 Thank you, Brian. And thank you for coming. It's amazing what a free lunch could do to get a good turd out. I'm going to cover a lot of territory in a very short period of time and then we'll have some opportunity for questions. But I also would like to extend an invitation to each of you individually that if over the next four or five weeks you'd like to meet over a cup of coffee or lunch with me to talk in more depth about any of the things that I touch upon or any other question you might have of me given my experience I would be delighted to to do that and I'm willing to pick up the tab as well. As Brian said, I am old enough 67 this Sunday, so that I've had an opportunity to do a lot of different things with my legal training. And certainly I am not alone in that. One of the wonderful things about being a lawyer is that it can be a base for many other kinds of activities and jobs and extracurricular activities and ways of being of service all through your life. I was interested in attending a recent reunion at my law school Yale and the Dean at Yale is a good friend of mine pointed out in his opening remarks that fewer than half of our class had spent more than a year or two in private practice and that in the recent capital campaign for Yale Law School, the ten largest donors were all people who had not practiced law but had gone into other areas of endeavor and for example, in my class in law school there is a classmate who's devoted himself to being an actor throughout his career another a movie director another a professional photographer We have two sitting US senators a sitting governor a former president of the United States a former national security director 10 law school 10 current law school deans many law school professors a newspaper publisher two general counsels of fortune 500 companies and many many other kinds of careers outside of traditional law practice and It is important in my view for you to think about now and also throughout your career ways in which you might deviate from the norm of law practice in a big firm and Do other things often that will come after being in practice But sometimes it comes very quickly right after after graduating from your current program So that I can get a better idea of what might be useful for me to focus on let me ask you a few questions And maybe you could raise your hand how many of you plan to live and Work in the UK after you finish One, okay. How many of you are thinking about living and practicing in the United States? Okay, how many of you are thinking about practicing with a large global Law firm with offices in many countries How many of you are How many of you think that you'll have more than one job? In other words work for more than one employer over the next to ten years more than one That's this is a particularly interesting Issue Because it's this is a change in the norm you go back as recently as 15 years ago The expectation for people graduating with an LLM or graduating In the case of the US with a JD Was to go to work for a firm and stay with that firm throughout their career and that's that's changed generally particularly at the elite schools like this one How how many of you Are open to considering doing something other than practice law Or how many of you is it important? to maximize your Financial income from your career How many of you hope to be able to work for individuals that are underserved? In other words those who are impoverished or have difficulty paying for legal services Okay How many of you hope to be engaged in policy matters? That will affect Those in your society or even more broadly Well, that's fascinating and Let me say stay true to your interests Don't give up on those interests. It may be that the job you take as you finish this course will not meet Your highest desires in terms of some of the things we've just been taking a poll about But don't give up because Given your opportunity the opportunities that will open for you There will be chances to move either within your place of employment or to another job to take advantage of The kinds of opportunities that you're particularly interested in So don't despair if you don't get exactly the job you want as you graduate Let me talk about some of the major trends in the US and In and at other large centers of business and international law And these are important to recognize as you think about the kind of Practice that you might take up There is a rapid trend a rapid movement rapid trend Continuing trend which started perhaps 30 years ago toward subspecialization in law practice And this is true particularly in the largest law firms Here in London, they're called the magic circle firms In the US they're called the and law 50 Firms, but they are the large firms that work primarily for large companies their target Clients are the largest corporate clients in the largest corporate entities in the world and in order to bill what that those firms bill And in order to maximize the amount of profit they get from their associates They move toward Having their associates become specialists in a narrow area that the associates can master very quickly a second trend is the Size of the law firms that serve the largest business entities when I started to practice In Chicago in 1976. I went to what was then the third largest law firm in Chicago and I went specifically to that firm because a man named ray ray Garrett who'd been a Securities law professor at Harvard and then gone to the sec to become the chairman of the sec was at that firm and He offered me the opportunity to work Specifically for him which I did for several years to learn securities work So this was the leading securities firm in Chicago and it was the Third largest firm in Chicago and at that time it was about the 40th largest firm in the United States And this is not that long ago. This is 1976 How large do you think that firm was? How about a couple guesses here 40th largest in the US third largest in in Chicago The leading securities firm in Chicago probably the leading securities firm outside of New York City at that time How many? 50 other get 100 150 30 50 Excuse me for 40 lawyers. I was the 40th lawyer at that at that firm Today that firm when I left to Take the job as dean at Vermont law school in 2004 There were 350 lawyers it's since merged With another firm of about the same size and so there are 700 lawyers and even at 700 that firm is About the hundredth largest law firm in the in the United States. So what you're dealing with today is a number of Gigantic business entities with many hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and Very large departments in specialties and subspecialties And one of the questions that I think Everybody anybody who wants to practice law should ask is whether that's really the kind of environment that you want Do you want to be in a really giant? business organization Which is driven by an effort to maximize profits for the owners the partners of that firm And The answer for some is yes, absolutely But for others it may be that there are opportunities for very interesting law practice in quite a different structure another Trend which started to occur 40 or 50 years ago and has continued to accelerate Is the importance of lawyers who work directly for large business entities so-called in-house Council, this is true not only in the United States But for any major business entity whether it's in Korea or Belgium China or London and In some ways the in-house Council job is broader and sometimes more interesting than the work at very large law firms and It certainly is worth Considering it also is a fact that an inside council job sometimes Provides opportunities to move to the business side of The enterprise to a greater extent To a greater extent then is true for Somebody working for a private law firm. It's also important to note that This is a difficult time to get a job for you My guess is that every one of you is going to be able to get an interesting job But it's going to be tougher than it Has been during most of the period from the end of the second world war Onward and therefore you want to really Be sophisticated about how to work toward getting a job In preparing for the opportunity to talk with you today I went over to the career services office and talked with David Is it in the cough? Is that how you pronounce this is him? Yeah Who was in charge among other things of career services for Lawyers how many of you attended the meeting a couple of days ago where there were law firms who came to Cambridge to talk with students Excellent It's important to Form a close relationship right away with career services and do Use every opportunity to network with potential employers Starting right now Now What are the types of jobs that you might consider their private law firms or corporate law offices I've already talked about them. There's teaching For example in the United States, there are 200 accredited law schools You happen actually to be in one of the few areas that Are hot in terms of reaching out and employing new law school teachers in the United States Comparative law about public and private Is an area which is underserved by most law schools in the United States and For which there is a strong market if you're interested in teaching in the United States You can do that with an LLM or an MCL degree. You don't have to have a PhD There is a formal formalized Process, however, if you want to get on the tenure track and that is to be involved in the late November early December association of American law schools convention in Washington, DC to which virtually all of the Law schools come to interview potential candidates So you should right now as in this afternoon or tomorrow If that's something of interest to you Talk to career services look up the double ALS hiring process On their website become familiar with it and get involved. It's also certainly possible to Circumvent that process for a two or three year appointment a non-tenure track appointment and that can be done by approaching the Academic deans at the law schools in which you are interested the academic deans are the ones who do the screening for Employment particularly for the non-tenure track employment. They often have very broad discretion on hiring people And that could be an interesting job For a couple of reasons one is you get an understanding of what it's like to teach Second you it would give you an opportunity to do some writing, which is very important to do scholarly writing If you want to be hired on a tenure track Route And It would be fun and there and there'd be an opportunity to move from there and to do other things So private firms corporate law Opportunities teaching Also there are many non-government organization and government opportunities for lawyers I advise The great the students who are looking for jobs from our law school Vermont law school to think Very seriously about working for a government agency Once you start to practice You will find that If you have worked inside government organization It will help you understand how best to represent your client because so much of the work the lawyers do today Has to do directly or indirectly with Decisions made and procedures followed by government agencies There are also opportunities to work for non-government organizations Katherine McKenzie who is on the faculty of the MCL program right isn't she on your faculty for LLM program. Yeah He teaches at an LLM course work for the World Bank and then Has worked for other NGOs and my bet is that there are a number of faculty members on the law faculty who have as well you should seek them out if that's the kind of thing you're interested in and See whether See what they recommend in terms of a route to employment But I also recommend that you think about Non-legal jobs as I said and what might those be the best Consulting firms from the United States McKenzie Bain Boston Consulting IBM Consulting and others all higher directly out of law school as well as business school and I've been told by senior partners at some of the largest Consulting firms that the young lawyers they hire actually have a better track record of success than those out of the elite business schools If you're interested in business strategy It's a it's a route that you should Definitely consider. It's also a route which often will lead after a few years Directly into a high-level job within a within a company Second area for considering for consideration is investment banking in mergers and acquisitions and finance There are as many and as prickly legal questions as financial questions and As a lawyer, I did a lot of work as what's called underwriters council in other words representing the investment banker on a transaction and I can say without a question that many of the strongest investment bankers including people from firms like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Were trained as lawyers Not with an MBA and that's something certainly within the Purview for you to consider another area for consideration would be venture capital and hedge fund work I had going to that in the question-and-answer Period you may not be as familiar with that with those areas, but they're Interesting and a legal background can be very appropriate political policy work I've already turned a little bit about going to work for a government agency, but there also are jobs which are policy Oriented jobs. I had as Brian mentioned. I had a couple of those jobs early in my career My route was I went to law school and then I clerked for a federal judge and then I worked for the Senate for a relations committee and actually focused in that job on the relationship between International business in US foreign policy. I then went to work for Frank church who was the chairman of the Senate for relations committee as his foreign policy advisor and That those jobs were policy oriented jobs You don't make as much money as you would if you go to work for a law firm or a corporation But they're very interesting Positions and there would be positions like those in any of your countries It's easy. It would be easier for you to go back to your home country normally than to Take that kind of job in in London or in the United States but not beyond The realm of possibility and if not directly for a for a government body for a Organization that's a lobbying organization a public interest lobbying organization that is attempting to influence policy for On an area of interest to you my my law school for my law school is known for its environmental work and We have many graduates each year who work go to work for Non-government organizations doing lobbying or organizational work to try to promote environmental protection So those are the kinds of jobs that are also worth It's also important right now for you to think about what rings your bell What really turns you on in terms of your day-to-day life? How many of you love to have long conversations with With friends that you really like to be interacting with other people how many of you love doing research on a difficult issue and Getting to the bottom of what what is going on writing it up and Coming to a recommendation on how to deal with that particularly thorny problem Okay How many of you like to argue you really like to get it into an argument It can be prickly. It can be difficult. It can be embarrassing But you You like doing it How many of you love to think about About policy matters that in the conversations you have in the books you read you're thinking about Should the EU continue to use the Europe should And so forth okay those kinds of questions how many you're interested in policy questions like that Well Let me tell you for sure that depending on which job you take You'll have more or less opportunity to do The One or more of the kinds of things I just talked about and in some cases almost no opportunity and You should think about What makes you happy what makes you excited what really? Get you going in terms of your enthusiasm. So at the end of the day you say wow that was it That was a terrific day. I love that and Move toward a job that speaks to that passion And I you know I can talk to you more about that in the question answers if you would like Now how about how to get a job? We talked about career services if you haven't been there a go I was really pleased to see how many of you went to the The special day with law firms that was set up by career services Every opportunity like that that you get make sure you go Network and this is true not just now, but one once you start to practice and all through your life Make contacts every place you can Go to every one of the opportunities that are set up through Brian or the law faculty Go to opportunities where there are people from interesting organizations whether it's the IMF or the World Bank or Amnesty International or a government minister If they're if they're if that sort of person is speaking here go and listen to them and then Suck it up go up to them afterward and engage them in conversation And then write them a letter and say how much you enjoyed their talk How much? You would like to be able to learn more about what their office is doing and wouldn't be possible if they're based in the UK To come in and talk with one of their assistants in more depth or whatever These are opportunities that are incredible And they're not and most people out of shyness Don't take advantage of them. So don't be shy be bold and take advantage of Opportunities once you start to practice You must continue to network as well If you are invited to someone's home How many of you always within 24 hours write a handwritten thank-you letter, okay? Let me just tell you that with without exception without exception and I've hosted hundreds of dinners without exception Judges congressmen and women Senior professors Managing partners of law firms general counsel of corporations will Send a handwritten thank-you note within 24 hours It's not that that's going to get you a job, but it will differentiate you if you don't do it so learn the basics of Personal interaction And this and the sort of courtesy that at a high level of interaction is the is the norm but also today it's easier than ever to Network with a broad range of Potential clients and referral sources you can keep track of them by email you can Send send notes out that are individualized but to a number of people very quickly by email and One of the best ways to build a group of people who will be your Advocates for a job or become your clients or become referral sources is For you to cultivate them If there's an article that you see Clip it that you think they'd be interested in clip it and send it to them If there's a case that's just been decided that you think they would be interested in send them a quick quick note on email Make it it's make view it as and I firmly believe this view it as Equal in importance to develop a rich network as to master the Academic course that you are currently Doing or to be adequate in the work you do as an associate in the law firm To be promoted in a law firm You will have to have demonstrated That you're in an area of specialization where there's strong demand that you've mastered that area of specialization and That you have strong potential to bring in additional work and to have Those clients you work with Bond with with you as the representative of your law firm What law firms worry about is that clients will go elsewhere So to become a partner at the very least they have to be confident that because of your personality Because of your social skills because of your ability to interact with others as well as your competence as a lawyer those clients are going to be interested in Staying with your firm because they like you and trust you and enjoy the interaction With you and with regard to getting new clients the same thing is true most new clients come From referrals from others that you work for so if someone has been highly satisfied by you But also let by your work, but also likes you and thinks that You're a strong person a good person an ethical person and an interesting person and a person that they like to spend time with They'll be likely to recommend you for Work with somebody else and over time That is a very important part of building the base for your For your practice, it's also important in any of these other areas to one degree or another Another thing that's important at least I found it important was to do quite a bit of speaking and Writing it's both interesting and it gives you an overview of your area of Practice that is different than simply day-to-day practice. It enhances your capability as a lawyer But it all also is a way to get your name out there before clients and prospective clients and That's something that you can start to do fairly soon after you leave academia and You should think about how to do that. You should talk to your faculty members about The possibility of co-writing an article you should talk to your faculty members about opportunities to Speak and the same thing is true with regard to the firm that you end up working for another thing that you should really be aware of As you move into the job market is passion How many of you plan to do research? Not only on the firm, but on the individual Lawyers or Others who are going to interview you for jobs before you go in and see them That's great. I'm surprised that there are that many of you who already are ahead of the curve Do not go into a job interview Unless you know who you're going to be talking with what they've done in the past What their major interests are and you're able to connect between your passion and your interests and what they've done It will move you up the pecking order Substantially compared to most of the people that they see As Brian's Brian said I was going to be talking about US law and I have talked about it some Let me just mention specifically that in the United States if you are going to work for a law firm Domiciled in the United States you will need to pass the bar in the United States. I Was talking with the placement office as I mentioned here David Ainscott and he Told me that you can Prepare for that while in London and that there are many graduates from Cambridge Who take a year and work in London for a year and prepare to take the New York bar or the Washington, D.C. Bar another thing that many students do is come to the US for an LLM in General legal studies and then take the bar again. Usually the New York bar or the Washington, D.C. bar we I think we're probably fairly typical, but at Vermont Law School We have that kind of LLM and we've had over 90 percent of the students who take that course Pass the New York bar and even a little bit more than that for the D.C. bar so you should scope that out with the career services office if it's your interest to Actually be domiciled in the United States into practice with a law firm if you go to a corporation. It's not necessary to have passed the To pass the bar. It's also Possible to Take a job with an NGO or a governmental entity or even a law firm and study while you are there Or take a part-time LLM course while you're Working and then take the bar in the United States There are many U.S. Law firms as well as the Magic Circle firms here in London which are sort of melding together now the biggest U.S. firms and biggest London firms which provide job for Lawyers around Around the world and you you don't have to be in London. You don't have to be in New York or LA you can Get a job in Brussels or Sao Paulo or Singapore with a an international law firm and then move from place to place in many of those instances They don't hold themselves out in a particular domicile as Representing their clients before the the bar in that country And it's not a requirement that you have Passed the bar in that particular country. There's some very interesting examples Baker and McKenzie being one of them of large multinational law firms that specifically Insist on having their offices staff primarily by nationals of the of the country in which the office is located And insist that all or virtually all of their lawyers have passed the bar in that particular country So you want to find out what the what the rules are for the law firm that you're thinking about Working for okay now, let me just move and do my final Set of comments and we'll open it for discussion About how do you advance on a job once you're in a job? I talked about that a little bit, but let me say some more one Find mentors and that's true now too. I mean one of the things you want to do while you're here is to have At least two of your faculty members get to know you well enough So that they will serve as references and not just because you ask them to be a reference And that they'll send a letter for anybody in the program But because they actually know you and they know something about you and they know about your passions and interests But certainly once you start to work at a job a post-academic job The ability to progress within that job is dependent very substantially on having champions Within that firm or mentors within the firm people who care about your advancement How do you How do you build relationships that result in someone becoming a mentor for you How do you decide what kind of person you want to be your mentor? Maybe I'll handle the second part of this first You want somebody who can help you in your career Who has power within the business enterprise the law firm or business enterprise and who? Will be listened to when it comes to decisions with regard to promotion You want to work for that kind of person so you when opportunities come up to take projects You raise your hand and say I'd like to work for X in part because X Has that kind of clout And then you want to do a great job in working for them to Impressions start you make during the first six months of a job are worth ten times as much as the impression you might make during the Second and third six months of the job in other words you get insulated and helped Disproportionately by the initial impression of your work and of you as a person in your new job Work like crazy be on time dress well Take the time to engage the other Others you're working with Really do a great job during the initial period of work I've already talked about networking Talked about writing and speaking Let me also talk about this bullet point Life is short if you don't like it or get bored leave This next job and you already know it because you so many of you have said you think I have more than one one job This next job is is not incarceration for life. You know, you're and it's not It's not the most important decision that you're going to make in most cases You Should take it seriously You should be strategic about the job you take But you should also realize that it may well not be the job of your dreams and you might not even know that yet and that if you get into a job and you're finding it demeaning or boring or Structured in a way that is not Making you think at the end of the day that this is terrific Then look for opportunities to move it's always easier to move from an existing job than to quit a job And have no job and be looking for a new one, but as a lawyer You're going to have lots of opportunities for Alternative jobs if the first one doesn't work out On the other hand, maybe the first one will work out great. I was with the same law firm for 25 years. I loved it. I did a number of different things while I was there. I was the head of Four different departments and then became the chairman of the firm There were some new areas that I helped develop that the firm had not done when I came to it I found plenty of flexibility within the firm and I know that it is Very possible to have a great career for many years within a law firm and some of you will find that to be the case but some of you won't and Life is short. So keep Keep thinking about what your options are as you move forward Finally as you look at firms over the next few months or Jobs with other kinds of organizations Ask whether they're really strong in the area in which you are interested in practicing It was tremendous. It was a tremendous help to me. You're going to work for One of the most eminent securities Lawyers in the United States The kind of up kinds of work that Ray Garrett got is mentoring of me His enthusiasm for the work of volume to your volume of work that we have made it a very rapid and interesting learning curve and you Want to be in that kind of situation eventually You'll have enough seasoning so that you can start something new even if it's not done at all in the organization In which you're working but at the beginning you want to be someplace where there is a lot of the kind of work that you're interested in and You're going to be given Projects in that in that area so that they learn fairly rapidly With that, let me open it up for questions