- Law school is no educational walk in the park. It is a tough and grueling 3-year journey that can make or break students who dream of themselves as future attorneys.
- With that known, it should be regarded as a triumph for a student to successfully graduate law school and make their way toward having a legal practice.
- Of course you as a parent, significant other or close friend should celebrate this event as well.
- But what should you get as a gift that your law school graduate can make good use of?
Anyone who has attended and completed law school will tell you that it is more or less one of the toughest times of their lives.
Law school is like prolonged boot camp that lasts 3 years as opposed to 6 weeks.
Law school changes a person. It makes them think differently.
Law school also solidifies and toughens students, instilling in them the notion they are impervious to anyone else that dares to start a confrontation with them.
But the best part about this 3-year journey – the one ultimate outcome that makes law school so worth it is the opportunity to initiate a lucrative and successful career from practicing law.
In short, all the hard work in law school can soon merit a solid legal career which is no doubt worth celebrating.
But how do you celebrate the graduation of your law student?
How else but with gifts, the top 5 of which are outlined in this article.
- Office decorating.
If your graduate is lucky enough to have a job lined up after the bar exam, consider office accessories.
No one likes a bare law firm office. Bare law offices can only serve to dim the thoughts, hopes and ideas of both the lawyer and the client.
Help your newly graduated lawyer doll up their office with some tasteful equipment. It doesn’t have to be a $10,000 desk, chair and credenza, but should at least be something useful.
With that known, look into a nice pen set for your graduating lawyer. Pair that with a handsome desk blotter and possibly a small stereo.
That way, your attorney has instruments to write with (some attorneys still prefer to handwrite) and music to calm them down if they are experiencing a particularly tense moment in their workday.
- Get ‘em gizmos.
Face it, not every day in a lawyer’s career is going to be focused on billable hours. Some days may be busy, while others might entail some downtime.
Of course downtime can be tedious just in the same way that writing one brief after the other can be tedious.
To that end, lawyers – like anyone else – require periodic breaks in which they can rest their minds. Help your lawyer preserve his or her wits by buying them little gizmos and desktop toys to occupy themselves when they’re overwhelmed with work, or underwhelmed with their law firm’s silence.
Newton’s cradle has always been a favorite as are other similar desktop toys that can help make your young lawyer’s day go by a bit easier.
- The case of the case.
Inevitably recent law school graduates who continue on to legal careers will have to shed their college-level backpacks for a real staple of the legal world, which is a briefcase.
Avoid those hard-edged square and boring briefcases of old, and instead search out the soft-sided, elegant bags that can store a laptop with room to spare. Brown, black, and tan should be the colors of choice with these briefcases.
And while briefcases can be very expensive, you need to shop wisely as you search out a briefcase for your graduate.
Look into brands such as Kenneth Cole or Kate Spade, both of which are reasonably priced.
Unless your graduate (as well as you) have unlimited finances, avoid Gucci and Tumi, which are not necessarily wallet friendly in price.
- Fun and games.
The pressures of law are so vast, that it’s no wonder so many attorneys end up quitting the business after only a few years.
Don’t let your recently graduated lawyer be one of those statistics. You should instead provide your new lawyer ample activities that will take their mind off the practice in order to reset themselves.
Of course, depending upon the lawyer and the price of the toy/fun and games you plan to give them, things can get pricey. So with that, we’ll stick to something relatively inexpensive which can be played with both in the office and at home.
Fictional legal heroes (who’s to say if they’re superheroes or not) in figurine form, like Lawyer Morty and She-Hulk who is dressed as a lawyer have made some big splashes in more than a few legal offices. Matt Murdock makes for a good lawyer figurine as well.
As for board games, there’s Passing The Bar. Or the “Game of the Year” award-winning LAWSUIT! And of course there’s always the hugely popular Law School in a Box.
- Booze
Yes, booze has its importance. Whether Jack or Jamo, Hornitos or Cuervo, once in a while an attorney will require a strong belt of the stuff to get over their trials and tribulations in law.
Do things right by finding out what your attorney of choice’s liquor of choice is. Remember, booze is always welcome to those who drink it. And when one has a high-pressure job such as law, you will find that it is welcomed even more.
Conclusion
The best thing about these items is they are readily available online in places such as Amazon, The Sharper Image, or in the case of adult beverages, your friendly neighborhood liquor store. These gifts also aren’t exorbitantly expensive or hard to find.
Yes, some of them are gag gifts while others (such as the office decoration and the booze) are necessities within the practice of law. Of course, there are other types of gifts you could give such as:
- Wall art
- Professional clothing as in office-attire suits
- Books
- Jewelry
Any of the above items would make fine gifts for the graduating lawyer. All you really have to know is your graduating lawyer’s personality, and what they might most appreciate in the form of a gift, whether that gift is a gag gift or serious gift.
Either way, do not hesitate to show your appreciation and pride for the lawyer who’s just graduated law school. It was a hard 3-year journey, and from here on, it doesn’t get any easier. Just know that anything from a nicely appointed office to bendable lawyer action figures can, in the end, help make a lawyer’s day.
