Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

Talk with clients, competitors, and other lawyers who might be familiar with them.

You have the right idea. Now you just need to be more aggressive in your research.

Call the law firm, and befriend the receptionist? Can you connect to someone inside the firm via LinkedIn? Can you contact the local law library? Research judgements and/or claims filed?

You are definitely on the right track, but take it one step futher -- forget the CV! Letters tend to get read, and CVs tend to get "round filed," ( = hit the wastepaper basket).

Your communication with the firm needs to focus on "1st, provide value." Providing generic value is tough. You are better off focusing on providing value to a specific individual. Value can be either legal information, or information about another subject of keen interest to that person.

Three points of departure are:

- The legal directory Martindale Hubbel www.martindale.com

- Journalists, get in touch with any that have written about members of the firm or cases it has had. A journalist often has a lot more information in his head about the subject than what appeared in the article he wrote.

- If you can find out that a member of the firm is attending a court hearing open to the public, attend it.

If you want to add power then I would write my own article! It does not have to be published in the London Times to be legitimate. It can go out on the Iternet to all kinds of article directories and to blogs.

In writing this article about "Widgit litigation," FIRST you interview partners at OTHER law firms. That gives you some expertise by the time you start interviewing partners at your target firm.

Consider seeking a co-author for your article from a prestigious firm. (Do not get carried away and "go New York," with this approach. There is an urban rumor that there a law student once wrote a "form letter of rejection," to the heads of dozens of huge Park Ave. and Wall St. firms, none of whom had answered his co-author request. "Thank you for your interest. However another more highly qualified Managing Partner has accepted the invitation. Selection is final. Please do not re-apply. . ." These "successful all their lives" power attorneys do not take well to rejection. Allegedly one or two of them, sputtering with rage, demanded to be added to the author team. Granted, it is an unlikely tale, the stuff of academic legends.)

If you want to go "maximum power," consider adding a video interview component. You need more than a smart phone camera, but by no means do you need a full blown professional set-up. If that route interests you, google the subject and talk to some "hobby video shooters," about it.

Regards,
JH