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Hey there!
I am a Masters Student majoring in Machine Learning. I am in my first semester and I am kind leaning to explore Data Science as well. Could any Professional Data Scientists help me out on getting started? What skills do I focus on? What kind of projects should I have on my portfolio?
I have tried looking this info out in the internet but its all overwhelming. Hoping to get some honest guidance here!
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Chief
No.
Your local bar membership is way more useful than the ABA, in my opinion.
The most glaring benefit is free CLEs or discounted ones but you can find those elsewhere and/or your firm will pay for them. I cancelled mine a few years ago and haven’t missed anything.
For me it is now that I’m in house and licensed in multiple jurisdictions, so the free CLE benefit (for all those jurisdictions) alone is worth it. I’m also on a practice specific committee that I find valuable, but it’s really what you make of it.
If you’re going to a law firm, many will reimburse the cost of membership (mine always paid for ABA and the local bar where I was working).
I use mine to get discounts on insurance. The savings on car insurance was significant for me.
OK for a somewhat contrary position, it is if you make the most of it. I’m in senior leadership for an ABA Section and I have gotten a lot out of it. It gave me a lot of speaking opportunities, which eventually got me into the professional College for my practice area. I also got additional speaking opportunities through programs I did for ABA. There is more emphasis on providing free CLE, though we need to do better there. The regular programs are kind of pricey. I’ve got a national practice and I now know people who are leaders in the field around the country who are great resources. Less on value, I’ve also made a lot of good friends over the years.
No
Just know what you plan to get from it. If you are hoping for helpful practice tips, docs, etc., then no. If you are looking for networking opportunities at their meetings then, assuming you go, yes.
No
No
If your employer will pay for it, sure. If you’re paying out of pocket, your mileage may vary.
Depends on what you practice. It is *the* group for practice areas like federal admin law and government contracts. Like you get happy hours and several free brownbags every Month out of it, and private sector lawyers file comments on niche regulation under the ABA.
They also have, in my experience, the cheapest large collection of CLE. It's pennies compared to places like the lexis and west CLE libraries. My office gets a conference worth of CLE but the rest is up to us including ethics. Absent all of the practice group stuff, I find it worth it to pay for a yearly membership to get my live and ethics credits.
The rest of their stuff is whatever. Main-ABA always gives the impression that it's just a bunch of old lawyers and law professors huffing each other's farts. The ABA magazine is 50% legal tech ads presented as articles, 25% law firms bragging about winning cases, 20% useless puff, and 2 pages of useful information from Bryan garner.
Nope