While we did a lot of research and interviews to come up with our theses and support for this book, we also both hated being lectured at in school.
We always liked guest teachers who would impart their real-world experience and knowledge upon us.
When we began this project, we knew from the beginning that our knowledge would never be sufficient to fully teach our dear readers and thus we decided to take a “village approach” to learning.
In the following pages, we've assembled an extremely diverse set of lawyers who share their experiences in making the jump from school to employment. They detail their best advice, worst mistakes, and what roadblocks they overcame on their way to becoming successful attorneys.In creating these guest chapters, we asked our writers to discuss anything they wanted in any format they chose, although we did provide a sample chapter that some chose to follow. We encouraged them to disagree with us. We told them that we would leave their words as-is, except for obvious typos. We didn't want to filter. In that vein, please don't miss Will Foster's parting advice about life and sandwiches in the footnote of his chapter.
We are especially proud of the cross-section of people who contributed. We wanted to represent a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds. Go take a look at the book cover if you want to see their (mostly) smiling faces.
Some statistics on our guest authors:
1. Number: 25 (for 24 guest chapters)
2. Age range: early 30s to late 50s
3. Male: 52%; Female: 48%
4. Race inclusion: Asian, Black, Hispanic, White
5. Diverse backgrounds: 66%
This is the best part of the book. We hope you enjoy these chapters as much as we enjoyed reading them. In case you want to jump around, here is a table-of-contents, by professional field and author, to help guide your journey. Maybe you'll feel some kinship with some of the paths these lawyers have chosen. Also, please recognize that many of these people have had several post-law school experiences and will speak from a variety of experiences, not just their current position.
1. Employment Lawyer – Lynne Davis
2. Colorado Attorney General – Phil Weiser
3. Litigation Partner – Kenzo Kawanabe
4. Corporate Partner – Rachel Proffitt
5. Director of Community Engagement, Colorado Department of Law – Matt Baca
6. Family Law – Kim Willoughby
7. Associate Professor of Law – Brad Bernthal
8. General Counsel in the beverage industry – Jolene Yee
9. Associate Chief Counsel with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing – Greg Mann
10. Associate Director and Legal Counsel of Product at Twitter – Nicole Day
11. Assistant United States Attorney – Lindsey Beran
12. Trademark Practice Group Co-Chair – Robyn T. Williams
13. Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel – Alfred Levitt
14. “Hang the Shingle out Post-Law School” – Nicholas Troxel and Josh Fitch
15. Founder and Executive Director, Partners for Justice – Emily Galvin Almanza
16. Criminal Defense Lawyer/Wine Store Owner – Jennifer Zimmerman
17. Wealth Management, Trusts and Estates – Margot Edwards
18. General Counsel and COO at a venture fund – Jason Lynch
19. Bankruptcy Partner – Randall Klein
20. General Counsel at a startup – Stacy Carter
21. Director and Associate General – Nikki Stitt Sokol
22. Senior Deputy District Attorney – Ryan Day
23. Civil Rights – Tyrone Glover
24. Tax Lawyer and Professor – Will Foster