Law Student

I have a news flash: it is hard to land a job you really love. You will see plenty of reports in the news about the unemployment numbers, and about the fierce competition, especially among law school graduates, to get a job offer right out of law school, but I’m not talking about just any job. I’m talking about the job you’ll really love. Those are even harder to find.

Over the course of my career – both in helping students navigate law schools and in my current role in matching the brightest young professionals with some of the Twin Cities’ best firms and corporations – I’ve learned seven key points to succeeding in both launching and advancing your law career. » FULL STORY

Should law students use LinkedIn?

Similar to the ways that law students can stay connected on Facebook, LinkedIn provides new attorneys opportunities to stay connected and expand their network as they meet other professionals.

For ideas particular to the legal profession, Lawyerist offers these great tips for law students who are wondering how to use LinkedIn: » FULL STORY

Those who are considering law school may have heard the recent conversation in the legal community about how there are too many law students, too few attorney jobs, and the pay is much lower than many law students expected.

Does that mean there are no dream jobs left? No.  Rather, there are just less of them.

The lesson for potential law students is this: go to law school if you believe you will enjoy » FULL STORY

Most people, including lawyers, believe that law school is an excellent investment in yourself, regardless of whether you eventually practice law or use your legal education in another career. Of course, you must balance the cost (time and money) of law school with the benefits.

But the rising costs of law school tuition and the decreasing average salaries for attorneys are causing many to question » FULL STORY

This video explains tips for law students seeking to build their law school resume. Law firms and legal job employers often look beyond grades to determine whether a law student is the right fit for a job. The video goes beyond grades to discuss practical tips and creative ideas for building a strong law student resume.

Sure, grades are important. But students with high grades still » FULL STORY

This video begins by presenting the honest reality about the law school job hunt: you are on your own. No one is going to find the job for you, even your school’s career services office.

The video then suggests that you get your resume/CV out to as many law firms as possible. While I agree with this advice, I think students who have a lot of connections in the legal industry would be better served by first focusing time on those connections before mass-mailing law firms. For law students without connections, it is simple math: the more firms that received your resume, the more chances you have of finding an employer who likes » FULL STORY

Legal commentators continue to discuss concerns over the increasing number of law students, the increasing amount of student loan debt, and the harsh reality that most new lawyers don’t make a six figure income.

“Poor lawyers” seems like an oxymoron, but many new attorneys will admit » FULL STORY

If you want to practice as a solo attorney or in a small firm, there are ways you can prepare for your law practice while in law school. See How to Prepare for Solo Practice While in Law School.

But maybe you want to work in a big firm. Want to make a ton of money as an attorney? Then understand where the money is, and more importantly, where the money isn’t. » FULL STORY

There seems to be a growing problem among law school graduates and new attorneys. They can’t find law jobs, the jobs they find don’t pay enough to repay law school loans, and the jobs require unhealthy amounts of hours doing the type of work that many lawyers find unsatisfying, or worse.

The number of law school graduates continues to increase must faster than the number of law jobs available. The supply of law graduates is high, but the demand has not kept pace.

As a result, law school graduates who did not graduate in the top 10% of a Tier 1 law school are having great difficulty getting » FULL STORY

Legal Andrew presents 48 practical tips to find the perfect job. The article isn’t focused on law jobs per se, but Legal Andrew’s advice is still very useful for law students and the aspiring lawyer.

For more help finding a job as a law student or lawyer, visit the Law Student Jobs section of this site.

Here is some great news for law students and law school graduates entering public interest law jobs (government, non-profit, etc.).

This includes public defenders, city prosecutors, federal government lawyers, attorneys at non-profit and charity organizations, and a variety of similarly situated law school graduates.

In short, this new law will provide law school loan repayment assistance to students taking public interest jobs.

The following was provided by Philip G. Schrag of the Georgetown University Law Center:

This morning, President Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669), which includes two provisions that will make it much easier for law students who graduate with high educational debt to have long-term public service careers. The bill includes a section creating an income-based repayment (IBR) plan that enables graduates to make much smaller monthly payments when their incomes are low: the IBR formula caps repayment at 15% of (AGI minus 150% of the federal poverty level). Interest not paid » FULL STORY

Wonder how much you can earn when you graduate from law school? NALP surveyed law school graduates from 1992 to 2006 and published what the average attorney was paid.

The numbers are interesting. In 2006, the average starting salary for an attorney at a small firm (2-10 attorneys) was $50,000. The average starting salary for an attorney at a large firm (over 500 attorneys) was $135,000.

It is worth noting that the survey covers a large geographic area, so some adjustment is necessary for your local region. If you are in a small city, rural area, or city overpopulated by law schools, the average salary for your area may be less than the survey average. If you are starting in New York, or some other top paid city, the average salary for your area may be more than the survey average.

I suppose the results could be further criticized for being unscientific in one way or another. However, as a general guide to new associate salaries, the survey results are enlightening.

To see the survey results, visit NALP’s What Do New Lawyers Earn?

11-23-07 Update: This article has been updated. Please read Many Law Graduates Disappointed: Few Jobs, Low Salaries, High Stress. For help finding the law job that is right for you, visit our law jobs section.

A note from a reader:

Law graduates always prefer to attend the traditional educational institutes in a hope to get high salaries in the market than are offered to the graduates holding online degrees. Although a traditional academic experience is matchless but, online learning resources such as 000-253 are a valuable means to enhance one’s skills. Online certifications in a technical area, such as 000-415, not only grant the educational qualifications but also shape one’s career. Some of these certifications like 000-664 even enable the students to work at top notch laboratories to have an on hand experience of the technical details. Once at a competent level, professional can keep up with the latest tools and techniques (000-730) to aid in their progression.

CALI’s Pre-Law Blog posted a humorous video that raises some interesting questions about the law school on-campus interview (OCI) process. You can view the video here:

(Source: More on OCI/Law Firm Recruiting.)

Is Some Dishonesty Okay?

The video questions the value of OCI to employers. For example, the video shows the interviewee (law student) giving the answers that she assumes the interviewer (law firm partner) wants to hear.

While that seems dishonest at first glance, is it unrealistic? » FULL STORY

Any recent law school graduate searching for a job knows that the legal job market is over-saturated with job candidates. This means you need a competitive edge to get hired.

First, I suggest ordering what I believe is the absolute best law job hunt book available, Guerrilla Tactics For Getting The Legal Job Of Your Dreams: Regardless of Your Grades, Your School, or Your Work Experience!

Second, visit our new Law Jobs page with links to many websites that will help the hunt for your law job.

Gregory W. Bowman, a professor at Mississippi College School of Law, wrote an excellent post with encouragement and advice for 3L job hunting on his much loved blog, the Law Career Blog. For jobless law students, I also suggest the best law job-hunt book.

Here at Law Student, I’ve sorted through countless career websites to find the best for your job search. To learn more about legal job types and jobs available now, visit the law jobs section.

Many law students use LinkedIn for professional networking and MySpace for social networking. Law students also use a number of other similar services. Wouldn’t it be great to view the pages of all your friends, family, and professional contacts? Now you can.

Using Upscoop.com, you just enter the e-mail and password to your Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, or Hotmail account. Upscoop compares your contacts and displays to you anyone with a page at these websites. It’s very easy and works great!

The process only takes about 30 seconds. If you have a lot of e-mail addresses, the service will e-mail you the results after it looks them up (which could take hours, or even days, if you have many addresses).

Upscoop will search Aim.com, Bebo.com, Classmates.com, Facebook.com, Flickr.com, Flixter.com, Friendster.com, Hi5.com, LinkedIn.com, MySpace.com, Ringo.com, and Tickle.com.

Read a related article on Digg | Digg this story

Have you wondered about becoming a public service or government lawyer after law school? Legal Andrew gives some strong arguments for considering this type of legal practice: Reasons to be a Government or Public Service Lawyer.

You can learn more about public service legal work and available jobs at Public Interest Law Jobs.

Here are a few blog posts I recently came across that law students might enjoy:

• A podcast about interview tips and traps (Lewis & Clark Law School Podcasts)
• Tips for students taking law school exams (Vikram David Amar on Findlaw)
• A podcast with tips for multiple-choice exams (CALI Radio)
• A short list of law school exam tips (Eric Goldman)
• Ten tips to survive law school (Kathleen Notestine)
• Four tips to do great in your first year of law school (LawVibe)
• Foolish ways to become a lawyer without going to law school (Michael P. Ehline)

Some law school students preparing to graduate may be interested in knowing if a job as a federal judicial clerk will pay enough to cover their law school student loans. Law school graduates can expect to be paid at least at grade JSP-11, step 1.

This amounts to an annual base salary of about $46,000 for many students, but the exact rate depends on your locality. Also, a law clerk who has been licensed to practice law for more than a year qualifies for at least one step increase. For more information about judicial clerk salaries, visit the section titled “Qualifications, Salary and Benefits” at the bottom of this page: Federal Law Clerk Employment Information.

You can learn more about judicial clerkships at our Judicial Clerkship Sites section.

Here are some good articles from Findlaw with advice for new lawyers:

Your First Years as a Lawyer: An Owner’s Manual

1. Introduction – Your First Years as a Lawyer “Why is satisfaction such an issue with lawyers?. Do accountants or physicians or goat-herders also worry about their vocations and their places in them?”
2. The Search for Satisfaction – “New lawyers should not be concerned with job satisfaction. OK … Got your attention?!”
3. Firms? Public-interest? Government? In-house? Where to Practice? – “Law firms are the norm. That’s where the clients are, that’s where the salaries are, and that’s where the prestige still is. Is that where job satisfaction is?
4. Planting Yourself in the Right (but not necessarily Firm) Soil – “Finding the right place…for you. Many lawyers find themselves doing work that does not take advantage of their talents.The first decision you must make — in an affirmative way — is to decide whether litigation or a transactional practice is more appropriate for you. This is a basic question, but it’s amazing how little thought goes into it for many.”
5. Balancing your Office Life…with your Personal One – A new lawyer must be careful to channel stresses and frustrations away from clients and seniors. … Exercise and hobbies are useful options.

Fifteen Rules for Winning as a Junior Associate – “This article is intended to pass along some real-world advice about how you can win as a junior associate. It is the sort of advice that I wish I had had when I began my legal career.”

Findlaw has a number of other good articles for all attorneys.

If you are still searching for that first job to launch your legal career, check out our law jobs section.

Here are a few blog posts I recently came across that law students might enjoy:

• Law School Advice from a graduate (Jeremy Blachman)
• A funny lesson about why you should proofread your resume (Who Owns the Fox?)
• Law school exam advice (CALI Pre-Law Blog)
• A podcast about what they didn’t tell you in law school (ABA)
• Free law school MP3′s (Frugal Law Student)
• How to make money with Lexis and WestLaw (Legal Andrew)
• One law student’s weekly list of links related to law school and other interests (divine angst)

Law school teaches lawyers a lot of valuable skills — but those skills rarely include marketing. This is somewhat surprising considering the vital role that marketing plays in client acquisition. How are you at marketing yourself? What can you do to improve? » FULL STORY