Naked Dude wrote:taxguy wrote:Suffolkscrewed,you did what you did. I certainly wouldn't have recommended such as expensive school such as Suffolk especially incurring that amount of debt. It is a done situation however.The point is not to belabor your situation with misery but to come up with alternatives. Posting here will just garner you a lot of sympathy, which I don't think is something that you need or should be getting.
What area(s) of law do you like and are good at? For example, if you liked and were good at tax, I would recommend getting a masters in tax. I get that it requires more expenditures,but you could get a job with tax even if it with a national accounting firm.
Have you looked into the government? In usajob.com, there are usually legal positions advertised. Do you know anyone in the government that can help you? I personally know of two folks who got government legal jobs recently here in Wash DC. Have you looked into other job web sites for lawyers?
Firemed suggested to get training in a trade, which isn't a bad idea, although even those are dramatically affected by the real estate downturn.
Suffolk has a strong IP department. Did you take a lot of IP courses? If so, you can open up a practice and advertise great rates for patent and copyright work and/or litigation. Lots of people need this including folks like me. In fact, if you are particularly good at patent and copyright work and are cheap, I can use someone for a project or two.Volunteer to find freelance work.
Do you like bankruptcy? If so, you might be able to get a job in that area,which is booming. Contacting bankruptcy firms might garner you a position. Did you establish any relationship with professors? If so, they might have contacts. Tell everyone you know that you are looking for a legal job. Use your relationships to network as much as possible, even with friends that you made as an undergrad. Don't be shy about this. I would use the alumni network as much as possible by emailing them and going to alumni events.
Here are some other tips:
* Understand all of the opportunities available to you. Don't just contact large law firms. The key is to think outside the box.Every firm needs lawyers.There are LOTS of folks who want to litigate something but don't have the money to do so. Finding some good cases can get you on the road to self-employment.
* Learn to sell yourself. Being in the top 1/3 is quite good. You need to learn to express your skills succinctly and clearly and, most importantly, convincingly.
* Do you homework on companies and on recruiters. You should know what a company is doing now and where it is going and issues that they may be dealing with. Your goal is to meet their needs. This includes doing homework on any recruiters that you know or will be interviewing with. Check them out on facebook and linkedin (sp).
* Hit the road: As someone once said, don 't be afraid to simply show up at companies that you want to work with. Nobody can sell yourself like you can nor can a resume do you justice. Even companies that aren't advertising positions are always looking for good, dedicated , hard working employees. I have found that the younger generation hasn't learned the importance of personal relationships in business, which leaves many talented people wondering why they weren't hired. As someone said, "get out there and show them there is a person behind the resume."
* Be prepared for normal questions such as what are your weaknesses and why should be hire you.
Bottom line: Don't be disheartened. You just need some common sense and a lot of effort to get yourself situated.
* Use the time between jobs to keep existing skills fresh and develop new ones. Take some classes to improve your skills and is relavent to your field.
* Always send a thank you note by email
* Consider setting up a twitter account that you use professionally and follow human resource people at companies that interest you. Retweet what they write when it is good. After a few weeks of following them, send a message saying, "I'd love to talk about your company. It's a place that I am familiar with and want to work for and would love to hear about your experience there." Of course, if you get an interview, always learn as much about the company as possible including reading about them in Martindale-Hubble. Never badmouth a former boss, or co-worker or company or school.
Sorry for the wordiness. I am sure I will get flamed for all this. LOL
Good luck.
I am just an 0L, but is advising the guy to spend more money on another degree sage wisdom? I just took a bartending course with a guy who just graduated with a Tax LLM from Northwestern.
Yes, but where did he get his JD? Because if he went to a TT, and didn't get a job, so figured he'd boost that with a LLM from NU, that doesn't really work as well as some might think.