LAW PRACTICE MANAGEMENT I : AREAS OF LAW
I. Explore the area in depth: career guides, law firm & attorney directories, FindLaw, Hieros Gamos • II. Review key resources: Westlaw; Lexis; treatises, nutshells, reporters • Get your feet wet: conferences, list serves, internships, join professional organizations, read legal newspapers & journals • Think about where you want to practice: corporate, small firm, government, public interest
I. EXPLORE THE AREA IN DEPTH -- Manuals and guides will help you learn about specific areas of law (see handouts) also see the Law Library’s Lawyering Bibliography A few noteworthy titles: The Official Guide to Legal Specialties – An Insider’s Guide to Every Major Practice Area; The Insider’s Guide to Law Firms; The Lawyer’s Almanac 2003 -- Law firm and attorney directories (Martindale Hubbell) -- FindLaw & Hieros Gamos
MARTINDALE HUBBELL --can search by practice area as well as many more searches. --available via Lexis and martindale.com --search capabilities are far more powerful on Lexis.
FINDLAW www.findlaw.com --this free website provides an alphabetic list of legal subjects with links to relevant websites. --also provides an index of other helpful legal indices --This will be particularly handy when Lexis & Westlaw passwords are turned off for the summer and after you graduate.
HIEROS GAMOS www.hg.org -- free access, similar to FindLaw -- select law practice at the top of the page -- this page contains over 70 primary practice areas which are further broken down into 130 additional areas
II. REVIEW KEY RESOURCES -- Lexis -- Westlaw -- Nutshells, Treatises, Reporters, Library Research Guides
LEXIS Areas of Law by Topic -- areas of law arranged alphabetically by topic -- most have links to cases & court rules, statutes and legislative materials, administrative materials, law reviews, treatises & analytical materials.
II. REVIEW KEY RESOURCES √ - Lexis - Westlaw - Nutshells, Treatises, Reporters, Library Research Guides
WESTLAW --select “view database directory” and topical practice areas --like Lexis, Westlaw allows you to browse cases & court rules, statutes and legislative materials, administrative materials, law reviews, treatisesand otherkey resources for a particular area of law --to review current issues in your area enter “topical highlights” under “select these databases”
II. REVIEW KEY RESOURCES √ - Lexis √ - Westlaw - Nutshells, Treatises, Reporters, Library Research Guides
TREATISES, NUTSHELLS, REPORTERS & RESEARCH GUIDES --The Law Library’s online catalog --The Law Library’s Treatises& Looseleafs Guide --Library Research Guides
III. GET YOUR FEET WET -- Conferences -- List serves -- Join professional organizations -- Internships (See handout, visit Career Services on the 1st floor) --Read legal newspapers & journals
CONFERENCES --Jurist http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/ : select conferences in the left hand column. (This site also has a hot topics page that you might find useful.) --Mass Lawyer’s Weekly Calendar --Faculty Awareness Bulletin
III. GET YOUR FEET WET √ --Conferences --List serves --Join professional organizations --Internships (See handout, visit Career Services on the 1st floor) --Read legal newspapers & journals
LEGAL LIST SERVES --Law Lists Info http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/lawlists/info.html(sponsored by the University of Chicago Law School) perform a keyword search for your topic of interest --great way to learn about hot topics and issues pertaining to various areas of law
III. GET YOUR FEET WET √ --Conferences √ --List serves --Join professional organizations --Internships (See handout, visit Career Services on the 1st floor) --Read legal newspapers & journals
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS --Massachusetts Bar Association http://www.massbar.org/: Special Sections; also see the Mass Bar calendar --Boston Bar Association http://www.bostonbar.org/: special sections; calendar lists workshops, meetings, etc. --Findlaw http://www.findlaw.com/06associations/ Good list of legal associations and organizations
III. GET YOUR FEET WET √ --Conferences √ --List serves √ --Join professional organizations --Internships (See handout, visit Career Services on the 1st floor) --Read legal newspapers & journals
INTERNSHIPS --Visit the Law School’s Office of Career Services on the 1st floor for more information -- See Internship Handout
III. GET YOUR FEET WET √ --Conferences √ --List serves √ --Join professional organizations √ --Internships (See handout, visit Career Services on the 1st floor) --Read legal newspapers & journals
READ LEGAL NEWSPAPERS & JOURNALS --National Law Journal --Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (select Suffolk as your Web-browser and you’ll be able to search this site from home.) --Findlaw: list of journals by topic; Special Focus Student-Edited Law Reviews (Anderson Publishing Company).
IV. THINK ABOUT WHERE YOU WANT TO PRACTICE --Private Practice (small firms; sole practitioners; large firms --organizational practice (corporate house counsel; government) --Public Interest Law (legal services for the poor; private associations --non-profits, political or charitable groups; Pro bono publico) For more information on this topic, see The Legal Career Guide: From Law Student to Lawyer, 4th ed., ABA, KF 297 M865 2002 (reserve) (pgs 89-116)
