The Reasonably Prudent Law Student

I’ve been asked this question several times, and I’ve also asked it several times. I have yet to receive a good answer. Some say yes, some say no, and no one sounds particularly convinced either way. (At least, as far as the argument applies to 1Ls.) When this question turned up as one of the search phrases that led someone to this blog, I figured it would be a good idea to do a quick write-up.

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I remember being a 1L and sitting in my Property class (channeling Conrad: The horror! The horror!) as my professor talked about the SBA alumni event. Basically, the school invited its alumni to come and have drinks and appetizers with the law students, and our professor urged us to go and mingle with the alumnis and give them our business cards.

Cue all of us looking at each other stupidly like, We’re supposed to have business cards? I don’t have business cards, do you have business cards?

Sidebar here, but I didn’t go to the alumni event. Andy and I were talking about it on the train beforehand, and we came to the conclusion that it probably wouldn’t be worth it. And from what we gathered from our friends after the event, we made the right decision. Basically, when attorneys are called to talk to a bunch of snot-nose, bullshit-brat law students after a long day’s work, they’re all heading straight to the open bar and tying one on. And then, the men in the group are going to spend the rest of the night hitting on the female law students. That was pretty much exactly what happened according to my friends.

I was talking to a bunch of other law school students on Twitter (we call ourselves The Rat Pack, and then when the Rat Pack got too big, we formed a separate faction of non-gunners called the Village Sheeple), and we got into a discussion about this. Some insisted that business cards for 1Ls was too gunnerish, and would have violated the spirit of the Village Sheeple, even though the Village Sheeple hadn’t been ordained yet. Myself and others said that they were useful in the right situations, and you were better off safe than sorry.

During my first year, I was convinced I actually wanted to be a lawyer. And while I didn’t attend any of the school’s networking events, I attended enough of my own, particularly within the Muslim community. And it never hurt to have my business card in my purse to give to someone instead of awkwardly fumbling for a pen and piece of paper to take down an email address, or try to quickly put someone’s number in my cell phone. It was smoother to just hand over a card, and mine came in pretty handy. I ended up giving them out to various Muslim lawyers, CAIR and CAMP people, on the train, and randomly.

So business cards worked out pretty well for me. I made some good contacts, scheduled some good interviews, and was better able to network in general.

I remember I posed the question of whether 1Ls should have business cards or not to my Twitter followers, composed at the time of mostly attorneys. One Twit said that 1Ls shouldn’t waste time or energy with business cards and should instead channel that time/energy into finding jobs because the market was so bleak.

For some reason, that made me laugh at the time. I mean, regardless of the truth of that statement, way to be That Guy. Hahaha.

So anyway, decide for yourself if you want business cards or not. By 2L and 3L, you’ll need them because you’ll be interviewing more, but during 1L it’s kind of up to you. If you want them and think they’ll help, go for it. If you think they’re unnecessary at this point, that’s fine, too.

But this all begs the question, what should you put on your law student business cards?

Well, your name. Duh. I use the phrase “J.D. Candidate 2011″ under my name, followed by my school. I have my address on there, as well as a phone number where I can be reached. I also have my email address. (Make sure it’s your school email, or some email that’s some combination of your first and last name, not “SatansPixieBitch@aol.com” or anything. I mean, really, who uses AOL anymore? The nineties called, and they want their dominating acronym back.)

And since social media is so in these days, it might be smart to add additional details onto the back. If you blog about law and law school and God knows what else, and want prospective employers to be able to find that, put the URL on the back of the card. Add your Facebook URL (they’re customized now!). Add your Twitter. You might as well; all employers pretty much Google your butt anyway. And remember to clean up the Facebook; get rid of all those pictures of you doing a keg stand in the Borat swimsuit. That’s not going to get you that internship at the DOJ.

Basically, keep your basic information (name, JD Candidate + year, school, address) on the front, and make sure there’s an email and phone number on there. On the back, add your social media crap, because putting it on the front is going to be way too cluttered.

I was talking to Matt Homann at the ABA Tech Show last year, and he said that he ordered his business cards printed on a size larger than the standard business card – that is, too big to fit in a Rolodex. My first question was, dude, what the hell’s a Rolodex? But that was more of a facetious thing – I knew what a Rolodex was, just like I also knew at the time exactly what Willis was talkin’ ’bout. He said they worked because, since they wouldn’t fit in the Rolodex, the contact had to keep the card next to the Rolodex or in the drawer or something, very plainly in sight.

I think it’s a cute idea, but I also think there are some basic flaws to this. First of all, in this time of Google Goggles (Youtube vid), who the hell uses Rolodexes anymore? I mean, my father has one, but my father is not a good example: Papa Hoomster likes to ridicule things that are popular as unnecessary, and then he buys them 10 years after the peak of their popularity and tells anyone who will listen how they are vital to man’s survival. You take the business card and either scan it right in using your Android, or you stick it in your purse, add it in when you’re at your computer, and throw it out.

And if I got a business card that was too big to fit in my Rolodex (if I had one), I’d just throw it away. I’d be like, okay, this guy is clearly hell bent on being That Guy and making things difficult for me, so if he really made an impression on me, I guess I can actually save his info before I throw this stupid card out, but it’s definitely going in the trash one way or another.

So yeah. Just my thoughts on the matter. If you want to put your info on a sandwich board, by all means, go for it.

Speaking of business cards, I need to get mine redone. I wasn’t really blogging until the spring of my 1L year, and I got my cards made in the fall, so I don’t have this blog on there, or my twitter. I don’t really need my Twitter on there, but I want my blog URL up there. It’s the same reason that I put my blog up front and center when I made my Google profile – I want people to be able to find this place and get a better sense of who I am.

A raving psychotic nutjob who yells about clothes and Megan Fox and pills and names her various bodily ailments including but not limited to her ulcer.

…On second thought, maybe I’ll hold off on those business cards.