Lexis(R) Hub: Exploring Career Options:

You Are What You… Wear (Part II)

Lisa C. Coppolo — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:02:43 GMT

Think Globally, Act Locally.

This is probably the most important lesson I learned from observing the summers and attorneys at my firm and hearing anecdotes about the dress of my friends at different firms around the country. The legal profession is an old and revered one (lawyer jokes aside), and it

You Are What You… Wear

Lisa C. Coppolo — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:46:18 GMT

This past May, I was pretty psyched. I had just completed my 1L year (closing my computer after my final exam—Property—is hands down the best thing that has ever happened to me), and in a few short days I was flying home to lovely, fast-paced, open-all-night New York City to be wined and dined at a large law firm for the summer. Sigh. Life was, once again, law-school-free and lovely.

The great thing about hindsight is that it’s 20/20. The less-great thing about hindsight is that, by definition, it comes too late. But the really great thing about other people’s hindsight is that it can be just in the nick of time for you. That’s why I decided that, given how clueless about the job market I felt, and with 1L year under my belt and 2L OCI fast approaching, it might be nice to get—

Big Law and Diversity Tall Tales

Lisa C. Coppolo — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:21:23 GMT

This past winter I had the pleasure of sitting in on a diversity recruitment lunch put on by a national law firm at the Stanford Law School. This firm is among the most elite and largest law firms in the United States, with international offices across the globe. Just like the websites of most big firms, the presenting firm’s website is complete with a diversity page devoted to touting their record on

Before the Law

Lisa C. Coppolo — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:12:55 GMT

Franz Kafka wrote a very short story entitled “Before the Law” which I recommend you take a minute to read. It’s as abstract as any story I can think of: there’s no physical description of the setting, no timeframe. There are just two characters: a man who wants to be “a

Target and our Pro Bono Culture

Lisa C. Coppolo — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:32:11 GMT

Let’s talk about Target. Did you know that Target Corporation gives 5% of its annual profits back to the community? Last year that amounted to over $156 million in grants to charitable groups.

But apparently donating money isn’t enough, and the company also promotes volunteerism among its employees. In 2007, Target employees

Pro Bono in Your Interview

Lisa C. Coppolo — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:11:56 GMT

Approaching pro bono in an on-campus interview with any firm can be a tricky affair. While law firm websites lead you to believe their pro bono programs flow like a mighty stream of justice, this isn’t necessarily the case. Strong pro bono statements and awards demonstrate that a firm cares, but this is only a slice of what you can learn about an individual firm’s pro bono practice without working f

Law Firm Layoffs and What to Do about Them, Part 2: Advice for Associates

Lisa C. Coppolo — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:12:57 GMT

In the past year, a declining economy has led to a steady stream of associate layoffs in large law firms. Dechert, Thacher Proffitt, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, O’Melveny & Myers, and Clifford Chance are among the firms that have laid off significant numbers of associates in the past year; the trend, in all likelihood, is not over. Obviously this is a concern for current law students looking t

Gender Gap Blawg

Lisa C. Coppolo — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:16:13 GMT

A lot of ink has been spilled over women’s march into the legal profession that began in earnest in the early 1970s. Since the baby boomerettes made their initial foray into testosterone-dominated law offices about forty years ago, the number of female attorneys has Last summer, the organization we run, Building a Better Legal Profession, began collecting data about large law firms. We understood that there was plenty of publicly available data about these firms—data about billable hours, pro bono, and diversity—however, no one