My advice to the starting 1Ls (LONG)

[Matthies]

tagadelic. Thanks Matties!

Just for fun, anything special you would recommend to folks who are going FT (without the PT option) and are limited to nighttime activities? I will try to figure out a way to do lunches and coffee, but I fear daytime stuff just isn't in the cards this year.

Are CE classes available nights? Inns of the Court dinners?

Actually most of the school sponsored networking events will be in the evenings. The Inn of Courts are dinners, and the bar charity stuff is often at night or on the weekends. The only real daytime networking is the CLE lunches, and these are once a month. You should try to go when you can, look for ones that are close to your school, you will get lunch out of the deal and be the only one there. But the majority of the stuff will be at night so you should be fine. 

Oh one more thing, breakfast is always good too. I have a weekly breakfast I attend with some judges and lawyers, its usually over by 8:30AM so if you can find something like this (or start your own group) that can be done before class.   

[RokoMotion]

Tag!

[Speedzie]

Thanks Matthies.  No joke, your posts have always been valuabe to me, right down to the cute kittens!

Also, your comments here mirror what I've already learned anecdotally and through friends.  I've got a cousin who's a lawyer and a paralegal uncle, and both have alrady made it clear to me that knowing people is the (a) key to success.  Thanks for laying it out so succinctly.  I might even print this onto paper!

[*devo*]

tag

[just dot]

One of, if not THE best thread on this site.  I've already tried to start networking and I will definitely put all of this advice to use.  Thanks for taking the time to type this all out, Matthies.

[biggame]

bop

[Pacavelli]

Thanks Matthies, props for the post. 

[Tetris]

Tag.

Would you mind giving some suggestions for successful conversation starters? Talk about law school? How much you love "City X?" Something non-law related? What starters have worked well for you?

I'm a shy person and have problems thinking up ways to start a conversation, especially in an intimidating situation like talking to an older judge or lawyer.

[Ninja1]

Tag-O-Rama

[Matthies]

Tag.

Would you mind giving some suggestions for successful conversation starters? Talk about law school? How much you love "City X?" Something non-law related? What starters have worked well for you?

I'm a shy person and have problems thinking up ways to start a conversation, especially in an intimidating situation like talking to an older judge or lawyer.

If you’re not naturally good at just starting up conversations with strangers (and most people are not) then I would suggest coming up with a few canned responses beforehand. What these should be will be up to you, what you feel comfortable talking about and what fit in with your personal conversation style. Asking someone about their practice area is always a good one. But you should have a 4-5 that you can use in any situation. Try doing a Google search for networking conversation starters and get some ideas then personalize it for your specific style.