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Overlooked Forms of Networking
Leadership in Law Student

Organizations

While it is a form of networking, don’t just step up to lead for the wrong reasons-
namely it will look good on a resume, to get attention, or gain a sense of power over
others. Leadership should be servient! Serve as opposed to being served! Leadership
does involve some level of sacrifice - certainly your time, effort, ideas, and perhaps
even money. It should not include sacrificing your word, your health, your reputation, or
your education.

AVOID “YEAH I’LL TRY TO GET A POSITION, IT WILL BE GOOD FOR MY RESUME”
Leadership, whatever the position and whatever the organization, will not
overcome low grades to an employer! So, if you are planning to run or be appointed to
a position solely for that purpose, think again, as you will probably be disappointed.
And here’s the thing about serving solely for the purpose of putting something on one’s
resume, anything you put on your resume is considered “fair game” to a potential
employer. If they ask you about some title you have and you are unable to speak about
what you personally accomplished in that role, it could potentially work against you.
Additionally, serving in a position solely to put it on a resume is incredibly short-sighted.
Someone else in that role with more dedication could create other opportunities for you
and other members that could help you career-wise.

But it is a form of networking. You will be not only networking with other law
students but members of the legal community. And as a leader of an organization, you
are privy to information that you may not learn about otherwise. You also may be able
to control how that information is disseminated. For instance, in the human rights group
I was involved with, the rest of the executive board and I were able to choose the date
and time for the trainings we offered from which we ourselves also benefitted. Also,
while serving as the 1L Academic Coordinator as a 1L myself, the chapter president
encouraged me to schedule tutoring sessions with our chapter’s alum when I personally
was available. Serving in a leadership position is a platform both now and even after
you graduate as many organizations will reach out to past members for guidance. I
would urge you though to perform well- and let that speak for itself. Word-of-mouth is
still the best form of advertising when it comes to your abilities. And in serving others,
you do serve yourself. Even when in conjunction with this Networking for Law Students
Series for other people, I either confirmed things for myself or learned some things that I
hadn’t even thought of.

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