Blog Post: You've graduated Law School, now what?

So, you've done it! You made it through Law School! Congratulations!!........Now what? Well, Deborah Arron offers some great tips on www.decisionbooks.com about picking the right direction after law school. Your first job after law school is where you hone in on what skills you enjoy using and gain fundamental experience that can help you grow your career in the future. The first thing you should do is identify what direction you want your legal career to go.

Here are a few things you should ask yourself:

Do you want to work with people, or would you rather work with ideas and data?

If you are drawn to people you may consider general practice, the plaintiff's side of personal injury or family, elder, immigration, employment and sports law.

Like ideas and data? Think about insurance defense and coverage, bankruptcy, intellectual property, environmental and health law, commercial transactions, tax and real estate.

Do you like to solve problems or analyze problems?

If you are a problem solver you probably prefer concrete, relatively short projects which you can find in sections like elder law, adoption, small business representation, simple estate planning, criminal law, guardianship, and general practice.

If you're more of an analyzer you probably like more complicated, large scale projects which can be found in environmental law, commercial transactions, complex litigation, trusts and intellectual property.

Would you rather do more writing or more talking?

Writing? If you loved being in the library or preparing class notes, this is probably you. As you progress in your career you may want to focus on appellate work, insurance coverage, intellectual property, or complex business transactions.

Talking? If you have a preference for study groups or love moot court and clinical education classes this is for you. In the beginning of your career focus on general practice, criminal or quasi-criminal advocacy, or litigation in a mid-size or small law firm.

You have many options out there for the Law School Graduate. Once you've decided an initial direction for your legal career you'll be on your way to great success! Good luck!