. Forum

[vamedic03]

OP should look at small firms (non-NALP) firms in Northern Va and in the Maryland suburbs of DC. OP should also look at state trial court clerkships in VA and MD.

[keg411]

OP should look at small firms (non-NALP) firms in Northern Va and in the Maryland suburbs of DC. OP should also look at state trial court clerkships in VA and MD.

That sounds like really good advice. However, she should really consider doc review. A friend of mine went to a TTT and had to move for his wife's medical residency to a state that is not close to the school (which is fine for it's market, but not national in any way). He's interviewed with a few small firms and is doing contract work now. It's a struggle, but he doesn't seem unhappy or anything.

[Anonymous User]

OP should look at small firms (non-NALP) firms in Northern Va and in the Maryland suburbs of DC. OP should also look at state trial court clerkships in VA and MD.

That sounds like really good advice. However, she should really consider doc review. A friend of mine went to a TTT and had to move for his wife's medical residency to a state that is not close to the school (which is fine for it's market, but not national in any way). He's interviewed with a few small firms and is doing contract work now. It's a struggle, but he doesn't seem unhappy or anything.

doc review's a dead-end job

[keg411]

OP should look at small firms (non-NALP) firms in Northern Va and in the Maryland suburbs of DC. OP should also look at state trial court clerkships in VA and MD.

That sounds like really good advice. However, she should really consider doc review. A friend of mine went to a TTT and had to move for his wife's medical residency to a state that is not close to the school (which is fine for it's market, but not national in any way). He's interviewed with a few small firms and is doing contract work now. It's a struggle, but he doesn't seem unhappy or anything.

doc review's a dead-end job

It's a dead-end job, but OP's wife needs to do something. Trying to "move" almost any non-national school law degree away from it's target market is extremely difficult. Obviously she should try small firms and any permanent legal jobs she can outside of DC first, but she may have to settle for contract work. Or she can sit around all day and spend OP's loan $$$.

ETA: Also, why is this anonymous?

[General Tso]

That is simply not true, at least not with the Gtown tax LLM. Feds and biglaw hire LLMs from Gtown. I can't speak for other LLMs, but if you do the tax one, you should be good for a job in DC.

Right...you sound overly optimistic. Firms care about where you got your JD. A tax LLM doesn't make up for a mediocre JD. But, a lot of tax LLMs work for the Big Four rather than law firms. I'm not sure how the Big Four view your JD school though, or if the Big Four are even hiring that much.

OP you should read the forums at Tax Talent if your SO is considering a tax LLM. Apparently hiring for tax lawyers is even worse right now than it is for regular JDs.

Tax is the only worthwhile LLM, but even its value is limited. It probably won't get you biglaw if you don't have the credentials for it independent of the LLM and Big 4 accounting firms pay accountant-like salaries to their tax lawyers (think 65-80k early on).

[MartianManhunter]

Tell her to get the Georgetown Tax LLM and apply to Sutherland or another similarly ranked firm with a focus on tax and securities. The real goal, though, is to establish a network at the school and the city once she's here.

[Matthies]

My fiancée is a rising 3L on a full ride to a well-respected in the region, but still TTT school. School is not in DC region. I am attending GULC in the fall.

Due to the TTT nature of the school, the CSO has no clue about getting jobs in DC. Since I am a 0L, I know nothing about this process, but am trying to help. She has no debt, and went to a T10 UG.

She doesn't want big law (which is probably out of the question anyway). Salary isn't a big deal (due to 0 debt), but she does want something substantive and legal (ie, not doc review). She had local SAs in both her 1L and 2L summers doing litigation work for one defense firm and one plaintiff's firm. Both firms had ~20 attorneys, but they have no connections to DC. She is top 20%, but no journal or moot court.

Here's our plan thus far.

1) Use our T10 UGs alumni network-- send networking emails to attorneys in the DC metro area.
2) Use bar directories to find the TTT alums in the area. There are a few that we've located thus far. Send same networking emails.
3) Apply for federal government jobs at less-prestigious agencies. Question for TLS: when does the hiring process start here and what are the steps that she needs to take?
4) Mail-merge GULCs list of employers that hire 1Ls on the thought that firms that hire 1Ls might have looser hiring requirements. Very little opportunity cost here.
5) ??

We both realize that this is a tough road. Any suggestions/critiques of the plan? What I'm most interested in finding out is the federal government hiring process. I don't know anything, so I would greatly appreciate any links or advice. Any thoughts are most welcome.

Thanks all!

No, none of this. I don't have time to explain how to do it, but the above is how to NOT find a job. Get this book, read it, it will save you tons of wasted time on pointless (yet at the time seeming reasonable) methods of finding a job that don't work but everyone tries them anyway.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031417 ... J5ZJAB708M

Of course this takes EFFORT, which on TLS is kind of lacking when it comes to finding a job. So the correct TLS response is dump her TTT ass and get a t14 girl freind from your new school. Tell her look, you where fine for this one horse town, but I'm prestiguis now, its not me, its you, i deserve better.

[Matthies]

Also check with your CSO office and Georgetown's CSO office, most schools have repcrocity agreements, if your school allows GT's grads to use your CSO/job bank then so does GT. If they don't, then they don't, but find out.