When you’re a 1L, there isn’t an expectation that you’ll know what area of law you’re interested in. Instead, your focus is on making it through 1L year, securing a summer internship, finding community within Green Hall and learning how to think like a legal professional.

That all seems to change the moment you start applying for 2L summer positions, or at least, that’s how it felt to me. I went from being expected to know very little to suddenly needing to write and speak at length about my legal interests. At the time, I had only a few weeks of clerkship experience and felt unprepared to articulate my interests, mostly because I wasn’t sure what they were.

This raised an important question: how do you explore your interests as a law student?

Oddly enough, the mandatory 1L courses can provide a surprising amount of insight. I loved my civil procedure and contracts classes, which showed me I was drawn to both transactional and litigation practice. While that doesn’t exactly narrow the field, it revealed that what mattered most wasn’t the type of practice, but rather the substance of the work I’d be doing.

During my 1L summer, I had the incredible opportunity to clerk for a federal judge and observe litigation from the initial pleading stage through trial. I didn’t encounter a practice area I disliked; I found both criminal and civil law fascinating. However, I discovered a particular interest in employment law and litigation more broadly.

After my clerkship ended, I wanted to explore the transactional side of practice. I found an externship with KU’s Office of the General Counsel, working with the Spencer Museum of Art. The position was transactional in nature, but what made it especially meaningful was the subject matter. As a history of art minor, I was excited to return to that field in a legal capacity. Although the work was different from what I expected, I’ve enjoyed learning how to draft contracts and engage with intellectual property and copyright law.

Another way I’ve explored my interests has been through my work as a research assistant. This experience provides a firsthand look at legal academia and introduced me to arbitration and mediation from a research perspective. It has strengthened my ability to conduct in-depth research outside of traditional briefs while allowing me to learn from a leading scholar in the field.

Finally, one of the most effective ways to explore your legal interests is by talking to people. KU Law alumni are always willing to share insights about their work and why they’re passionate about it. These conversations not only provide a realistic picture of day-to-day practice but also help you build connections and develop the ability to communicate like an attorney.

Discovering your interests while learning to be a lawyer can be daunting, but through practical experience, research and conversation, you can begin to uncover what excites you most about the law.

– Maria Almirudis is a 2L KU Law Student Ambassador from San Antonio, Texas