Ok I thought I’d actually make myself useful and just all the list of paths a prospective law student can take should he or she decide to go down the lucrative-for-some, right-now-highly-risky-because-of-the-economy, interesting-at-times, difficult-during-the-first-year-of-law-school practice of law.
1. Big Firm: This, in previous years, was the be-all and end-all for law students, and not coincidentally the most lucrative. With seemingly guaranteed salaries of $160,000 to start (not including bonuses), it sure seemed like a golden ticket. And the career path still exists today, just not in the abundance that it did just a few short years ago (when I happened to decide to go to law school). In Big Law, you work at a well-known law firm doing what the firm has a need for, such as transactional work, high-stakes litigation, etc. You may have a “practice area” that you carve out for yourself based on the work that you primarily do for the firm.
Big firms hire law students to be summer associates during the summer after their 2L year, and during that summer the law students are evaluated and usually given full-time offers at the end of the summer (except in 2009, it seems). The hiring process for these summer associate-ships come during the summer after 1L year, which is why 1L grades are SOOOOOO important.
2. Law Clerk: If Big Law was option 1, clerking for a federal judge was option 1a. And probably more prestigious. It’s a huge shining star on your resume to have been a law clerk for a federal judge and opens an inordinate amount of doors in the legal profession, especially in the aforementioned big law firms. You work for one or two years depending on the court and your cycle for a federal judge writing the judge’s decisions, basically being the judge’s right-hand man (or woman) in deciding cases, motions, and others. Great gig if you can get it.
3. IP Law: kind of overlapping, by IP law is a hot sector for a lot of biglaw firms right now that takes a certain type of attorney: those with biology/chemistry/engineering/other hard science backgrounds. What those law students can do is take the patent bar to become a patent attorney, which is a separate specialization that allows the attorney to try patent infringement cases, among other special superhero powers. Quite a good spot to be in, and employment prospects in that sector are a bit better than other legal sectors.
4. Public interest: working for public defender offices, legal aid clinics, this is more of a “service” law sector that promotes helping client who are not as fortunate (nor as wealthy as other clients), and therefore, you don’t get paid as much. Sorry to be blunt, but that’s the tradeoff: it’s actually good work and very necessary in our society, but you’re not compensated real well. Big law firms also have public interest and pro bono public areas, but rest assured that those are not the ones generating the big bucks for the firm.
5. In-house legal counsel: working in the legal department of a major company, this is my dream job. However, most in-house lawyers need like 5, 6, 7, or 62 years of experience (something like that) AT A BIG FIRM to gain the qualifications to be an in-house attorney. Needless to say, kind of a tough gig to get. And big companies don’t exactly like the lawyers taking away from the bottom line, so they’d like to keep the legal costs down, if possible.
6. Mid-to-small-size law firms: Basically the law firms that aren’t the “big law” firms. Not as stringent hiring requirements and they don’t come in a big pack to your school’s on-campus interviewing program during the summer after 1L. This is where the “it’s-who-you-know” mindset comes in, as statistics say 80% of the jobs are filled through internal. Probably how it happens: Firm has about 15 associates. One associate leaves to become a teacher. Firm now has opening for an associate. Firm doesn’t want the hassle of sending out a mass job posting and resume collect. Firm asks one of its remaining 14 associates who they know that might do good job. Associate #11 says, “My friend Larry Lawyer went to Lawrence Law School with me, he’s great.” Larry Lawyer gets brought in for an interview, firm likes Larry Lawyer, hires him over others who they have no familiarity with. Job opening filled.
7. Presidential Management Fellows Program/Department of Justice Honors Program/ Associate Attorneys’ Program: Government programs that hire law students for its cycling program. Don’t know much about this, usually you wind up in the US Attorney’s office or another governmental agency in its enforcement offices. Also pretty stringent on hiring qualifications, etc.
8. Solo practitioner: From all I’ve heard, very difficult to go down this road right out of law school, a straight ticket to a malpractice lawsuit.
9. Immigration: another niche field that some attorneys go into, usually in the small-to-mid-size law firm category. Usually helpful to get some experience in an immigration legal clinic in law school.
10. Professor: this also requires some professional experience, usually at a big firm and/or clerking. O, and a PhD wouldn’t hurt. This is WAY DOWN the road.
11. Judge: This is also WAY DOWN the road. Requires 10 years of being in practice before you can even think about doing it.
12. Consulting: used to be an ugly sister to the big law firm route, now many law students are embracing this route as the law firms clutter up. Have little knowledge of how it works except for, during interviews the recruiters ask many open-ended questions like “how much orange juice is produced in the U.S. every day?” to make you think. Uhh Yea, thinking: Not my strong suit.
13. Document review: Basically well-dressed attorneys in a room with computers reading off their screens and marking documents as “important” or “unimportant.” If not as intellectually thrilling as you thought law would be, neither did I (when I did it in 2010). It can actually be kinda lucrative, though, if you get the right type.
14. Something out of the law: people go back to their old jobs, do something else entirely, switch careers before even getting started in law, etc. (For me, I don’t have a career to go back to…so it’s kind of tough).
So there you have it, 14 great career options for people interested in law. Seriously, at this point I’m a pretty good authority on what jobs there are in the law. During law school, I’ve basically worked some form of 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and definitely 13. I just can’t find one that pays, or is full time (yet). So if you have any questions about these jobs, or more importantly, IF YOU HAVE ONE OF THESE JOBS AND ARE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO FILL IT, shoot me a message.
By the way, good tool for networking: LinkedIn. People post their resumes on their, etc. and you can see who got what positions, contact them if need be.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
No comments:
Post a Comment