in the office the next day.
• When you are finished with a project, seek out the Boss to ask for another. Although you might get away with an afternoon of slacking off if she’s too busy to notice, when she does notice, it will not look good.
• PROOFRD!
• PROOFRAD!!
• PROOFREAD!!!
• Besides the Bluebook and the Rutter Guide, your most important legal tool is your common sense, so don’t leave it at the door. Try to understand the issues as they play out in the real world, and worry less about whether your memo sounds like a lawyer wrote it, and more about whether it says what you want it to say clearly.

LEGAL WRITING AND YOUR CAREER
by Guest Blogger: Professor Lawrence Rosenthal
Chapman University School of Law

In my first appearance as a guest blogger for career services, I want to talk not about getting a job, but about legal writing. Let me explain . . . .

Developing your writing skills is probably the most important career building step that a law student can take. No one emerges from law school as a polished litigator. Employers know that no matter how many skills-oriented courses or outside jobs a law student has had, litigation skills take years to develop. Newly minted lawyers simply do not excel as litigators – on that score, the most you can offer an employer is potential. But one thing that a law student can offer an employer right away is a high level of competence at writing. There are many successful litigators who lack either the time or the ability to do quality writing, and they hire associates to fill that gap. You can prove your ability as a legal writer to a potential employer right off the bat with the right writing sample. Good writers are always in demand – but you need both experience and a high quality writing sample to meet that demand.

So how do you develop your writing skills? Remember that the 1L legal writing course is only a beginning. The finest 1L course in the country (and we may well offer it here) will not turn students into polished writers. That requires lots of practice, and greater familiarity with substantive law than 1Ls have. So in your student career, take advantage of every opportunity you can to write, and especially to get feedback from someone who knows what kind of legal writing will impress an employer. I have made my own resolution to offer every semester at least one course in which students will write legal briefs and receive individualized feedback from me (this semester it’s my Civil Rights class, next semester I will do it in Appellate Practice). Remember, legal writing is hard; you’ll only get better with lots of practice, and lots of feedback. Remember also that the feedback won’t always be positive, but constructive criticism is the type of feedback most likely to benefit you in the future, at least when you take it to heart. Work on those writing skills with the goal of developing a t40-carat writing sample to wow employers.