Networking a valuable tool to student success

Last spring, Mia Normand and her classmates were huddled in Charleston School of Law’s library, preparing for oral arguments, when they received a very important alert from Career Services on their phones.

It read: FREE pizza on the second floor.

Pizza? Free? That sounds like sweet music to a law school student’s ears.

“We ran straight upstairs to the second floor,” said Normand. “There were all these attorneys guarding the pizza, but we managed to dodge them and just sat down next to a box of pizza.”

The sly move did not get past the curious eye of Charleston area attorney Gedney M. Howe IV, who followed the group and sat down.

“We were just chit-chatting, having a really functional conversation with him, then I asked him, ‘I’m just going to cut to the chase: How do I get a job?’”

“Have you been emailing law firms with your resume?” Howe asked Normand. “Don’t do that. We get too many emails. You’ve got to stand out.”

Howe, a third-generation attorney, told the students:

“Take a box of donuts and a handwritten note to the firm where you want to work. Don’t hang around. Don’t be a nuisance. Just drop them off and wait for someone to call and thank you.”

Normand heard the message loud and clear.

“The next day, I decided to hop on the opportunity before he gave the job to someone else,” she said. “I got a box of donuts, taped my resume to the inside of the box, wrote him a thank you note, and dropped it off at the office.”

When Howe stopped by the office kitchen, he was surprised to find the box of donuts and a handwritten note.

“That’s when I realized I’d been played,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Sometimes the best job applications are the ones that actually follow instructions.”

“He texted me a few minutes later when he got out of the deposition and said, ‘Nice move. Well played. You’re hired. Call my partner. Tell him you have a job for the summer.’”

Mia Normand, a Destin, Florida native, is serving this summer at the Law Offices of Gedney M. Howe, IV.

“It’s a classic law clerk job,” said Normand. “I’m writing motions, doing research, and writing internal memos. I’m crafting internal memos.”

A rising 2L at Charleston Law, Normand earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi, where she majored in Business Administration with a minor in Political Science and Economics.

She is the prototype for all prospective law students. She is a gifted, passionate, and curious student with the heart of a servant.

During her 1L year at Law School, Normand joined the Business Law Society, Phi Delta Phi (PDP), and the Federal Bar Association. Her resume is impressive, given the fact that she was preparing to attend law school in New Orleans.

“My dad said, ‘Charleston is so cool. Just give it a shot. Just go. Go tour the school.”

She did, and the rest is history. “I applied, got in, toured the school, and went to a mock class,” she remembers. “Professor Janssen was the teacher, and I was just absolutely thrilled. I switched everything over that day. I was in Charleston for 24 hours. I had the best day ever.”