<p>Inside</a> the Law School Scam: In the long run</p>
<p>I saw this posted in another forum. But basically the author/poster was a 5-year veteran of biglaw with an Ivy League undergraduate background and a Top-5 law school degree and now has no job prospects (for close to two years now). </p>
<p>He says he's mailed out over 750 applications to all sorts of jobs and has gotten rejected from them all. Can a person so highly qualified still not get a job nowadays in law?</p>
<p>American law schools have been turning out way more lawyers than the country needs for a long time.</p>
<p>It must be said that mailing out applications in response to internet postings is totally ineffectual. That’s not how legal jobs get awarded. With his undergrad, law, and biglaw networks, he has access to the folks who know where the real jobs are. He needs to start an actual job search with the help of his law school career center. It is true that there’s a severe shortage of jobs. But plenty of people with his advantages are getting jobs – he is virtually guaranteed not to get one with that approach.</p>
<p>It’s not a scam. It 's the way it works, But I agree fully with Hanna. You aren’t likely to get jobs just mailing out applications. You need to network. If the person in the article did not figure this out in his experience, it’s pretty clear why he is having trouble. Also, if you can’t find a job in the firms, you go out on your own.</p>
<p>Five years and he didn’t make junior partner. That means cut time. In the mean time how many students graduated from law school over the last 5 years? There are jobs at small time law firms but to get one, he’ll have to convince the owners that he can produce clients and back it up within a few months. BTW he can practice big time law again, but it will be suing the big companies that he use to represent, which sounds okay to me.</p>
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<p>While someone may have a sense of whether he/she is on partnership track at 5 years, “biglaw” firms are not making “junior partners” at 5 years out. </p>
<p>I wish I had received a call from this 5th year top 5 grad. Unless there are problems with interviewing or social skills, I think he’s very placeable.</p>
<p>Catera45: You saw where I wrote Jr. Partner? Five years is it and probably not even that long. Small % equity Partner 8-10 years.</p>
<p>Sosomenza, where are you working that people are made jr. partners at 5 years or less?
At biglaw firms, you are an associate at 5th yr, no partnership, however junior.</p>
<p>And not all firms award equity partnerships at 8 to 10 years. Or ever. But certainly not junior partnerships at 5. Heck, five is solidly mid-level as an associate.</p>
<p>I am wondering if his recommendations are less than glowing.
My friend’s D was able to lateral (as a 3rd yr associate) from a vault top 15 firm in NYC to another similarly ranked firm in Silicon Valley last year. As a matter of fact, she had two good offers to choose from.</p>
<p>Junior Partner has no equity in the firm! Anyone who bonuses on a sliding scale of firm profitibilty is a JP. (or Revenue Partner). Who doesn’t bonus after five years in a Law Firm?</p>
<p>It’s simple economics. If you prove your worth then the powers to be will happily give you a small percentage of revenue (Junior Partner). Again simple economics since a senior associate at a major law firm will be expected to bill a million a year. If you’re not deemed worthy, sooner or later your seat will be given to a junior associate. Simple Greed! Why pay a sixth year senior associate salary when there are no shortage of junior associates out there.</p>
<p>“the powers to be will happily give you a small percentage of revenue (Junior Partner)”</p>
<p>This is all wrong. There are a few firms out there that make income/stipend partners around 5 years – Kirkland & Ellis is one. But this is a change of title and perhaps of responsibility; you are NOT given a percentage of revenue just because your card says “Partner.” You are still an employee, and an at-will employee at that. At most firms, a 5th-year associate is a mid-level, and no one is up for any sort of partnership until about year 8.</p>
<p>Agree with Hanna. This business about making junior partner and percentage of revenue is not reality.</p>
<p>The “junior partner”/associate discussion aside, I’m going to throw something out there: if you spend two years sitting on your a–, you’re not going to get a job, and it’s not a law school scam thing. </p>
<p>Did the guy bother taking the GA bar? (He’s living in GA, likely with a NY bar license.) Is his NY license even current - that state has some of the most brutal MCLE requirements around. Is he volunteering? (There’s no shortage of people who need free legal help.) Does he get involved in the community? Join various Boards of Directors? Network with people he knows?</p>
<p>Let’s face it - no matter how insanely qualified you are, no employer wants to hire someone who has done nothing for two years. They all understand underemployment, or volunteering, or things like that, but they don’t get sitting around.</p>
<p>(As a final thought, the writer might want to know that Republicans don’t think that starving him will motivate him to find a job; we think that employers are a LOT less likely to hire on full-time employees when they could be on the hook for 99 weeks of unemployment payments. I cannot count the number of employers I’ve talked to since the recession who have bluntly stated that they do not hire on full-time because of the unemployment and ObamaCare costs. Perhaps if the letter-writer understood these things, he might be able to have a real discussion with people who are doing the hiring.)</p>
<p>I agree completely, ariesathena! What constructive things (other than sending out resume after resume after resume) has this guy been doing since he lost his job? Has he thrown himself into bar activities? Tried to find some pro bono work in areas of interest or even merely to keep his skills fresh? Has he networked with alumni from his prestigious schools?
Has he set up his own practice and tried to bring in some clients?</p>
<p>Sending out resumes into the ethers might land you a job, but it is unlikely, at least in law. Law firms, corporations and other employers are increasingly risk averse in their hiring decisions. Even when the decision is made to replace someone who has left/add headcount, employers are much more likely to interview people whose resumes come in through current employees. </p>
<p>In addition, as you noted, ariesathena, many employers are hiring lawyers as temps for some period of time as a real world trial. Those temps are not eligible for benefits and are generally paid less than their full time counterparts. However, if a lawyer proves him or herself, that lawyer may end up with a full time position.</p>
<p>^^
Before one gets too critical, one may consider that the guy may have done many of what you suggested here but may not have stated so in his blog post.</p>
<p>Re:Unemployed guy-I’d guess that he’s only trying to get on with the Mega/big firms. With his credentials a smaller firm should be willing to give him a chance. </p>
<p>Re partner: The key to not being a seven year/non partner associate is client relationships. If you’re not a threat to take a client with you, then the firm has no reason to make you a partner.</p>
<p>First, wow! …if story is true. </p>
<p>But… 
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<p>I agree that his process of simply mailing out resumes only (if true) is inefficient. Disclaimer: as I’m not in that position yet, but many people I know do tell me that getting a job is easiest by networking. </p>
<p>We were taught how to use Linkedin at my school’s jobs workshop and it would seem surprising that you couldn’t find a job in 18 months with those credentials. You can literally talk to recruiters at Linkedin Groups, so I’m not sure why he wouldn’t have found someone who liked his resume and hired him by now.</p>
<p>Hard to tell…because the story doesn’t really say if he tried these other methods people are mentioning. I just know that this guy is much more qualified than the other stories I read online about people with law degrees and unemployed. He seems literally the cream of the crop, so it doesn’t seem to add up. </p>
<p>But if it’s really THAT bad in the economy, then this is downright scary!</p>
<p>re: bad reviews? </p>
<p>I’m curious, though, why his biglaw firm wouldn’t have given him the boot earlier if he was that bad of an employee?</p>
<p>“Can a person so highly qualified still not get a job nowadays in law?”</p>
<p>Basically, yes, because the only thing that matters in BigLaw is whether you have a $2,000,000 book of business.</p>
<p>In law, it’s pretty much Winner-Take-All tournament style.</p>
<p>I left partnership track as a sixth year associate to basically sue insurance companies and the federal government on contingency.</p>
<p>Billing hours is a pain.</p>
<p>“But if it’s really THAT bad in the economy, then this is downright scary!”</p>
<p>It’s more “BigLaw” than the economy, per se.</p>
<p>It’s always been up or out, with most going out.</p>