WHAT

Mentor in Law is a biweekly newsletter for law students, pre-law students, recent grads, and lawyers about everything law school doesn’t teach you, particularly all the practical aspects. Newsletters feature advice on how to get into different fields of law from practicing lawyers, how to maximize your law school experience from law professors, how to navigate opportunities beyond the law from non-practicing lawyers, and how to build a successful career both in and out of the law. It’s a self-contained email newsletter, so the advice is succinct, actionable, and to the point, without fluff or long-form narratives.

If there is something you would like to see in particular, please reach out at nyssa [at] nyssapchopra [dot] com.

Sign up with your email, and join the Mentor in Law LinkedIn Group.

WHY

I frequently receive requests for coffee, phone calls, and/or mentorship from law students and lawyers. In speaking to so many law students and drawing from my own law school experience, I realized there is so much law schools don’t teach you about the practice of law and being a lawyer in general. I wish I had sought out a mentor in law much earlier to help guide me through OCI, interviews, jobs, networking, and general lawyering, so I hope this newsletter bridges that information gap for others and serves as another resource to learn the practical skills to thrive as an aspiring or practicing lawyer. I am a strong advocate of impactful mentorship, and having been both the mentor and mentee, I know firsthand what magic can come from people believing in you, your abilities, and your potential, and people providing proper guidance and access to opportunities that may not have hit your radar otherwise. In addition to providing an opportunity to scale the advice and pay it forward, my goal for this newsletter is to amplify diverse voices in the legal profession, particularly first-generation and minority lawyers. Representation matters, and different things resonate with different people.

WHO

While the primary audience of this newsletter is law students (and recent grads), much of the content will be relevant to all lawyers in general, particularly those that are looking to move jobs, change careers, or switch practice areas. So all lawyers are welcome to sign up. Pre-law students are also welcome to sign up.

WHEN

The inaugural issue came out on June 20, 2020, and subsequent issues will be published on the 1st and 15th of every month. Archives can be found here.

A few of the topics covered:

  • Mentoring and sponsoring;

  • Interviewing;

  • How to network in the age of Covid-19;

  • Tips for virtual internships/externships;

  • Diversity and inclusion;

  • Personal branding;

  • Myth busting of different practice areas;

  • Book recommendations;

  • List of resources;

  • Tips on how to land your first legal job;

  • Alternative careers for JDs; and much more.

A few of the contributors are:

  • International diplomats;

  • Federal prosecutors;

  • In-house counsel at Fortune 500 companies;

  • Nonprofit leaders;

  • Public defenders;

  • Government officials;

  • Law professors;

  • BigLaw firm associates and partners;

  • Boutique firm lawyers;

  • Startup advisors/founders;

  • Solo practitioners; and more.

Subscribe to Mentor in Law

Mentor in Law is a biweekly newsletter for law students and lawyers about everything law school doesn’t teach you, particularly all the practical aspects. Issues are published on the 1st and 15th of every month.

People

Travel + culture for the modern global citizen | Travel well, eat well, live well | by @NyssaPChopra: Lawyer, Humanitarian, Technologist, Writer