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Without getting too specific, here's my question: I'm a rising 3L interested in securities. I have the internships/courses/pre-law school work experience, and will have an externship to back up my interest and show I'm serious (they are all solid/the best in the field outside biglaw). I've started networking this summer, and am meeting some very good contacts.

But what happens as a 3L when it comes to looking for a job: on the one hand, there's career services saying the people who end up with jobs are "flexible" (read: they settled for the first thing that came along).

On the other hand, if I weren't in law school, I'd have an interest and just look for a job in that field, based on skills I had developed/my resume. But in law, it seems like I'm in some weird grey area between skipping the 2L -> firm track, and I can't rely on government, because the Tea Party is just insane (unwarranted jab- sorry).

So I feel overwhelmed- I know alot can happen in a year+ before passing the bar, but is it silly to keep pursuing a genuine interest, when it seems like there are so many people desperate to just get anything? And don't limit this just to securities, because I imagine many people are in this situation in many different areas due to the nature of the economy now. Do any grads/3Ls have any success stories?

I mean, how many job offers do you have right now?

If you've got the resume to back up your securities law interest, those are probably the jobs that are going to bite anyway. It feeds into itself. I don't think career services is saying "be flexible" as in apply to any and everything and take the first thing that's offered. That's not how recruiting works anyway - if they don't see anything to back up your application to x job, they're not going to be tossing time-sensitive offers at you to make your life difficult. Absolutely apply to securities-related work, but if you're not getting bites after a few months, be willing to apply to and take other things as well.

I think it's a little early to worry about whether you have to take the first job you get, unless you already have a non-securities offer on the table with deadline. If you do, you're in a tough position. Good luck.

Good point- I think I just see 3L as a slow moving train of anxiety.

As a fellow rising 3L without biglaw, I understand your concerns. I would try to do a general job search concurrent with your securities law job search. I think securities law is really interesting, but aside from biglaw, plaintiff's side boutiques (who generally hire experienced associates), SEC/FINRA (highly competitive at the former, not sure if the latter hires out of law school), and of course the banks themselves that only hire people with biglaw experience, I'm not sure how easy this area is to break into for new grads.

Some areas of law are set up well to take on new grads with an interest in that area (labor/employment, environmental, public interest) but a lot of the financial industry work seems to require a stint in biglaw before you can branch out.