Before you graduate and begin your career, your final years in law school are essential to preparing for your first job. You’ll be able to focus more deeply on the areas that interest you as you learn how to make a great impression. <b>Our upper-level resources will help you discover hot topics for law review, thrive as a summer associate, and prepare to practice. </b>
Learn how to ace interviews, thrive as a summer associate, select courses to advance your career interests, and network strategically
Find the perfect topic to help you make law review
Prepare for practicing law using quick links to the resources you’ll soon consider essential, including court opinions and rules of civil procedure
You get respect by showing up prepared and ready to undertake the responsibilities of a law student operating at the highest level that you can achieve. You should start that now, because you’re going to have to do that for the rest of your career."
A law review note is a student-written piece that critically analyzes an aspect of the law. It should be deeply researched, well-documented, and make a clear argument on an original, timely topic.
But how do you choose that topic?
When first approaching the task of choosing a law review topic, think about the following questions:
Consider multiple perspectives when determining interest – you, the legal community, and your future employer. Don’t forget that you'll be spending a lot of time working on your note or comment. Make sure you pick something that you can hold interest in.
You might also try to pick a topic related to a practice area you’re thinking about entering after graduation. This can help you explore whether it is a good fit for you and also obtain expertise in relevant topics.
A law review note is a law student’s first chance to publish something that will enter the record of legal scholarship, so getting published is an important goal. You might also find opportunities to publish your work in journals outside of your own law school.
A published piece is a great thing to feature on a resume or CV – and it will come up in job interviews for the rest of your career.
Perhaps an issue has already been discussed quite a bit in scholarly writing, but you see unexplored territory. Maybe your personal experience can provide a unique or a fresh perspective or even a new framing angle to use in approaching the issue. Choosing an unexpected, unpopular, or even unusual stance alone can generate interest and readership.
Topic-based In Focus pages are a great starting point for exploring potential options. Each page provides a robust set of relevant resources, with a topic summary, illustrative graphics, and direct links to relevant news and insights written by leading practitioners in this area.
U.S. Law Week, a prestigious legal news publication available on Bloomberg Law, summarizes and publishes selected splits among United States federal courts of appeals. These splits occur when one or more federal appeals courts disagree on how to interpret a particular law or legal issue. These circuit splits are considered hot legal topics because the Supreme Court is more likely to take on a case when such a split exists for the issue to be considered.
Law firm client alerts are real communications shared by law firms to educate their own clients about relevant current events. These can let you know directly what law firms in a given practice area are currently thinking about, and therefore, what is of current interest to them. Take advantage of this resource to pick a topic that directly addresses what's on their minds.
News coverage is organized into more than 35 areas of interest, so you can easily find the content most relevant to you; we feature articles by our own reporters, as well as Bloomberg Law Insights – thought leadership by expert practitioners on emerging issues. Sign up for newsletters and alerts related to your favorite topics to receive the latest developments right in your inbox.
Bloomberg Law analysts offer data-driven perspectives on trends in developing areas, such as litigation finance, legal operations, and data privacy, while also staying abreast of changes in more traditional topics.
Law students share their experiences as summer associates at firms throughout the country.
You can mess up and still survive
“Your assigning attorney knows that you might not – and likely do not – know what you are doing at first. The learning curve can be steep, but rewarding. After rising to a level of competence my first summer, I came back my second summer with a game plan, ready to go. By the end, I was drafting full motion briefs and contributing in real, meaningful ways.”
– Serena Gopal, Blank Rome LLP
Make lasting connections
“Having others who are in your position and who you can always run to for a sanity check is invaluable. Those friendships have carried on into my first year as an associate and any time one of us has a ‘silly’ question, no one hesitates to run it by the group. Some of the people who were in my summer associate class have become my best friends.”
– Keshav Ahuja, Mintz
Don’t be afraid to ask questions
“Do not be afraid to ask questions because that is how you truly understand what the assignment entails. Asking questions will also show your assigning attorney that you are thinking through the issues. They would rather answer all your questions than have you spin your wheels on your own for hours because you do not fully understand the assignment.”
– Sobeida Peralta, Greenberg Traurig
Remember to be a person
“Sure, you should focus on work and be professional, but when you are at social events or virtual hangouts, remember to be a person. You don’t have to pretend your hobbies are reading SCOTUSblog or listening to NPR (but if they are, good for you). Share (appropriate) stories about your favorite vacations, funny experiences, or family and friends.”
– Whitney Swart, Foley & Lardner