"Since I graduated from law school it has been just one string of disasters after another and I'm giving up hope -- what should I do?"
This essay tells you:
Table of Contents
The worst thing that happens to you when everything else falls apart is that you lose the necessary hope and vitality to avoid looking like a loser. That air can cling to you and it can be devastating. This essay doesn't talk about how to go about attitude adjustment. You can visit a number of sources for that sort of help, from the on-line site for Ask the Headhunter to a number of support and self-help sites. There are links to some of those places at the bottom of the page, others can be found through http://www.yahoo.com/.
This essay talks about the professional steps you can take to resurrect a
law career.
There are several ways that a law career can be destroyed. You can
lose your law license. You can suffer terrible personal tragedies.
You can "get your horse shot out from under you" one too many times
(one too many employers folds up on you) -- or go from short term job to
job without ever "getting on the horse." The following steps won't work in
every case, but will help many salvage themselves and their careers.
Self-Employment of Last Resort
Anyone, with or without a law license, can become a self-employed bankruptcy paralegal who charges $35.00 an hour to fill out forms. In some states, there are other sorts of free-lance paralegals who are allowed to practice, but in every state you can practice as a federal bankruptcy paralegal for cash up front. A class outline for teaching yourself or others that set of skills is found at http://adrr.com/adr9/Class Outline [click on the link]. This is a job to look at even if you can not obtain any other quasi-law job. (e.g. claims adjuster, law enforcement officer, etc.).
Many attorneys who have lost their law licenses become paralegals employed by others (see below). They do not have MCLE requirements, licensing requirements (or bar dues), work shorter hours and are paid more than many attorneys. They never get sued.
If you still have your law license, you can also build a career, using the same techniques, in criminal defense law or in immigration law (with Nolo Press's U.S. Immigration Made Easy -- you can get it faster, and for less expense, by buying it through Amazon.com than from Nolo).
The importance of all three areas is that you need minimal capital to practice law in those areas. You can work in these areas even if you've lost all your capital and don't even have an office or a suit to your naem. Two of these areas are really just filling out forms. All you need is the original forms and access to a photocopy machine. The last, criminal defense, is very close to form driven (you used to be able to just fill out forms). An inexpensive P.C. (a 486 -- locally they sell them for $200.00) and an inexpensive laser printer (they are as cheap as $200.00) and a chance to type in copies of the forms at the local law library, and you are in business.
All three can be practiced from your house/apartment or from the local courthouse/law library. There is no other grouping of areas in the law that are so easy to practice on so little capital.
Finally, and similarly, process servers who are lawyers have a better connection
to the legal community. Meeting a disbarred attorney who was serving
process in the next state over taught me a lot about just how much better
some people could do as process servers.
First, you can start applying for paralegal positions with the Department of Justice or with private firms. As career government jobs, I've seen paralegal positions (GS 12s) listed paying more than $50,000.00 a year. Some private employers also hire paralegals for as much as $35.00 an hour. In the last year I've encountered a number of people who chose to become paralegals. No bar fees. Less pressure. A solid career track where they can meet or exceed the employers goals and demands. Some decide to go back to being lawyers, some do not. Expect to make $20k to $35k in most of these positions.
A quote from a real listing (December 9, 1998):
Paralegal Specialist
CG-0950-11/11
Promotion Potential: CG-11
Open Period: 12/01/1998-12/15/1998
Salary Range: $45067 - $65709, annually
Agency Announcement Number: 98-SDEUT-B205
Location(s): Dallas, TX
Contact: Georgia Or Linda
972-761-2194
Agency: FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSUR CORP
Doa,personnel Services Branch
Suite 400
Attention: Georgia Murrow
Dallas, TX 75201-
Second, the various legal services corporations hire attorneys. Hyatt and its competitors hire attorneys all the time. The pay flattens out pretty low on the totem pole, but it is amazing what some time spent doing consistent, solid, paying work can do for the soul. I've known a number of people who revitalized their spirits by working for Hyatt for six months to a year. Expect to make about $24k to $30k in these jobs.
Third, you can look at State and Federal jobs. Not the sexy, competitive ones, like staff attorneys for appellate courts or law clerks or the litigation division of the Justice Department. Those are the jobs everyone thinks of when they think "I can't get that job."
Instead, the jobs that are steadily open and constantly recruiting include litigating for the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service), the child support division of your local attorney general's office, and legal services corporation jobs -- all of them in places away from nice places to live. These jobs run from $20k to $45k. The advantage is that with time in grade the pay goes up and with experience you can transfer to other locations. That means you can start with the INS in Harlingen, Texas at $40k a year and eventually transfer to the INS in San Francisco, California at $70k+ a year.
Fourth, if you have litigation experience, you may be able to pick up a job as a "permanent associate" (also known by many other names) in what are politely called "fourth tier law firms" in large cities. After two to three years with such a firm, with a good track records (i.e. some work product you can show other firms), you can often move to a second tier firm in a smaller city. From there you will have the chance to move back to a larger city and to a second tier law firm there. The pay is generally in the $40k range in the large city, to $40k-$45k in the smaller city, to $60k+ back in the big city. I've watched a parade of lawyers working their way through this route as they go through the smaller city where I lived.
Finally, you can work your way up the public defender ladder. Start with a smaller town's office, where the pay is probably around $24k a year. Learn Spanish. Then move up to the Federal Public Defender's offices (such as El Paso, Texas) where they pay $60k a year -- and are always hiring people who have criminal defense experience and can speak Spanish. You can always transfer to other divisions and locations in 4-5 years.
Finally, there are lateral moves you can make out of law. Most of them provide satisfying, steady and reliable employment that you can be proud of. Visit http://adrr.com/law0/pr6a1.htm#alt for a list and some descriptions of such moves that make from $24k to $40k a year on the average. While the link is to an article about what you can do without a complete legal education, the fact is that anything a part-lawyer can do, a lawyer can also attempt to learn to do.
Some, such as teaching, are filled with people who opted out of other careers, picked up summer certificate programs, and have rebuilt their lives as school teachers. Others are even more mixed.
To quote from a specific letter I sent someone on a particular lateral move:
"If you have any graduates that would like to try adjusting insurance claims, "Pilot Cat" (Pilot Catastrophe) of Mobile, Alabama, 1-800-347-2287 hires attorneys (among others). Computer skills are required, but my client who went to work for them now makes over $200,000.00 a year. His son made over $65,000.00 his first six months with them.
Be warned that *all* the time on these assignments is on the road. But
it can be good experience. 20% of their adjusters are "ex" attorneys, about
10% "ex" doctors."
It is easy to find yourself down to your last dollar, living in a month to month apartment, browsing the internet at your local library, and thinking about making enough money for food and rent by working a part-time shift some place. You sit and you wonder what happened to the kid who started law school with such hope. I've met literally scores of people who were in that position at some point or another.
However, almost all of those I met had already begun to work their way out of the disasters that had fallen on them. They were as low as they could go or had been there. The suggestions and comments here are the steps that they took to bring meaning back into their professional lives.
These suggestions are not panaceas, but they work in a steady and reliable fashion. If things really are that bad, give these ideas some thought.
Return (Thriving in Law School, Surviving Legal Practice) / Index
Legal Employment Link Collection:
Virtual Headhunter (P.J. Scout) // Employment Resources
Legal Employment Search Site (Gregory J. Hickel); LawJobs
Targeted mailing campaigns http://www.findlawjob.com. Some people swear by them, some swear at them.
On-line resume bank. Some think these are the future, some think they are already past.
Have your references checked: http://www.allisontaylor.com/hrs/ -- a useful service if you have questions.
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Reform of Legal Education and the Law Home
Page
©1998 Stephen R.
Marsh All Rights Reserved
This essay was drafted in response to repeated questions by people who felt that they had gotten the advice at http://adrr.com/law0/oth5g.htm years too late.
This page is at http://adrr.com/law0/zzend.htm.
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