Planning for Your Legal Career

When I started law school, I knew almost nothing about what lawyers do or how I might fit into the legal profession. I picked things up via rumor and by trial and error.

You will also use rumor and trial and error, I'm sure, but you can also build your knowledge more systematically and with more reliable sources. To start, take a look at our recently updated guides:

Learning About Legal Careers & the Job Search

Learning About Legal Specialties and Practice Areas

These join our other career guides:

• Public Service Careers: Research Tips
• Fellowship Opportunities in Law
• Government Work
• Researching Judicial Clerkship Opportunities
• Sample Searches for Networking and Informational Interviews

You might think you have way too much reading to do for class to spend any time reading something optional. But (1) figuring out your career is important and (2) career books are generally a lot easier to skim than, say, colonial cases on property law or the Internal Revenue Code. Even leafing through a few pages now and then can spark your thinking and help you plan.

Graphic: mw

Printing to the Library Printers from Your Laptop

If you would like to send print jobs to the law library printers, here is some information that will likely come in handy for you:

How do I print from my laptop?

You need to download the printer driver software. Here's how you do that:

1. Go to the DawgPrints site: You first need to download the printer driver software from the University of Washington Creative Communications Department website. Here is a link to their printer locations page.

2. Find your printer: Scroll down the list to "Gates Law School" and download the software for L111 or L114 (once you download it for one of them, you'll be able to print to both).

3. Choose your OS: Be sure to select the appropriate software for the kind of computer and operating system that you are running.

4. Install the software: be sure to allow popups from the Dawgprints site, save the software to your computer, and install it.


I tried to download the drivers but something's not working! What do I do?

Here is a link to the DawgPrints troubleshooting page with some suggestions. If you still can't fix the problem, email Creative Communications with your question: uwcshelp@u.washington.edu.


Where does my document print out?

There are two printers in the law library in our two Copy Alcoves. One is in the Reference Area next to the black and orange painting of the coyote. The other is next to the Law Student Lounge.




Where can I find even more information about printing and scanning in the law library?

Check out the library's Printing and Scanning page for a wealth of information about printing and scanning in the library.