Shutterstock.

It's my second semester at Michigan Law, and, yes, I've learned a few things. I've come to realize that a tough cold call will not kill me. The length of reading assignments is no longer surprising, and I know what a law school final exam looks like. Even better, I have blissful months ahead before I have to take another one.

But what would law school really be without a new challenge to induce widespread anxiety among 1Ls? Time to focus on the reason we sign up for all that student debt: Employment.

The planning for summer jobs—not just this coming summer, but the one after 2L year, which potentially leads to an offer of post-graduate employment—has begun in earnest, bringing with it a pressure to “network” that makes me cringe at the very word.

Michigan Law's “Meet the Employers” event, which is essentially a Big Law career fair at the stadium club in The Big House, was scheduled to take place last week. An ill-timed polar vortex forced its cancellation, but in the lead-up to the event, my classmates and I were bombarded with instructions about what to wear, what to say, how to shake a hand.

The answers to those questions: Do not wear anything interesting; dark suits only, with heels no higher than three inches. Chat about the weather, or sports! Shake hands firmly and smile; if your hand is clammy and wet, you will most likely be unemployed forever.

The fact that this advice was deemed necessary does not strike me as a vote of confidence. Though I suppose reminding us how to act like normal humans may have been a reasonable precaution, given the hysteria known to overtake 1Ls as a group, especially in situations that may or may not affect our future ability to pay back those student loans.

By now I have heard the word “networking” often enough that it has lost any real meaning. So for the purposes of this column—and because Con Law has already taught me the importance of defining innocent little words such as “necessary,” and “commerce,” and “and”—I looked it up. Dictionary.com defines the noun form as “a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest.” How nice and friendly!

But the verb “networking”—a form beloved by career counselors—was given this definition: “To cultivate people who can be helpful to one professionally, especially in finding employment or moving to a higher position.” Ugh. This version is more clinical than collegial. Being cultivated does not sound particularly pleasant, and cultivating someone else sounds even worse.

My aversion to the word is probably due partly to its newness to me, at least in terms of applying it to my own career. In undergrad, I was an American Studies major with a concentration in print journalism, and not so shockingly, there was no real recruiting for jobs in that sector. (If such jobs exist. As you may have noticed, I'm in law school now.) Meanwhile, I watched my business school friends go to job fairs and attend dinners hosted by big banks and schedule daily calls with consultants at different firms, but the idea that such interactions could actually result in a lucrative job offer seemed strange to me.

Yet here I am, attending regular career information sessions and firm receptions, striving to present myself well while simultaneously trying to get some sense for what differentiates this Big Law firm from that Big Law firm. (Government and public-interest organizations, for obvious and unfortunate resource reasons, do not get the same prominence on campus when it comes to job opportunities.)

It's interesting to see what these firms choose to highlight about themselves, especially as they face a fresh onslaught of scrutiny about their lack of diversity. Panels of visiting Big Law attorneys are always asked about their firm's approach to increasing the representation of minority groups and women up and down the firm hierarchy. The responses are generally similar across firms: They recognize that diversity is an issue, and they're working on it.

Each Big Law firm also touts its global reach, its wide range of practice areas, its multitude of accolades and high-profile wins, and its commitment to pro bono work. Questions about “work-life balance” come up every time, too.

Sometimes parsing law firms' promotional materials seems more difficult than parsing the case from 1466 I just read for my Torts class. With this in mind, I understand the emphasis on networking and appreciate the goals behind it, despite my intense dislike for the word itself. It makes that parsing a bit easier by facilitating connections with people and providing a chance to learn about an office's culture, an organization's structure, an associate's day-to-day life, and so on. I also realize the privilege of attending a school such as Michigan Law, where law firms do much of the legwork of the recruiting and hiring process via on-campus interviews and visits from attorneys who tell us what we're getting ourselves into.

And of course, I see the value to firms in ensuring that prospective hires are genuinely interested in the firm's work, are capable of shaking hands correctly, and can competently converse with co-workers and clients alike when in settings less formal than an interview.

Ultimately, while I find the word “networking” to be off-putting—depending on which definition you want to give it—the word “employment” is pretty easy on the ear. So if you plan to come to a networking event at Michigan Law, rest assured that the heels will not be too high, the handshakes will be strong but not too strong, and the small talk will be top-notch.

Renee Griffin is a first-year student at University of Michigan Law School.