Reaching Out to IP Attorneys – Part 1 January 30, 2010
Posted by atharkhan in : Career Development, Law School, Personal , 1 comment so farWhen I was in law school, I set aside a few hours each week to reach out to, and meet Intellectual Property (IP) attorneys. This was an excellent way for me to learn about the practice of IP law, and understand the dynamics of law firms of different types, and sizes. It helped me decide what kind of firm I wanted to work for.
A friend recently asked me how I managed to get attorneys to agree to meet me. So, I figured I would post it on here. Perhaps it will be helpful to other law students out there.
First, let me say that I don’t claim to have a magic recipe for reaching out on social media networks. My “strategy” (if you will allow me to call it that) was simply to anticipate, and preemptively neutralize any concerns that might prevent an attorney from agreeing to meet me.
Some of the negative reactions I could anticipate were:
- “Who is this guy, and what does he want?”
- “Great! Yet another overly aggressive jobseeker! This is probably an elaborate attempt to get hired.”
- “Now that I have built my network, this guy wants to leverage it. What’s in it for me?”
- “If I make the mistake of talking to this guy, he is going to pester me endlessly with all kinds of questions.”
So, I wrote emails such that the recipient would know that I was (1) a law student, (2) not seeking employment, and (3) solely interested in learning about their experience.
Invariably, the attorneys I reached out to fell into at least one of the following categories:
- Cold Contacts: Attorneys I didn’t know at all. (I had a search set up for new attorneys within a 50 mile radius.)
- Referrals: Attorneys I had been referred to by a mutual acquaintance.
- Alumni of my law school.
- Alumni located in Chicago. (I was going to be in Chicago for a summer associate program. I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn about the city where I might practice IP law some day.)
- Present or Former Colleagues.
- Notable IP Attorneys: IP attorneys listed in attorney rankings, leaders in local IP associations, or named authors of interesting IP law articles.
- Career Changers: Attorneys who had transitioned from a different industry (particularly Information Technology) to IP law. Also, individuals who left IP law (or the practice of law entirely) to do something else.
I then constructed, for each category, a “skeleton” email message. Depending upon the circumstances, I would combine/customize my message.
To keep this post short, I will provide the text of these emails in a subsequent blog post.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-30 January 30, 2010
Posted by atharkhan in : Twitter , add a comment- Blog: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-24 http://bit.ly/4HmjKa #
- If you do what you need to do when you need to do it, eventually you'll be able to what you want to do when you want to do it. -Zig Ziglar. #
- When will Plaxo finally sync with Google Contacts? If gSyncIt can do it, why can't Plaxo? I'll take a one-way sync from Outlook to Gmail! #
- Need a referral for a Criminal (DUI/Traffic) Attorney in Northern California. #fb #in #
- Okay — who wants to buy me an iPad? #fb #in #
- Blog: Passed the U.S. Citizenship Test http://bit.ly/cEuYY5 #
- Blog: The Apple iPad is Underwhelming http://bit.ly/9vIe4f #
The Apple iPad is Underwhelming January 28, 2010
Posted by atharkhan in : Personal, Tech , 9commentsLike everyone else, I was looking forward to a tablet that would be as game-changing as the iPhone was. Like many, I was disappointed and underwhelmed.
I am not sure how or why they decided not to include multitasking (background applications), an HDMI port, and a camera (especially a front-facing one).
Then, there are the videos Apple makes. *sigh*
I am sure that I am not alone when I roll my eyes at hyperbolic words such as “magical,” “amazing,” “revolutionary,” and “incredible.” I’m sure everyone on the product launch team is trying to live up to Steve’s charisma but a crazed look and superlative words are not really the best way to do it.
You know what would be “magical,” “amazing,” “revolutionary,” and “incredible?” A cure for cancer. Not an oversized iPod Touch.
