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Bridging The Gap Between Legal Education And Legal Practice Through Mentorship

Ari Kaplan speaks with Max Rosenthal, an in house labor and employment attorney with a large media company who is the author of The Bridge: How to Launch Your Career Through a Legal Internship.

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Ari Kaplan speaks with Max Rosenthal, an in house labor and employment attorney with a large media company who is the author of The Bridge: How to Launch Your Career Through a Legal Internship (Carolina Academic Press, 2016).

Ari Kaplan: Tell us about your background and why you wrote The Bridge.

Max Rosenthal: I was the recipient of an excellent mentor when I was in law school, which ended up being someone that hired me so I immediately entered the workforce wanting to pay it forward. While I was primarily focused on building up my own practice and skillset as an attorney, I was also looking to establish relationships with law students and help them navigate their way from law school to the work environment. I was able to create a legal internship program at a firm that did not have one and realized that there are objective principles and challenges that frequently come up, as well as good tools for overcoming them. I thought there was a book there and so I wrote The Bridge, which seemed like the right fit at the right time to match an emerging trend.

Ari Kaplan: Are there certain personality types that gravitate towards an internship while they are studying?

Max Rosenthal: Today, everybody has to gravitate towards an internship because it’s really becoming an integral part of the curriculum. Law students with confident personalities, who like to be in front of people, tackle new challenges, and are ok with failure tend to really throw themselves into an internship. Those who can make themselves vulnerable and work really hard are the ones that end up absorbing many more practical skills while they are in law school, which makes them much more marketable upon graduation.

Ari Kaplan: Are there certain practice areas that law students and newer lawyers should be focusing on in the current market?

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Max Rosenthal: If you want to get yourself into a position where you are working right away, focus on litigation. Anything else requires some sort of specialization. For instance, a real estate firm or a real estate company is looking for a law student with real estate experience. A company in fashion, the arts, or media is similarly looking for a lawyer with that background. So, you really need a demonstrated interest coming out of law school to give yourself a shot, but a litigation firm is looking for anybody with strong research and writing skills, who is willing to work hard.

Ari Kaplan: What are some strategies that you offer in The Bridge for students who want to find an internship or a mentor?

Max Rosenthal: Finding an internship requires a multi-pronged approach that includes expanding your network, reaching out to people you know, and going to networking events. I have found, however, that direct contact with people in your community and your circle are not necessarily the ones that help you find an internship or your first job. It is really going to be their contacts, so not your friend, but your friend’s friend, and not your cousin, but your cousin’s boss. If you can find a way to tap into that, it is where you are going to find the real opportunities.

It is not about meeting someone at a networking event, falling in love, and receiving an offer on the spot. It is also not about pouring your heart out or impressing someone over a cocktail near the bar. It is about getting into that one-on-one situation, e.g., an informational interview, whether it is in an office, a conference room, or a Starbucks, to develop a relationship. Ultimately, that’s when you win somebody over and when he or she finds out who you really are. Networking events are really just speed-dating opportunities to let someone know who you are and set up that later date. They are looking for you to be a mature developed professional, who understands the world, practical skills, and professional competencies, such as understanding legal research and document review software, or being able to work well with others, have difficult conversations, solve problems, and resolve conflicts.

Ari Kaplan: What are the greatest challenges ahead for law students and new lawyers?

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Max Rosenthal: You really need to understand what kind of candidate you are so if you have mid-range grades and come from a mid-tier school, there is a serious barrier to entry in trying to get into a big law firm. I’m not saying it will not happen, but you need to find a path there. The legal market is generally shrinking in most areas, but growing in some. Learning where those opportunities are really does pose a serious challenge and everybody needs to look internally to figure out where they should go.

Understanding your core values, where you want to end up, and what kind of work-life balance you want to achieve when you first start working are challenges you need to grapple with. Just because you get a job does not mean you’re going to be happy and that path is somewhere that you actually want to be heading down.

Ari Kaplan regularly interviews leaders in the legal industry and in the broader professional services community to share perspective, highlight transformative change, and introduce new technology. 

 

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