Realistic Prospects for Median at T50 Forum

[Anonymous User]

What can I realistically expect? Am I going to end up being stuck doing doc review or flipping burgers for the rest of my life? I just finished 1L, so are the particular classes I should be looking at taking? I want to do something business-related, but I feel like criminal stuff is probably easier to find work in.

[alumniguy]

Prospects will be how well you network. I think it will be a lot of work, but getting a decent job should not be a complete nonstarter. You're likely not getting a job through OCI, which means you should get involved in as many extracurricular groups as possible (student chapters of legal groups for example). You should do externships and clinical programs that offer real training at real non-profits (more valuable in potential jobs than clinics run through your law school). The more exposure you have to practicing lawyers the more likely you will be to impress one of them and get a job offer. Figure out what you like in terms of practice area and befriend a professor and ask for recommendations on how to get involved.

Good luck.

[Anonymous User]

What can I realistically expect? Am I going to end up being stuck doing doc review or flipping burgers for the rest of my life? I just finished 1L, so are the particular classes I should be looking at taking? I want to do something business-related, but I feel like criminal stuff is probably easier to find work in.

I'm a recent grad. I was median at a T40 after my 1L (I improved to about top 1/3 after 2L, but I don't think that matters, really), so here's what I did. Hopefully it will be helpful to you.

After 1L year and striking out at OCI, I took all the doom and gloom on TLS and elsewhere really to heart. I realized I needed to do everything I could that would boost my resume in meaningful ways and that would make connections. I networked a lot 2L year (though in retrospect it really wasn't a whole lot) in all the traditional ways. I was EIC of a secondary journal, on the moot court team, did 3 judicial externships at which I busted my ass (to get awesome LORs), RA'd for 2 profs, and intentionally took 2 small seminars with 2 professors solely to get to know them really well (to get more awesome LORs).

I managed to land a (non-Art. 3) federal clerkship and have a couple post-clerkship firm job offers all but in writing. Both the judge and my potential future employers explicitly told me my "apparent work ethic" and recommendations were what ultimately convinced them.

TL;DR do every extracurricular you possibly can and get the best recommendations/connections you possibly can. I have dozens of friends who did much better than I did who don't have anything lined up (even some in the top 10%) because they struck out at OCI and figured something would come along, but it didn't.

[Anonymous User]

What can I realistically expect? Am I going to end up being stuck doing doc review or flipping burgers for the rest of my life? I just finished 1L, so are the particular classes I should be looking at taking? I want to do something business-related, but I feel like criminal stuff is probably easier to find work in.

I'm a recent grad. I was median at a T40 after my 1L (I improved to about top 1/3 after 2L, but I don't think that matters, really), so here's what I did. Hopefully it will be helpful to you.

After 1L year and striking out at OCI, I took all the doom and gloom on TLS and elsewhere really to heart. I realized I needed to do everything I could that would boost my resume in meaningful ways and that would make connections. I networked a lot 2L year (though in retrospect it really wasn't a whole lot) in all the traditional ways. I was EIC of a secondary journal, on the moot court team, did 3 judicial externships at which I busted my ass (to get awesome LORs), RA'd for 2 profs, and intentionally took 2 small seminars with 2 professors solely to get to know them really well (to get more awesome LORs).

I managed to land a (non-Art. 3) federal clerkship and have a couple post-clerkship firm job offers all but in writing. Both the judge and my potential future employers explicitly told me my "apparent work ethic" and recommendations were what ultimately convinced them.

TL;DR do every extracurricular you possibly can and get the best recommendations/connections you possibly can. I have dozens of friends who did much better than I did who don't have anything lined up (even some in the top 10%) because they struck out at OCI and figured something would come along, but it didn't.

I'm in a similar position as you and I am clerking for a federal magistrate judge. When did you start applying for firm jobs and how did that process work? Did you apply only for open positions or did you just send cover letters to firms you were interested in? I have one more year left in my clerkship. The firms I am interested in are outside of my district, so I probably won't hear of any open positions for law clerks.