2008 Woodie Awards
Breaking into Journalism
Andrea Saenz
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: News
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On Monday, February 12th, the Law and the Arts Initiative sponsored its third event, "Journalism for Lawyers: How to Launch a Writing Career." Five successful journalists and Harvard Law graduates came to share their career paths and their takes - some optimistic, some less so - on prospects for new journalists in their rapidly changing field.
Assistant Director of Academic Affairs Amy Gutman, herself a published novelist, introduced the Law and the Arts Initiative, a year-old program that has so far sponsored the Creative Writers' Group and panels on starting a writing career in law school and careers in book publishing. Gutman announced that the initiative would be partnering with the Berkman Center to start a blog focusing on student writing about their summer work experiences. She also introduced moderator Elaine McCardle, who most students know as HLS's Publications Director, but who also "ditched the law," as McCardle put it, very soon after graduating law school to become a journalist.
The first panelist to speak was Ruth Marcus '84, currently a columnist for the Washington Post. Marcus was a journalist before she came to law school, explaining that while she wrote for the National Law Journal, "my basic understanding of law was, 'Okay, so there are federal courts, and state courts, right?"" At HLS, she wrote a few pieces for the Post and even managed to ruffle the feathers of former Dean Vorenberg, getting into a discussion with him about "whether you could really be off the record at an event with 300 people there."
Marcus explained that most people she interviewed in Washington did not expect a reporter to have a law degree, leading to some entertaining anecdotes about the "most obnoxious things I ever did with my Harvard Law degree," involving Marcus dropping the "H-bomb" when confronted by particularly condescending interview subjects.
Marcus worked at two large law firms after her 2L year, but quickly realized it was not for her, and that she preferred the creativity and independence of the newsroom. On a visit to the Post newsroom during that summer, she passed the desk of one of the editors, which had a stuffed monkey suspended over it on a bouncing cord. "I bet those law firms don't have any stuffed monkeys," said one of the Post staffers to her.
Assistant Director of Academic Affairs Amy Gutman, herself a published novelist, introduced the Law and the Arts Initiative, a year-old program that has so far sponsored the Creative Writers' Group and panels on starting a writing career in law school and careers in book publishing. Gutman announced that the initiative would be partnering with the Berkman Center to start a blog focusing on student writing about their summer work experiences. She also introduced moderator Elaine McCardle, who most students know as HLS's Publications Director, but who also "ditched the law," as McCardle put it, very soon after graduating law school to become a journalist.
The first panelist to speak was Ruth Marcus '84, currently a columnist for the Washington Post. Marcus was a journalist before she came to law school, explaining that while she wrote for the National Law Journal, "my basic understanding of law was, 'Okay, so there are federal courts, and state courts, right?"" At HLS, she wrote a few pieces for the Post and even managed to ruffle the feathers of former Dean Vorenberg, getting into a discussion with him about "whether you could really be off the record at an event with 300 people there."
Marcus explained that most people she interviewed in Washington did not expect a reporter to have a law degree, leading to some entertaining anecdotes about the "most obnoxious things I ever did with my Harvard Law degree," involving Marcus dropping the "H-bomb" when confronted by particularly condescending interview subjects.
Marcus worked at two large law firms after her 2L year, but quickly realized it was not for her, and that she preferred the creativity and independence of the newsroom. On a visit to the Post newsroom during that summer, she passed the desk of one of the editors, which had a stuffed monkey suspended over it on a bouncing cord. "I bet those law firms don't have any stuffed monkeys," said one of the Post staffers to her.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
David Eide
posted 2/23/07 @ 12:37 AM EST
I enjoyed this article. At Sunoasis Jobs I've gotten questions from lawyers or people who've graduated from law school and decide they don't want to practice it. (Continued…)
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