“... prepare yourself for a steep learning curve in applying legal theories and legal rules to the practical world of advising and advocating for your clients.”
Mary Snapp Corporate Vice President, Deputy General Counsel LEGAL & CORPORATE AFFAIRS MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Microsoft’s Department of Legal and Corporate Aff airs (LCA), which has approximately 1,300 employees located in 55 countries, is responsible for the company’s legal work, its intellectual prop- erty portfolio and patent licensing business, and its government aff airs and philanthropic work.
experience. First, prepare yourself for a steep learning curve in
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MCCA.COM
applying legal theories and legal rules to the practical world of advising and advocating for your clients. You’ll go from contract law to drafting contracts, from regulatory exper- tise to advising on product design, from rules of civil proce- dure to preparing to argue a motion in court. Embrace that challenge and opportunity! And along the way, learn as much as you can about the business or nonprofi t or govern- ment agency as you can, in order to provide the best advice possible to them. Second, identify other lawyers from whom you can
learn, watch them, and then model some of your own style and behavior to see what works for you. While others will tell you to fi nd a mentor (and that’s generally good, too),
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AWYERS ENTERING THE LEGAL PROFESSION today have no shortage of advice from profes- sors, fellow lawyers, family members and other professionals. It is my pleasure to add a couple of thoughts to the mix, based on my own
I am really suggesting that you fi nd leaders in areas of interest to you, a subject matter, a manager, a skill to be developed. What makes them great? What can you adapt for yourself? For example, I have over the years found myself speaking to large audiences more and more fre- quently. While there is no substitute for experience, I have also pushed past my comfort zone to be a more engaging speaker, by examining techniques used by someone else who brought down the house. And fi nally, build networks in your community right
away on initiatives that are important to you. T ese need not be pro bono in the traditional sense. It might be service on a nonprofi t board, or it might be volunteering to sup- port a local candidate for offi ce, or it might be engaging with your local school district or a faith-based community. You’ll have a life with a breadth of personal meaning, you’ll make friends who may not be lawyers who will off er you a broader perspective, and over time you will fi nd ways to bring those networks and connections back to support your career and your law fi rm.
JULY/AUGUST 2014 DIVERSITY & THE BAR®
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