End of Semester Thoughts

Happy Sundays readers,

As college students, we've all made it to the end of the fall semester. Even when we thought we weren't going to survive some days because of the workload and constant deadlines, but here we are thriving and surviving. Today's blog post will consist of how I learned to balance out my life differently this semester. I truly feel this fall semester of my senior year helped me grow and flourish. It taught me to appreciate the bad because without the bad I wouldn't be here sitting appreciating the good.

I Learned to Stay Consist in Everything I Do 
I learned when you're consistent in everything you do in life, your outcomes are better. Being consist of school is what we must realize as students. When you stay consist of your education, your grades are better, stress can be lessened, and you'll have more time to what you want outside of school. Consistency is important of every aspect of life. A good example is when you stay consist in going to the gym every day like you promised yourself you would. When you stay consist in going to the gym every day, you see results faster and you feel a boost of self-confidence. Well, school is the same way. I learned throughout the fall semester of my senior year if I want to continue to do well academically, I must remain consist. Consistency in getting your homework done ahead of time, consistent in studying for a test, and consistent in always being on time for class. I believe the only way to be consistent is to stay disciplined. I know it may sound impossible when you are a full/part worker and a student. But it is possible and it is worth it. Consistency is key in an academic career. I wish I would have been more consistent in the earlier stages of my academic career, but now that I have learned that it gets you further in everything you do, I share this advice with you. Discipline = Consistency = Success.


Make Time for Yourself
College is stressful, there is no doubt about it. It is important to take care of your mental and physical health throughout your time being in school. What are some ways to make time for yourself? One way to make time for yourself in a positive way is to go to the gym. I know, I know, you're probably thinking you're "too exhausted" from work and school. But the moment I started going to the gym, I felt a huge relief lifted off of my shoulders. I was able to take out all my frustrations by lifting weights and seeing progress. Going to the gym took care of my mental health AND my physical health because it was "me" time. Gym time was a time I could get away from the world and focus on myself unselfishly. As the gym is my personal "me" time, I suggest ways to find your "me" time is do always do what makes you happy. If it's being alone writing poetry, going out around town with loved ones, or taking a long car drive with the windows down and music up, please do it. You deserve it.


Surround Yourself with Good People
Surround yourself with people who want to see you win. Surround yourself with people who understand that your education is important to you and there will be many nights that consist of you being stuck at home studying for an exam on a weekend. Get friends that understand that you are in school to better yourself. Good friends will understand your devotion and understand that college is not easy. It is important to have a good support system because there will be days if you question if college is worth it. There will be days where you're going to feel like you can't accomplish things. But when those days come along, there is nothing better to get you through then a great support system. Do not allow any negativity in your life while you are simply trying to better yourself by receiving an education. Trust me, you will already have enough stress. The least you can do for yourself is have good people surrounding you. And, if you don't have many people you are close to that you consider your friends, remember that family is forever. Just please don't feel you must put school second to keep people around that would never consider putting yourself first in their life.

Never Sell Yourself Short, Your Time is Coming 
There will be days when you're going to feel behind in life, but I promise, it's going to be okay. You log onto Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat and see your friends getting married, having a baby, buying a new car, and getting their first home. You feel like you're doing something wrong in life. You question yourself why can't you have any of those things in your life. The answer is, it's not your time yet. It's okay to feel like you're behind at times because it motives you to get ahead, but when you overthink it, you start to feel sad and question if you are doing things right in life. Don't put a timeline on your success is the first rule. I use to get bothered when I would see people I graduated high school already graduating college before me when we start college at the same time. I would get bothered when I'd see someone land a job that relates to their future professional career while I worked at a dead-end job. Then I realized, it simply is not my time. I learned to continue to focus on your goals and ambitions and you will go further than you ever imagined. Stop comparing yourself to the world around you because you are where you are for a reason. Enjoy the process and embrace every mistake as the mistake will be your guide to do things correctly the next time around. Be confident that you are making the right choices and realize that taking life day by day is a lot less overwhelming than trying to keep up with the "Joneses". Your time will come and your life will be exactly how you've dreamed for it to be as long as you keep your goals in clear sight. Ignore the distractions, but pay attention to your journey. As it is your journey and you must make the most of it.

Sunday Reflection

Happy Sunday readers,

I hope this week was filled with good vibes and you're feeling in the Christmas spirit! Today's blog post marks my 3 month anniversary since I have started my personal blog. I'd like to reflect with everyone what I have learned during my fall semester of my senior year from my Professional Writing class.

Using a LinkedIn Account 

During this semester, I learned how important networking is and how it will help you find a job easier after undergrad and grad school. You have to break the cycle of being shy and sell/market yourself as a professional for doors to open. An easy way to start to market and sell yourself is to create a LinkedIn account. LinkedIn is a website where you can customize your profile by adding your work history, education, and get connected with professionals of your chosen profession and people nearby who have the similar interest as you job wise. You are able to choose what interest you when you create your LinkedIn account by hashtagging keywords. For example, if you are interested in corporate law, you will hashtag "#corporatelaw" and corporate Law articles and law firms will appear on your timeline when you go to the home page of your LinkedIn. I had personally made a LinkedIn account about a year ago and never had any interest in using it until I learned how much of a useful job search tool it can be and how the website allows a user to connect to the professional world. If you do not have a LinkedIn, I highly recommend the website to everyone no matter what your profession may consist of. You can also connect with your peers, classmates, and professors that may help lead you to opportunities that you never knew you had. If you are interested in creating a LinkedIn account, make sure to finish all the steps to complete your profile to give you a higher chance of getting noticed by employers and finding connections.

Creating Reports for the First Time
Another important thing I learned was how to design a report. I had never designed a report in my 4 years of being an undergrad student and it made me feel behind with a lack of experince. It was intimidating at first when I found out I had to create a report of my own and pick the organization i'd like to proposal my report for. My professor explained and elaborated how important creating reports would be in graduate school and continued to explain that this was not going to be the first or last time creating a report. The report I worked on consisted of having a cover page, table of contents, cover memo, an abstract, introduction, methods, findings, findings, and finalizing our recommendations in that order. I went ahead and chose a non-profit organization that stood against child abuse in Texas. This organization needed a lot of work to be at the success level it aimed to be. That's where I came in and explained on my report to the organization to why I would be the best person to chose to get the job done. Doing this report taught me how to present my skills, talents, and aspiration to make a difference to an organization and allowed me to get familiar with future reports I'll have to conduct in the future.

Designing a Personal Website 
Creating a website for the first time may have you looking like a deer in headlights, but I promise it's fun! My first time creating my own personal website was a bit challenging trying to get the navigation bar right to make my website user-friendly. There are many things to be aware of when creating your own professional website. You must consider who your audience is, what will be the first thing they see when they enter your website, is your contact information available, and does your professional bio going to interest people enough to work with you. The most fun part about creating your own website is your the boss and you get to chose how you want the world to see you. The background you chose for your website is extremely important because you're not going to choose a glitter background with hearts if you are creating a website for a lawyer career. As cute as a glitter background with hearts sounds, you have to stay professional. Your background has to consist with the font you chose and it will give your website the personality it needs to thrive and catch the attention of the right viewers and potential clients if your website is a professional one. The way I saw things while creating my own professional website is to think of your website as a resume that you can customize with detail and personality. Make it presentable, sharp, and that makes others want to hire you or work with you.

I Mentioned 3 Things I Have Learned...
Concluding that I have reflected on some things I learned during my Professional Writing course, the question is if I will be returning to blog again as I have been every Sunday. I have decided to stop blogging until I have been accepted into law school. I feel within the next year and being a law student, I will be a completely different person with a lot more experince and stories to share with everyone. As I have made this blog based on becoming an attorney, I look forward to growing and perfecting my craft as a writer and sharing information with other law students when I actually become a law student myself. I have never in my life blogged until this fall semester and it's a nice mental getaway to type about what I have learned, overcome, and experince. The journey to becoming an attorney will continue, as I look forward to growing through life with knowledge and personal insights to help, inspire, and express myself. Until next time,

Best Wishes,
Natalie

Crafting a Professional Biography for Your Profession

Happy Sunday,

I hope your week has been fulfilling and full of positive vibes. Today I will be discussing the importance of a professional biography. A professional biography is the first impression to potential clients in your business profession. The bio should allow the reader to get a clear idea of who you are, what are your beliefs, and your previous/current experience. The reader of your bio should feel they know a great deal about you when they finish reading and should feel confident that you are the right person for the job to get things done correctly. If you ever second guess yourself when writing your own professional bio, check out 7 of the Best Professional Bio Examples to get a better idea. 

Professional Bio Example

(Contributor, Guest. “13 Knockout Examples of How to Write an Agent Bio.” Inman, Inman, 19 Mar. 2018, www.inman.com/next/13-knockout-examples-of-how-to-write-an-agent-bio/.)

Why are Bio’s Important?

Professional bios are important because they tell a short story about a person that goes beyond the resume. A resume is a quick review of someone where you have to have the correct key terms to stand out to Human Resources. A bio is a resume in detail and can also be seen as a short story that has an introduction, a middle, and an end. The introduce of the bio tells the reviewer where you’ve come from and how you started. The middle includes your goals, accomplishments, aspirations, and beliefs. The ending includes what you offer and what you stand for. The best part about professional bios is that they can be displayed on your website, given out for job opportunities, and used for networking. 

What to Avoid in a Bio?

The most important thing to avoid when writing a bio for yourself is not to write more than you need to and only include the highlights in your life. Details a great to have, but too many details can bore the reader or make them lose interest. The person reading your professional bio is interested you ultimately knowing what you can bring to the table, not what you did in elementary school or what your favorite color is. Avoid any controversial content and remember your bio is selling you as a product would be sold. Get straight to the point to mention things in your bio that will have future/potential clients interested in working with you and confident that you are able to fulfill their needs/wants in a professional manner.

How Long Should Bio’s Be?

A bio should never exceed being longer than one page. If you find your bio being longer than one page, do your best to shorten it. A professional bio is longer than a page increases the chances of the reader losing interest. Look at your professional bio as a resume with details. Resumes are typically one page long, and so should a bio.  Always include your education, accomplishments, and goals to be the meat of the bio and this should allow you as the writer to get straight to the point and no have to exceed the expected one-page limit.

What Information Should Be Included in a Bio?

Include all of your accomplishments and highlights throughout your life in your professional bio. This is your time to shine in a professional manner. Yes, be humble, but also reflect on everything you’ve overcome in life and what you have accomplished that has to lead you into the direction you are in today. Mention any awards you have won, classes you took in undergrad and grad school, and volunteer work you have done that to your professional or that will stand out to the reader. 

Balancing Law School and Work

Good evening and happy Sunday,

Today I will be discussing how to balance out law school and work. Many law schools do not allow law students to work their first year of law school or only permit law students to work part-time. This leads me to my question: how are law students expected to make a living? Student loans? Working secretly? Help from family or parents? Unfortunately, everyone situation is different. But if becoming a lawyer is all you have ever dreamed of and you a genuine about perfecting your craft in practicing law the rest of your life, then balancing out law school and work will be worthwhile. Finding balance in our life is what helps us grow and helps us have a clear mind to avoid becoming overwhelmed with life's endeavors.

Schedule Your Law Classes Carefully:
Law school courses are filled with assigned readings and studying. It's a good idea to first find balance by taking some difficult courses mixed in with some electives that don't require as much work as the required courses do. Don't carry more than the can handle by attempting to take all your rigorous courses all at once. This can affect your grades and be extremely overwhelming. As if, law school isn't already overwhelming enough, group your courses together. This means, try to schedule your courses either all during the morning or all courses taken in the evening. Having some courses in the morning and some in the afternoon does not allow any free time in between. If you're a student taking all morning classes, you will have the entire afternoon/evening to study and finish assigned readings and go to work. If you have night classes, you have the entire day before class to get any final readings in or have the opportunity to stay up late the night before studying and can work evenings. This will allow you to get a fair amount of time in your day to be productive and not have many stops and go in between such as waiting for your next class that has a 3-hour gap, for example.

Pick Classes That Interest You:
You've probably heard it a million times, but law school is anything but easy, but it is not impossible to overcome. The least you can do for yourself while being in law school for 3 years is to take courses that interest you. If you have had a particular area of law that you have already planned to practice after graduating, take the courses that relate to that area of law and expand your knowledge. Being able to take courses you genuinely find interest in is important because not only does this benefit you in the long run and enhance your experience during law school, but it makes law school a more enjoyable experience to gain knowledge that you know will not go to waste. Also, this will better your chances in having more interest to complete coursework you know will benefit you when you start practicing that area of law.

Communicate With Work: 
If you have an upcoming test, study group meetings, or meetings with your law professors, please let your work know in advance. Be considerate and don't put your co-workers in a bind and catch them off guard by not showing up to work because of school. Hopefully, the job you have through out law school is already understanding that school is a priority, but you must also under that balancing both school and work is important and part of adulthood. Plan for anytime you need off in advance to prevent any miscommunication or issues. When you're able to communicate with your co-workers and manager, it shows that you are responsible and a good worker. If you're handling school and work, that already says you are dedicated, but remember communication in key in and out of work and school.


Don't Make Excuses: 
Working during law school will be hectic and you may have days where you feel like giving up. If you ever do feel like giving up, please remind yourself why you started. As a student in undergrad school, you are familiar with deadlines. Your law professor isn't going to feel bad for you because you were working late and didn't get to read the assigned case. Your boss at your job won't feel bad for you if you're falling asleep at work because you were up studying late. This is why balancing out school and work is important. Excuses will only allow you to fail. Only you can make excuses and excuses only hold you back from living to your full potential. You should know that before you committed to law school, that it was going to be an intense 3 years, but it is what you make it. Be consistent, stay dedicated, and remember that your hard work will payoff in the long-run. Carefully manage your time and make sure to also throw in some "me time" to take care of your well-being. Everything will fall into place and everything will be fine, I promise.

Professional Portfolios in your Career

Good evening readers,

I hope everyone had a great week! This evening I will be introducing the concept of professional portfolios and how professional portfolios are relevant in the legal field when being a lawyer. 

Professional portfolios are a collection of important documents of your work over the years. The work can include assignments done in college that relate to your career, or you can display work that has shown growth in a professional aspect and present your personal skills. Professional portfolios are also visuals of how much a person has grown throughout a professional career. Many portfolios are becoming e-portfolios, which means- they are found and accessed online. 

Why Make Professional Portfolio? 

A professional portfolio allows the creator to display their qualifications and should be a extension of their work/school resume. While creating a professional portfolio, it will help the creator learn more at themselves and look at previous work they have done over the years that they may have never paid attention to. A professional portfolio also allows the creator to realize what their goals are in life and how they wish to achieve them. It's also an easy way to keep track of your growth as a professional and an individual. You will find out more about yourself when you are able to visually see all of your accomplished in one portfolio. You may also find that you have achieved more than you thought you have and that your skill set is stronger than you believed. 

What Should be in a Professional Portfolio? 

When creating a professional portfolio, there are specific categories you must include for your portfolio to achieve its goal in impressing the company/business you are interested in working for. First, you must include an appealing cover page, the cover page is what the reviewers first see during the reviewing process. After, a table a context will be included after the cover page to help the reviewer navigate through the portfolio and see where specific sections are located. An introduction is to follow after the table of context. The introduction will introduce who you are, your goals, and what your professional interest include. First impressions are everything, so make sure your introduction has the "wow" effect to the reviewer and always include something about yourself that the viewer cannot forget! After concluding your introduction, add your personal credentials. Your personal credentials are your resume, references, and evaluations you may have from previous professors in college or an old job. Lastly, you include your best work yet. This includes related coursework to your desired career or projects you are proud of that you feel deserve to get shown off to the reviewer you are presenting to. Remember, it is important to categorize your coursework and projects so this will give the reviewer easy access to sort out your accomplishments, skills, and projects. 

What makes Professional Portfolios Important in the Legal Field? 

After recent research, I have found that a lawyers professional portfolio is their website page. Their website page is a way to display their client's testimony, tell a background story, and present viewers a list of accomplishments that push viewers to the way you should choose that specific attorney to represent you as a client. Having a website represent a professional portfolio in the legal world and is a way of selling yourself to not only clients based in your town, but clients from all over the nation. OVC is a website that has the best attorney websites that serve as a professional portfolio to the public. The lawyer's website is a reflection of who they are individually and as a law firm. Depending on what the attorneys decide to include on their website is up to them, but after viewing the most successful lawyer website that OVC has displayed, the most successful lawyer website provides an "about us" tab, a list of lawyers at the firm with a short "about me" description, areas of practice, and case victories. The website also includes stats, awards earned as a law firm, and how much money earned from cases won. In conclusion, a professional portfolio is important for lawyers because it sells their legal service and is not limited to viewers, and provides easy access. Lawyers must display their skills, areas of practice, and client testimonials to prove they are the best attorney to handle a clients case. Their portfolio must also persuade clients that they are dealing with experienced attorneys that care for their clients well being. 

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Going to Law School

Happy Sunday Readers! I hope this blog post finds you in good spirits.

In today's blog, I will be discussing six different questions to ask yourself before thinking of attending law school. As you may already know, law school is a 3-year commitment after undergrad school. From many current law students I have personally talked to, they have told me the first year is the hardest year and if can survive the first year, you can finish the last two. But, how do you know if law school is for you? Is law school worth the investment or what do you plan to do with a Juris Doctorate degree? Here are 6 important question to first ask yourself:




How Much is Law School?
Law school has never been cheap, but over the years law school has increased rapidly according to U.S News . When I would talk to my law school advisor at my university, she would always tell me to look at law school as a lifetime investment. An investment that can or will turn into a lifetime career filled with long nights of reading, writing, and connecting with clients. She then continued to say that law school is very different from undergrad school and to think hard if you are willing to be in debt the next 20-30 years of your life. Depending on how successful you are as an attorney, will determine how long it will take to pay off your school debt, or you can be extremely blessed and get a full ride scholarship. Unfornatualy, we do not all have that opportunity. The most expensive law school starts off at $62,000 a year, this school happens to be Yale, the number 1 ranked law school in the nation. BUT, the average law school tuition is between $25,000-$45,000. You must remember that tuition rates vary if you are attending school out of state, tuition is usually spiked an extra $10,000 more than the original cost of attendance. Either way, your law school tuition is going to be a cost of an average brand new car every year, for 3 years. No doubt law school is expensive, but many law schools offer financial aid and always have scholarships open. This may not be a way to completely get out of tuition debt, but it will greatly decrease debt cost.

Why Do You Want To Go To Law School? 
I've talked to many classmates that want to be lawyers over my time being an undergraduate student and always ask "why do you want to go to law school?" The most common reply I would receive was "I like to argue" or "lawyers make great money and I'm trying to live comfortable". I believe you may want to re-think twice about those answers to why you want to go to law school. I have had the honor of talking to a judge based in San Antonio and she told me that law school is nothing like Law & Order or the movie 'Legally Blonde'. She said law school is super competitive, rigorous, and time-consuming. But if you're willing to put in the time and effort to get as much knowledge you can out of attending law school, you're more than likely to be a great lawyer. When I was in a pre-law program at my university, an attorney came to talk to our class and even said herself that she came out of law school broke. When she first started practicing law, she was only making around $60,000 a year and took her many years to make as much as she does now. So she made it clear to the class not to have high hopes of starting off rich as a lawyer. Within time and working for the right law firm could grant you that opportunity, but please never go to law school because you wish to be rich in life.

What Do You Plan On Doing With Your Law Degree? 
Many lawyers have said, "if you're not going to be a practicing lawyer, then don't go to law school." I'd have to disagree with that statement because some people may go to law school to be a practicing attorney and use their law degree to help them build within another career. A career that could be blended well with the law is real estate, business owners, and law enforcement. Yes, you want to make the most out of your Juris Doctorate degree because you invested so much money into it, but if you find another passion that involves law, do not limit yourself. You're able to be a judge, a State Senate, a Congress member with a law degree. The only limit to what you wish to do with your degree is up to you.

Should You Take Time Off Before Attending Law School?
There is no right or wrong answer to this, but many people (like myself) need to take a quick break just to get a clear piece of mind after grad school. Hats off to the students that go straight into law school as soon as they graduate undergrad. That is a true dedication and great planning. But, for individuals like myself, I want to be able to take a year off and save as much money as I can before going into law school. Taking a year off will allow me to work full-time and dedicate my full attention to studying the LSAT and not having any other class get in the way. Taking some time off before law school also gives you a chance to explore different careers, network, and possibly get a job in a law firm to gain experience beforehand. Remember that, your LSAT score is good for 5 years after you have taken it, so use your time wisely and remember that even though law school can be stressful, your mental health comes first. And, if taking a year or more off before committing to law school is what you feel you have to do, then do it. There is no race to finish.


How Are You Going To Make A Living Throughout Law School?
You must decide how you will make a living while attending law school, rather it is your parents, working full/part-time, or a spouse helping out. There used to be a rule that law school permitted any full-time students from working. But really, who else is going to pay for your bills? How could school take away the option for you to work? It just blows my mind. The best and only way you will be prepared to save yourself from stress is to plan before applying/getting accepted into law school. Find where you will live, try to avoid getting into any new type of debt and find a job that is understanding that you are a law student and you have committed yourself for the next 3 years to school.

What Law School is Best For You? 
My law school advisor had suggested that I pick 5 law schools. First pick my dream school, two schools that I have a better chance than my dream school, and two schools that I know for sure I may be accepted into to. No matter what law school you have chosen already or plan to, make sure you are aware of the economy of the city and if you happen to move out of state, do you have plans on staying or moving back home? Many say to pick a law school that you are positive you will be practicing law in. But certain law schools offer different programs for specific types of law to practice. For example, the law school in Denver Colorado is ranked 8th for professional writing and has one of the best environmental law programs. If there is a law school that is out of state but has the type of law you have a high chance of practicing after law school, put that school down on your list to apply.

Multimedia in the Courtroom

Greetings and happy Sunday,

In this post, I will be explaining the importance of using multimedia in the courtroom for trails and explain how effective visuals are to a courtroom audience.

As it's known, trial attorneys must speak in a courtroom full of jurors judging the outcome of the case by having substantial evidence and convincing facts. If an attorney is able to paint a vivid picture to their jurors by using a visual, they have a higher chance of winning jurors over.

Pick What You Use in the Courtroom Wisely:
When attorneys use multimedia in their courtroom cases, they have a wide range of options to pick from. They have the choice of displaying infographics, pops of color that grabs attention, powerpoints that shows that targets key points, video clips, and audio. With our generation being so accustomed to using technology, it is the obvious thing to keep up with technology and find new effective ways to get our point across, and always make it rememberable. When an attorney is presenting his/her case, they must tell their audience the story of the case from start to finish and are expected to deliver an extraordinary presentation while doing it. Courtroom multimedia trial presentations are taking over the courtrooms at a rapid pace.

Don't Over Do it...
It is very easy to over-use multimedia in the courtroom. Using many visuals and not enough key point is a known issue and, being able to easily venture off topic with the lack of evidence. When creating a multimedia presentation for a courtroom jury, you must be aware of your audience, have concrete evidence/facts relating to the case, and make sure you state the issue/solution to have a solid conclusion that ties up the summary of the case presented.

It's Your Time to Shine:
A trail is a "show and tell" presentation to the jorors in the courtroom. Attorneys must be able to present their case in a way jurors can easily understand and process. A way to help jurors do this is to show just as many visuals as and they are stating facts and evidence, everything must have a balance because attorneys tend to show more then they present and this will hinder the chances of winning their case. With the use of visual aids such as infographics, charts, and graphs, the jurors can focus clearly and use the attorney's use of multimedia to reference back to a certain time frame of the case presented.

It's 2018, technology is EVERYWHERE:
In 2018, we rely heavily on technology. When attorneys use multimedia during their trails, they are keeping the jurors engaged and interested in what facts and evidence they have to present. The juror can take notes more easily due to the fact that an attorney can put their key points into a Powerpoint slideshow and have solid proof and attorneys will not have to struggle to remember what they have said in the courtroom, but simply reference back to their presented slide show or visual example. Showing something to someone is always more rememberable then simply telling someone.

In conclusion, multimedia not only benefits trail attorneys in court, but it helps jurors make what they believe is the right decision. The jury stays interested if an attorney has a well put together presentation of visuals and that's what the trial attorney aims for. Pretty soon, all jurors will be accustomed to seeing visuals and information projected from a screen rather than on a piece of paper or just hearing audio.