How Law Students Can Boost Their Job Prospects With a Good Online Profile

Recently I was interviewed by Alexandra Kozlov at Queen’s University for an article in Canadian Lawyer 4Students magazine on how law students can boost their job prospects with a good online profile.  Although this article was for law students, I think it applies equally to almost any profession.

 

Here is an excerpt:

A blog is an excellent way to demonstrate your legal research and writing skills by focusing on a specific area of law. Simon Borys, a second-year law student at Queen’s, started a blog to share his unique perspective as a former police officer and aspiring criminal lawyer. He regularly updates it and actively participates in online legal forums. He was recently contacted by the Ontario Bar Association’s magazine, Briefly Speaking, and was offered the student editor position. The OBA had seen his blog and was very impressed.

Borys started blogging shortly after enrolling in law school. “Law is becoming a more cross-disciplinary profession and students would do well to demonstrate what they can bring to the profession from outside of it,” he says.

He offers some helpful tips to law students who are thinking of starting a blog:

•    Consider what your special niche is. Offering a fresh viewpoint on a particular area of law is valuable and will showcase you in the best light.

•    Take advantage of multiple points of contact. A blog is a great start and it may be the focus of your time and effort. However, you can also benefit from having accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and other online outlets.

•    Working on your online profile is not unmanageable. There is a considerable time investment during the setup stage but regular updating is not as time-consuming as you may think.

•    One pitfall to avoid is expressing too strong of an opinion on a controversial topic. Tread lightly around sensitive issues or else you risk alienating yourself from future employers.

•    Be careful not to violate the law society’s Rules of Professional Conduct. If you respond to a comment, you must make it clear that you are not providing legal advice that is specific to the commentator’s case but merely sharing your insight on the topic. Your blog or Twitter account should have a similar disclaimer.

•    If you are short on time and cannot maintain your own blog, consider contributing to a blog such as Law is Cool.  You can achieve many of the same benefits without investing as much time and effort.

 

You can read the full article on Canadian Lawyer 4Student’s website.

 

About the author: Simon Borys is a former police officer who is currently studying law at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario to become a criminal defence lawyer.

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Tags: Criminal Defence Lawyer, Former Police Officer, Kingston, Law Student, Simon Borys

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