Many law students assume their careers begin after graduation. That’s not the case, said four recipients of our 2023 Law Student of the Year honor from The National Jurist.
Meet Jessica Collier, 2024 graduate from Widener University Commonwealth Law School; Dylan Gunaratne, 2023 graduate from Southwestern Law School; Nicole Jansma, 2023 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law; and Sydney Warinner, 2023 graduate from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
The good news they share is the foundations of a successful legal career are often built during the first year of law school and are not limited to grades or class rank.
Relationships matter
One lesson appeared again and again in these graduates’ reflections: relationships matter.
For Collier, this proved to be one of the most valuable truths she learned during law school.
“The idea that relationships matter as much as, if not more than, grades proved to be very true,” Collier said. “The legal profession may appear enormous from the outside, but it quickly becomes a surprisingly interconnected community. Professors, classmates, alumni, judges and practitioners often cross paths throughout their careers.”
That is why Gunaratne encourages students to begin networking immediately.
“Try to meet as many people as you can in the fields you’re interested in pursuing,” Gunaratne said.
While networking can feel intimidating, he believes students should approach it with humility and curiosity. Relationships built over time often create opportunities that would otherwise never exist.
Volunteer early and often
If networking is one pillar of career development, practical experience is another.
Both Jansma and Warinner strongly encourage students to seek volunteer opportunities as early as possible.
For Jansma, volunteer experiences help students discover what kinds of legal work genuinely excite them.
“Those opportunities will open a lot of doors for you and may help you start honing in quickly on what kind of work excites you,” Jansma said.
Warinner points to legal clinics and nonprofit organizations as especially valuable opportunities for first-year students.
“Through volunteer work, students can begin applying classroom concepts to real-world situations while simultaneously building professional relationships,” Warinner said.
Students also gain something equally important: perspective.
“Legal problems affect real people, real businesses and real communities,” Warinner said. “Early exposure to that reality helps students understand the broader impact of their future profession.”
The power of legal writing
Among all the advice offered, one skill emerged as particularly important: legal writing.
Jansma believes students should pay close attention to a school’s writing program when evaluating law schools.
“Your legal writing skills are your bread and butter,” Jansma said. “Strong writing remains one of the most valuable skills lawyers can possess, regardless of practice area.”
Whether drafting contracts, writing briefs, advising clients or preparing motions, lawyers spend much of their careers communicating complex ideas clearly and persuasively, she said.
“The earlier students begin developing those skills, the better prepared they will be for practice,” Jansma said.
The human skills that matter most
None of these graduates identified intelligence, grades or test-taking ability as the most overlooked skill for young lawyers. Instead, they pointed to qualities that are often harder to measure.
For Jansma, that skill is empathy.
“Understanding clients, colleagues, judges and opposing counsel requires more than legal knowledge,” she said. “It requires the ability to appreciate different perspectives and understand the human dimensions of legal disputes.”
Warinner identifies another critical trait: the ability to receive constructive feedback.
“As lawyers, we are constantly learning,” she said. “Students who can listen to criticism, apply suggestions and continually improve often develop more quickly than those who resist feedback.”
Collier highlights a third essential skill: stress management.
“Without the ability to maintain mental health and resilience, even the most talented lawyers can struggle over the long term,” she said.
Remember your why
Perhaps the most memorable advice comes from Gunaratne.
“Don’t forget your why,” he said. “It sounds simple, but law school has a way of distracting students from the reasons they chose this path in the first place. Deadlines, grades, interviews and competition can easily shift the focus away from personal goals and values.”
Warinner echoes that sentiment.
“Trust who you are and why you want to become a lawyer and let that guide your decisions,” she said. “The most successful careers are often built not by chasing prestige, but by staying connected to purpose.”
The real secret to success
Taken together, the experiences of these four past Law Students of the Year reveal a different picture of legal success than many students imagine.
Success is not solely about rankings, grades or doing everything alone. Successful law students build relationships. They volunteer. They develop practical skills. They accept feedback. They support their classmates. They take care of themselves. And they remain connected to the reasons they entered the profession in the first place.
Those habits begin long before graduation day; they begin the moment students walk through the law school doors.
