The Brand-New Lawyer's Guide to Passing the Bar, Learning the Trade, and Building a Sustainable Career
Forthcoming June 2025
Tags: Introduction to Law; Lawyering Skills; Professional Responsibility/Legal Profession; and Professionalism/Law Practice
ISBN 978-1-5310-3341-5
eISBN 978-1-5310-3342-2
Graduating from law school, passing the bar exam, and starting work as a lawyer for the first time is stressful. There is no guide or map to follow that teaches you what benchmarks you should look out for and how you should define success—until now.
The Brand-New Lawyer's Guide is an essential roadmap for anyone navigating the challenging first years of their legal career. Whether you're a recent law school graduate, studying for the bar exam, or starting your first legal job, this guide provides invaluable support and practical advice for success.
Inside you'll discover concrete steps and helpful tips for succeeding in the legal field: from passing the bar, networking, and job searching to dealing with different personalities and handling the pressures of your early career. This book goes beyond practical advice, emphasizing the importance of finding fulfillment and meaning in your work.
If you're a new lawyer looking to build a successful and rewarding career, The Brand-New Lawyer's Guide is a must-read resource. It will equip you with the tools and insights needed to thrive in the legal profession, create a career you truly love, and find excitement and meaning in your work.
Editorial Reviews
If you're feeling overwhelmed, anxious, confused, or uncertain about how to make the leap from law student to lawyer, John Reilly's The Brand-New Lawyer's Guide to Passing the Bar, Learning the Trade, and Building a Sustainable Career is the book for you. This helpful guide is chock full of practical advice about forging our own authentic identities as lawyers, aligning our careers with our personal values, and tending to our mental, physical, and emotional well-being along the way. This book is the graduation gift every law student needs.— Heidi Brown, Associate Dean for Upper Level Writing and Professor of Legal Writing at New York Law School
The Brand New Lawyer's Guide is the perfect gift for recent law graduates. Reilly grabs the reader's attention on page one, and he keeps it throughout. By recounting his own successes—and where he can now see that he went wrong—Reilly quickly establishes his credentials as a friend who has been there and survived to tell the tale. The friendly and nuanced advice he offers is up-to-date and spot-on. Young lawyers who read the Guide and follow its wise counsel will invariably benefit.— Marsha Garrison, 1901 Distinguished Research Professor at Brooklyn Law School