Small Firms are a Great Place for Law Students to Begin Their Careers

With so many different job titles, you may be wondering what kind of job can law students actually get? And more importantly, what type of job will set you up for career success? 

According to the American Bar Association,  63% of attorneys work in solo or small firm practices. 

Here are five reasons to focus your job search to small law firms for clerkships while you are still in law school.

1. Explore a Specific Area of Law

Few people enter law school knowing exactly what type of law they want to pursue.  Working at a small firm will allow you to explore specific areas of law to see if it is a good fit for your interests and personality.  You can seek a clerkship with a firm that does primarily transactional work.  You can seek a clerkship with a firm that does primarily litigation.  Learning what you do and do not like as a law student, will help you better plan your schedule and course load for 2L and 3L.  If you find that you really enjoy litigation, you can load your schedule with more motion practice and advocacy courses.  If you find you really enjoy transactional work, you may seek to add more business law courses. 

Amy began working with her current firm as a law clerk.  As a result of her clerkship during her 1L summer, she found that she really enjoyed tax law.  She added more taxation courses for spring 2L and 3L.  Ultimately, she went on to pursue her LLM in Taxation.  Without exploring that area of law at a small firm, she may not have pursued those additional tax law courses in law school that gave her the foundation to pursue her LLM.  

2. Hands on Practical Experience 

At a small firm, you will likely hit the ground running.  You will be asked to perform real legal work, whether that be drafting motions, performing research, or reviewing contracts.  This practical experience will hone your legal skills whatever practice area you ultimately pursue. 

Within the first week of Amy’s small firm clerkship, she was invited into client meetings.  Learning how to interact with clients is something you can really only learn through experience.  Because she had that experience, she learned best practices that she carries with her into her own client meetings today.  

3. Business Side of Law

While law school is designed to teach you the law, most law schools do not offer any courses that teach you how to operate a law firm.  Law firm owners are business owners, managers, marketers, human resources, and more - in addition to being practicing attorneys.  Working in a small firm, you can learn how to delegate tasks, which tasks should be outsourced and how to manage competing priorities.  If the idea of owning your own law firm is a career path you are interested in, you should absolutely pursue a clerkship with a small firm. 

4. More Flexibility

While of course it varies from managing partner to managing partner, small firms can generally offer more flexibility because there is less bureaucratic red-tape.  If you are well-liked and seen as a valuable attorney, a small firm will work with your schedule and offer to extend your summer position through the fall and even the spring.  They may be willing to work around your class schedule each semester.  

5. Networking Opportunities

Even if you end up working at a small firm that won’t extend you an offer for an attorney position after graduation, you are in a position to significantly grow your network.  Through the attorneys at the firm you are working for, the attorneys that you interact with either cooperatively or as opposing counsel, be certain that you are conducting yourself professionally.  You may find yourself interacting with other professionals such as CPAs, financial planners, title companies, and more.  Connect with these professionals on LinkedIn, keep a record of how you know them, and utilize them as part of your network. 

Learn more about how to leverage your network with our book The Law Student’s Guide to Networking. 

As you explore different careers as a law student, we encourage you to look to small firms and reach out today.  

It may just change the course of your career. 

Photo by Christian Mackie on Unsplash

Please keep in mind that your jurisdiction will have rules of professional conduct that you must follow. This discussion does not focus on the any such rules, including the rules from the jurisdiction where we practice. Rather this is a discussion of tips we have found helpful in managing client expectations in our own experiences. This should not be taken as legal advice.

We make absolutely no guarantee, expressed or implied, that by following the advice you will make any money or improve current profit, as there are several factors and variables that come into play regarding any given business or career. Primarily, results will depend on the business model, the conditions of the marketplace, the experience of the individual, and situations and elements that are beyond your control. As with any business endeavor, you assume all risk related to investment and money based on your own discretion and at your own potential expense.

Nothing contained within this podcast is intended or should be construed to be legal advice and does not create any attorney client relationship. No material on this site, social media, or in the podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical and/or mental health advise, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advise your physician or other qualified provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.