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06

Overlooked Forms of Networking

Bar Associations

While I was in law school, I was typically the only or one of very few student
members of bar associations. Some bar associations have networking events and
some assign mentors to interested law students after filling out an application. One
thing that many people overlook is that there are several local bar associations. You’ve
heard of the American Bar Association (ABA) but there’s one for your state. Using New
York as an example, there’s the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), perhaps
your city like the New York City Bar Association, and there may be one for your
borough/county like the Brooklyn Bar Association or the Nassau County Bar
Association. There are also bar associations for minorities and women including the
National Bar Association (NBA), the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA),
National Native American Bar Association (NNABA), The National Asian Pacific
American Bar Association (NAPABA), National Lesbian and Gay Law Association
(NLGLA), National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), National Conference of
Women's Bar Associations (NCWBA), etc. There are also local ethnic and religious bar
associations. In New York for example, there is the Metropolitan Black Bar Association
(MBBA), Association of Black Women Attorneys (ABWA), the Amistad Long Island
Black Bar Association. Other associations are based on a field of law like the National
Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and National District Attorneys Association
(NDAA). Additionally, these bar associations hold forums on various legal issues or
important aspects of legal education. These forums afford you a great opportunity to
network as well as continuing legal education courses (CLEs). Within each bar
association, there are separate committees, sections, divisions by more specific
demographics (i.e., young lawyers division, women’s division, etc.), place in career (i.e.,
law student divisions, judicial committees, etc.), field of law/interest ( i.e., civil rights
committee, corporate law committee, etc.), or addressing the needs of the organization
(i.e., the executive or fundraising committees).

Moreover, the websites of some of these bar associations have advertisements
for jobs or an option to post your resume. Employers frequent these sites.

Sometimes these groups partner with each other to accomplish a goal which
affords additional opportunities for networking. One example is the Coalition of Bar
Associations of Color (CBAC) - this group isn’t really open to students; all members are
attorneys and leaders of each racial minority bar organization to work together to effect
change. For instance, after Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced his
retirement, members of CBAC met with various United States senators to discuss their
ideas concerning potential Supreme Court nominees (this occurred a few months prior
to President Obama’s appointment of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, now a Supreme Court
Justice).

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