“It’s law school, not lawyer school.”

Many junior lawyers have heard this cliché from their more senior colleagues when they observe that the lessons learned in law school seem to have limited application to the daily realities of practice. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t effective strategies to make practical use of your education.

In How to Be a Lawyer: The Path from Law School to Success, accomplished lawyers and entrepreneurs Jason Mendelson and Alex Paul deliver an intensely practical blueprint to translating your years of training and education into a running start in real-world practice. In the book, you’ll find a bridge between the largely theoretical world of law school and the client-driven world of private or public practice.

Whether you’ve already started your first job at a large firm or you’re still in school and dreaming about a role at a small nonprofit or government agency, you’ll find the concrete advice you need to succeed in this book. It’s filled with relevant, digestible advice you won’t get from your professors, but unfortunately your employers and clients will expect you to know on your first day.

How to Be a Lawyer offers case studies and guest chapters from accomplished lawyers who successfully transitioned from school to a wide variety of law practices, from criminal to tax, corporate, litigation, and more. The authors explain how you can radically improve your performance at your first job and avoid the most common career pitfalls and client service mistakes that can slow your progress.

Ideal for all aspiring and current law students, this book is also an essential read for early-career lawyers looking for a reliable and insightful roadmap to navigating a legal career.

PRAISE FOR HOW TO BE A LAWYER

“How To Be a Lawyer should be required reading for anyone entering the legal profession. Today, more than ever, to represent clients effectively, attorneys must not only be experts in the law, but be practical, creative, and emotionally intelligent problem solvers. This book goes a long way in helping new lawyers get a jumpstart on the critical skills they will need to succeed.”

―RICH BAER, Chief Legal Officer, Airbnb

“I am so happy someone finally wrote this book! Any law student or young lawyer who aspires to be a truly great and successful lawyer should read this book. For all its academic rigor and intellectual challenge, law school teaches students practically nothing about perhaps the most crucial skills for a successful lawyer―the soft skills that create trust, foster relationships, and provide the client with a satisfying customer experience that builds business. These same soft skills can make you the senior partner's go-to person for their most important matters, as well as help you manage and mentor more junior lawyers to maximize their potential. Soft skills can be learned and must be practiced to become a truly great lawyer.”

―LAURA RICKETTS, Businesswoman, entrepreneur, political activist, and community advocate

“It’s a tale of love, lust and lawyers. Ok, mostly lawyers.”

―ANONYMOUS GENERAL COUNSEL

“How To Be a Lawyer provides excellent perspectives from practicing lawyers about the transition from law school to practicing business law. I wish this book existed when I graduated. It’s a terrific resource for someone looking for real-world examples as they graduate and begin to build their practice.”

―CYNTHIA CLARFIELD HESS, Co-Chair, Startup and Venture Capital, Fenwick

“I wish I had this book when I graduated. There are smart strategies that would have been really useful to me as I started my career. It would have been a must-read in law school.”

―GEOFF KORS, Palm Springs Councilmember and former Mayor

"Law school hones analytical skills, writing, editing, advocacy skills, research, and statutory interpretation. However, these skills alone will not allow someone to be a successful lawyer. There are so many more required skills, and this book provides insights on what those skills are and how to attain them. Being a great lawyer requires understanding so much more. How To Be a Lawyer is critical to avoid lawyerly myopic thinking that plagues American lawyers. I encourage all students who are considering law school to read it."

―SHIMA BARADARAN BAUGHMAN, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, University of Utah College of Law

"You are selling yourself short if you think more experienced lawyers won't benefit from this as well."

―RANDALL KLEIN, Principal, Goldberg Kohn