Dear recent law school graduate,

You’re studying for the bar exam. Good. Studying will help. Your determined effort will alleviate some of your anxiety while simultaneously improving your odds of passing.

These are hectic days for you. You’re reading, reviewing, attending lectures, and talking to other stressed-out graduates.

You’re busy. You’re on overload. You’re spending all of your time studying and worrying. Sadly, that’s not good enough.

The Good and Bad News

Today, I’ve got good news and bad news for you.

The good news? You’re going to pass the bar exam.

The bad news? You’re going to pass the bar exam.

When you pass, you’re going to be a lawyer. You’re going to jump in fast. You’re going to look back on law school as a respite. It’s weird, but it’ll happen.

Once you’re finished with the bar exam and working, you’re going to have one big regret. You’re going to wish you had spent some of that law school time building your network. You’re going to wish you had gone to more events, lunches, and even parties. You’re going to wish you’d gotten to know more of your classmates, and you’re especially going to wish you’d met more practicing lawyers.

Why Relationships Matter

Relationships are the key to success as a lawyer. The more people you know well, the more likely you are to get good job offers, advance in your career, and secure good clients. You’ve got to build your base of connections and expand it.

Good relationships will make your career go well.

Unfortunately, way too many law students lack the relationships they need. The idea of building relationships isn’t on the radar screen for most, and those who do think about it think they’ll take care of it later. They figure that’s something to do after they start working.

Sadly, those who put off building relationships usually keep putting it off. They get to work and find a reason to do it later. They always think it’s something they’ll get to down the road. The next thing they know, they’ve had a mediocre career with mediocre clients. They sit watching others pass them by.

Those lawyers without a well-constructed, well-maintained network wonder why their peers keep moving up in their firms, keep succeeding in court, keep getting elected to public office, keep getting named to boards and commissions, and keep getting great clients. They blame it on politics, unnamed advantages held by those others, and bias. The left-behind lawyers always have an excuse for why things are going better for the others than they are for themselves.

But no excuse is required. At the root of the problem is the lack of a solid network of relationships. Time after time, that’s what explains everything. That’s the root of the problem.

How to Grow Your Network While You Study

So what’s a recent law school graduate busy studying for the bar exam to do? Here’s what:

Study with others.

Use the exam as a reason to get together with the group and study together. It’s a bonding experience. You should study sometimes with a group even if studying in a group isn’t ideal for you. The network building is really important.

Take a break and invite a lawyer to lunch.

Lawyers love to hear about your suffering. These lunches will be a blast for the invited lawyers. They love hearing tales of bar exam studying misery.

Create an event and invite 10 lawyers to come speak on their top study tips for the bar exam.

Put yourself in the middle and be the person who calls and invites the lawyers. Invite the cream of the crop. Go for the big names. Use those connections to follow up after the exam is over.

Have a party.

Go ahead and plan a stress-break party for classmates now, before the exam. Plan another one for after the exam.

There’s No Time Like the Present

If you look at this list and think “I don’t have time” or “I need to stay focused on the exam” or “I’ll get to that right after the exam,” then you’re putting it off. You’re one of those lawyers who thinks you’re going to get to it later. That’s not going to happen. This is a now thing, not a later thing. You need to get going because it’s that important. Don’t wait. Don’t believe the story you’re telling yourself about why this advice isn’t for you. Just do it. Ultimately, you’ll be glad you did.

One day, you’ll look back and realize that time you spent building the network has had the biggest impact on your legal career. It’ll matter more than getting great grades in law school. It’ll matter more than passing the bar exam with flying colors. It’ll matter more than everything else combined. Take some time now, even in the midst of the chaos, and invest in your network. That investment will pay off in a big way as you move forward.

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