Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams: Regardless of Your Grades, Your School, or Your Work Experience!

I wish I read this book in my 1L year or even before law school. It is the most serious book out there for getting the legal job of your "dreams" which is not necessarily the job that pays the most. Some of you will stop reading this review at this point because you feel that the two are synonymous. If you are absolutely sure of that, don't read the book or the rest of this review. Also, go get an MBA because they make way more money, especially per hour worked, than lawyers. But, if you are like me and want more out of your legal career than money, definitely read this book. Believe me, I'm not suggesting that money isn't important. It is. But for most people, money is only one component of happiness. Since all of you reading this are probably law students, I will tell you that I'm a 3L at UC Davis Law School with some experience to share. The book is a collection of chapters that often repeat themselves. The author explains in the introduction that it is not to be read cover to cover. Read the book section by section according to your needs. For the purposes of this review, I will explain my situation and how the book helped me going forward and how it could have helped me had I read it earlier. I transferred to UC Davis because I never made it off the waitlist initially. But I worked my butt off first year and made top 10%. That got got me into Davis as a transfer student and I got swept up in OCI fever. I came to law school from a political and local government background and thought that was the direction I was heading. However, doing so well academically made me a target for interviews at big firms. I thought "why are these other loser law students getting the opportunity to earn $30,000 in a summer and get a cushy firm job after graduation? Those salaries are more than my parents make! Sign me up!" Of course, the book would have warned me that this is an example of "Dream Cloning." Is it really MY dream to go on the big firm track? Isn't there a reason why 1/2 of new associates leave their firm? Is there a reason why very few are actually happy with their jobs? What does billing 2200 hours annually actually mean? Why are they really paying this kind of money? I was not thinking about these questions the book helps flush out. I was thinking that I have just as much skills as the clowns next to me. I'm not trying to hate on OCI, big salaries, or big firms, but it is important for folks to make an informed decision. The book helps law students tremendously in knowing their options, especially with the reality of law school costs. I got 4 callback interviews and zero offers. I felt like a total loser because some of my friends (though not many) got offers and will make a lot of money. During 2L Spring Semester, after all the rejection letters came in, things did not go well. I actually took the business law classes, which covered what the OCI firms actually practice in. It is stupid that firms hire folks

I bought this book as a 1L with very little job experience and even less interviewing experience. I didn't know any lawyers (except my professors) and I thought networking was a dirty word. After reading this book from cover to cover, I updated my resume using the suggestions in the book, developed an "infomercial" using the exercises in the book, and was able to land a job my first summer out of law school. When my first choice firm turned me down for an on campus interview during my 2L year, I followed up with them (using the suggestions in this book), and was able to get an interview and a job offer...which then turned into a permanent job offer. After a few years of practicing law, I decided I wanted to try something else, and I turned back to the "Deciding What the Heck the Job of Your Dreams Is, Anyway" chapter in this book, and then started sending out resumes and interviewing--after re-reading the relevant chapters. I finally have my dream job (teaching), and I owe at least part of that to Kimm Alayne Walton and this book. Yes, although this book is crammed full of useful information (especially for law students who do not have much work experience), it does use a casual, conversational style. If that bothers you, you should read it anyway! It's really worth it. If you already have lots of experience with interviewing and you know exactly where you want your law degree to take you, then you probably don't need this book. But you might want to take a look at it before your first interviews anyway.

For those of us who are not Editors in Chief at Ivy League law schools this book is a tremendous help in finding that first legal job. Kimm has a light and humerous style of writing that actually makes the reading pleasant. The book is well-researched and provides stand alone sections that allow you to read up on certain areas when you have time and need to (like how to put a good resume together... and later how to interview). The book helped me understand the unique mentality that only the legal world seems to adopt when considering job prospects and how to adapt and excel at their game. Aggresively following most of Kimm's advise truly helped me land the legal job of my dreams. RK

I found this book to be a lifesaver. Job searchs can be frightening and overwhelming, for L1s in particular, but this book de-mystifies the entire process. My main obstacle was that I froze up on job interviews, despite having good grades. I tried getting help from Career Counseling, and I tried doing practice interviews with attornies, but it got to the point where I was too terrified to even apply for any more jobs. (Let me put it this way - my interviews used to be so bad that when I finally was able to tell my career counselor I had a job offer, she almost had a heart attack on the spot.)I came across this book in our law library, and got good advice from the whole thing, but paid particular attention to the section on interviewing. I saw improvement in every interview I did, and ended up turning down several jobs before accepting an L2 Summer job. After graduating and passing the bar in another state, I reviewed the book again, and ended up getting through a marathon of 8 interviews in one afternoon, to get the job I wanted.I found the entire book useful; the writing style was humorous and readable, and the advice was invariably helpful. My situation may have been more drastic than that of most law students, but this IS a book for those who are not having much luck finding a job. If you've got a lot of job offers, you probably don't need this book. For the rest of us...get a copy. Don't get it from your law library - another student will recall it soon. ;)

I bought this book during my second year of law school and have found it unbelievably helpful. The author genuinely knows what she is talking about, and after following her advice I now have three job offers at major law firms in Los Angeles.