26 August 2009
Green Grads Grab #13
A lot of law students wont end up going on to become lawyers but might instead chose to work in the public service. If you think that this might be you, you might be interested to read about the ‘Government 2.0′ trend. Essentially it is all about members of the public service using ‘Web 2.0‘ services to improve their performance at work. If you would like to learn more about this trend, Craig Thomler writes about it in his blog eGov AU.
As always, even it’s unrealistic to think that you might be able to waltz in and implement these sorts of things on your first day, it’s always good to read about them so you can sound smart during interviews and cocktail parties … Do Government departments ‘do’ cocktail parties?
Legal Geekery have three excellent articles that law students would get a lot from. The first is Tales From the 1L Underbelly and it is written from the perspective of a first year US law student. It stresses the need for law students to keep in touch with something outside of law school.
The second is So You’ve Survived Your First Week at Law School and it’s also written for first year law students. It’s a great ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ piece and worth a read if you ever find that you’re losing motivation to keep at it – especially if you’re only at the beginning of your studies.
Finally they also write about the importance of backing up your computer and it is an excellent point. We spend so much time and effort typing away on our laptops and desktops that it would extremely silly to ignore the possibility that our computers might fail. When you consider how easy it is to back your information up (I would recommend DropBox) you’d have to be crazy not to be doing it.
A lot of students have probably been told as they prepare for their moots and trial advocacy assessments that a little bit of humour can go a long way. When you’re playing make believe and the judge has to see three hours worth of students go through the same imaginary scenario, a little joke can score you a lot of points. But then what happens when we graduate?
This article at Slaw would suggest that real advocacy is pretty serious business and attempts at humour should be left to the pros. Any thoughts?
I guess this is a pretty strange thing to link to, given that a lot of us are currently pimping ourselves out around town desperately trying to scab the last three jobs available, but I think there is a lot of value in this mindset. One of the cleverest-est things anyone ever suggested to me at law school was to stop comparing myself to other people and just get on with things. Of course, I completely ignored that advice but still I can see the worth in it now.
This article from the Simple Dollar suggests a number of ways that we can stop trying to impress other people and just continue on doing our own thing. It is aimed at personal finance, but I think a lot of what it talks about is quite relevant to us at this awkward, awful stage of our careers (ie. the beginning). It is well worth a read.
- Take Notes. All of the Time. Never. Stop. Taking. Notes.
I read something earlier this week and I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t write down what it was or where it came from. Normally this would mean that I would just leave it and not mention it, but I really want to mention it. So I will just say, this is very poor form and I’m very sorry. If you’re the author (and you probably aren’t) and you’re reading this article (and you definitely wouldn’t be) then I sincerely apologise. Please send me an email and I’ll give you credit.
Anyways, where was I… So I read this thing earlier this week about the importance of creating a daily log of the work that you’ve done. There was a guide about using Quicksilver to quickly write a short sentence on whatever work you’ve just finished. And then there it is, in the one text file, time stamped and available for you to refer to if someone what you’ve been working on all afternoon, or what time we decided to meet next or whatever.
I liked it when I read it but then I didn’t really take it up for myself (and subsequently lost the article – sorry again!). But late last week I decided to give it a try. I’m using Evernote (on both my iPhone and laptop) and it’s suprisingly easy. And it is really awesome. All of a sudden I dont need to really think about things, I just jot them down in my daily log and then worry about them later. It is an excellent way to keep track of what happened and when – so you don’t need to track that information in your head.
And if you think it’s a bit lame, then I will refer you to the former American Senator Bob Graham, who has kept regular daily logs in a small pocket notebook for most of his professional career. These notes were recently used to prove that CIA records, suggesting that Senator Graham was present in meetings which discussed American waterboarding, were incorrect (read about it here and here).
Take notes. Take notes all of the time. Back them up somewhere and forget about them.
Related posts:
