Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams, 2nd Edition 2nd Edition

This book is fantastic! Humorous and very readable, it covers every aspect of a job hunt in detail. A few years ago, during my 1L summer, I used it to get my dream job. Dreams change, and I'm so glad I held onto it -- after two years at my law firm, I'm using this book again to switch from private practice to government. This book is for every law school student or recent(ish) grad, regardless of how good your school/grades are. Buy it in time to read the whole thing during your 1L summer, if you can. It's long. Really long. But it's packed with helpful suggestions.

This book made me realize that getting a job is really determined by how much effort you put into the job search, you can get the job you want! Of course, the content should be adapted to what is best for you individually--I did not use the interview responses word for word by any means, nor the cover letter samples--but I referred to this book a ton while looking for jobs! I am not the cookie-cutter big firm candidate. I am not even in the top half of my class. But I worked hard to network throughout 1L year and the summer and am getting interviews over the top 10% of my class! It's what you put into it, and this book has great tips for getting an "in" to get the job you want!

The "guerrilla tactics" concept was a popular 2000s book format for convincing you that you were about to read some against-the-current secret, advanced techniques when in reality it was mostly the same things said by other authors at the time.This book tells you a lot of what seems like common sense after the fact in searching for legal jobs when you don't have a family hookup for a job or find yourself getting offers from OCI. It's lengthy but not written densely. It's a better guide for landing internships and jobs than your career services department which is more of a marketing department than what they purport to be. Career services cares about filling all the OCI slots they can for the school by whoever they can get in those slots. They don't especially care about you personally getting an internship or job. You need somebody to tell you how it really is if OCI isn't your path and like me you didn't have attorneys in the family to fill that role.Generally the book is right. As somebody who worked in other professions before law school, interned at small firms and government offices, ran a solo practice and worked in large plaintiff-side firms I can attest that the general principles are correct. Building relationships and persistence are the best supplements to your law school transcript. Most small firms hire through relationships and sometimes hire because they found somebody they thought would add value to the firm not necessarily because they had a need for another attorney.There are a few things I dislike about the book. One, it tries to fit that guerrilla tactics model by sticking in some rare examples where people did something unusual and it worked out for them. Yes, sometimes an against-the-grain tactic works but generally not. Two, the book doesn't do as great of a job of distinguishing between trying to get jobs in big or mid-sized firms versus small firms as it could. Biglaw and even a lot of midlaw are more akin to large corporations and their hiring practices while small firms hire entirely different. Three, I don't think the example documents are especially great for all purposes and perhaps at this point dated for the current job market. All that said, this is still one of the better books on the market.

I was skeptical about purchasing this product because of the reviews that were less than glowing. After reading the first chapter, however, I felt as if I stumbled across a gold mine. As a first generation law student who does not have any relatives in a white collar profession, attends a school not in the T-15, and is not in the top 10-15% of the class, I started to panic after my 1st semester. My career services center SUCKS, thus, I felt as if I was hopelessly wading through the muddy waters of finding a job. This book is a little overly cheerful and for individuals who are not willing to work hard to implement the numerous strategies and take heed to the model real life examples of success stories, then this book will not work for you. But for individuals who are tired and overwhelmed with the nebulous job search and desire clear cut practical strategies that THEY ARE WILLING TO WORK THEIR BUTTS OFF TO TRY, then BUY this book. I got a firm job (PAID) after my 1L year and I have options lined up for the 2nd summer (And I have not even begun my 2nd year of school yet!) I think this book's helpfulness is directly proportional to when you purchase and how you use it. So...3Ls, I'm not saying it's too late but get a move on! And for 1Ls, 2Ls, you NEED this book. Unless of course you are set on the misconception that a BIG Law firm job will fall into your lap.Right.You and everyone else buddy.

This should be that book. Kimm lays out, in straightforward language, exactly what you need to do in order to get the best job for you. I go to a top 30 school and, because of Kimm, I am competing with students from top 10 schools.You might hear on a law school discussion message board, or be told by your LSAT prep teacher, that you shouldn't read (or read very little) before law school. They are wrong, and if you read this book you will see how much of an advantage you have over people who don't use this book. It is easy to feel guilty with so much powerful knowledge at your fingertips, so try not to keep this book too much of a secret.If you go to a tier 3 or 4 school: I'm willing to bet that if you read this book and follow its advice that it will open the door to jobs that are usually only available to tier one students.This book is the best $30 I've ever spent. For just $30 dollars I have offers from firms that pay $2000 a week! Now that's a rate of return I can live with!Thank you, Kimm!