LegalJob recently participated in a productive program about informational interviews. Here are some takeaways:
Set up these meetings with alumni with whom you have something in common (referred to as touchpoints)
e.g., from same town, same undergraduate school, same major, same background, etc.
Ask the career resource center to print lists with names and e-mail addresses of these people
Contact these people and make it clear:
You are not looking for a job.
You are reaching out because you have x,y,z in common and you would like to learn about their practice area.
Request meeting for coffee (so you are sensitive to their time constraints).
Do some research about their practice area before the meeting
There are plenty of free resources on the internet; the career resource center has good resources too.
If you know you have no interest in criminal law, skip the meeting with the prosecutor.
It helps if you have some interest (based on the little you know) in practicing in the field of the person you are meeting.
At the meeting
Ask some questions but let the lawyer have the floor most of the time.
One important question is what was your thinking process that led you to decide to be an x lawyer.
That thought process could help you even if you want to be a different kind of lawyer.
If you have are more than a little bit interested in the practice area, ask about sub-specialties in that area that are hot and what experience you can get or classes you can take to position yourself for that nice.
Closing remarks
This person may be a dud but they may have two contacts that are very helpful.
Ask for contact information for two people that may be helpful for you to talk to.
If the meeting has been helpful, open the door to further communication.
May I keep you updated with my progress? Insert your way of saying this here.
You can get a sense from the response whether this person should stay on your list.
If the person says yes, you now have potentially three new people in your network (the person plus his or her two contacts).
If the contacts are helpful, thanking the first person for connecting you is one reason to follow-up.
Image courtesy of David Castillo at FreeDigitalPhotos.net