2014 Grad Took some Time Off, Advice Appreciated Forum

[Anonymous User]

Alright, so I'm trying to phrase this without giving away who I am, which is why I am posting anonymously.

I graduated in 2014 jobless, despite my best efforts to reach out to pretty much everywhere in my law school's state. I made two poor decisions after that point. The first was I decided to take the bar in a different state where my family lives, but where I don't have too many connections. (I lived there for 3 years in high school, and then never lived there full time again all throughout college and law school. It's not just the lack of connections, I also don't really like the state at all and consider my law school's state my "home") The second major mistake I made, due to the urging of some peers, is that I started a master's program in the fall of 2014 in the same state I took the bar.

I passed the bar, which I got word of while in the master's program, but didn't really think much of it because I planned on finishing the master's program before I was going to hit the job market. Long story short, I didn't finish the master's program. I finished one semester, and then stopped several weeks into the second semester in early 2015.

After that point, I was mentally drained and in a deep funk and took some time off to lick my wounds at my parents'. I regret the master's program. I think it was something that I talked myself into believing I wanted to do because of some disenchantment with lawschool and the frustration of the job market and not being able to find anything. If anything it made me realize I don't want to do anything else other than legal work.

Now I'm pulling myself out of that experience and ready to try to actually find a job, but now I've got a myriad of problems to deal with. First and foremost, how do I explain this gap between when I graduated (May 2014) to now? I can't imagine it's common for people to just take a year off after passing the bar. I called my law school's career center for advice, and they said to mention that I took some classes but not explicitly mention the master's program. That would work, except that if someone really dug they'd find out I was in a master's program because I have my name attached to some publications that are pretty easy to find online.

So my options, all of which are terrible, are to leave it off entirely and just there be a year gap on the resume', put that I took some classes on there, and risk having to explain why I took classes and someone discover that I was actually in a M program I never finished, or just put that I was in an M program and then having people probably doubt my dedication and having to explain what that was all about.

As I said, I regret the master's program - and I knew pretty much from the get-go it was something I didn't want to do, but I took way longer getting out of it than I should have.

My second problem is that where I live now is super rural. It's about an hour drive to the city, and the city only has 3 major state/regional firms, which are far too prestigious for someone like me. The rest of the legal community is mostly a lot of old blood and younger shingle-hangers. My career center also told me I need to find some volunteer work or something like that, but there isn't a whole lot in the area, even for people with bar admittance, and having to drive 90+ minutes might make it unfathomable. The legal community in the state in general is not very robust, and that is magnified several times in my neck of the woods.

That being said, I definitely don't want to be in this city and I could leave this state, but without taking another bar it's probably impossible. I wouldn't be opposed to trying to find a job in a different state, but I only have the bar passage from this state. My law school grades, while they started off really strong, ended up being mediocre, and I don't really have any great extracurriculars either (no journals, no moot, just some volunteer work that was mostly contract drafting and copyright filing, and criminal stuff).

And while I know beggars can't be choosers, I don't have the personality to be a solo practitioner.

So where do I begin? Do I just mass mail like a 2/3L? Is there something I should do differently with that horrendous post-graduation gap? Am i totally boned because the next year of bar passers are entering the job market now too? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous User]

This must be a difficult situation to be in and I am sorry you are going through it. I think you have several things you can do at this point. I think you should first put your masters publications on your resume. When people ask why you took a year off, mention that you were interested in (whatever your masters is in) and wanted to learn more about the topic but did not want to focus your career on it. You therefore took a year/semester to focus on the topic in academia and distinguish yourself in this area. Mention that in the long run, after you get a foundation of legal skills, you are hoping to translate this knowledge into subject matter expertise in this area. It sounds like you stopped doing your masters a while ago but you still need to prove you are trying to concentrate in this are so I would draft a bunch of current articles on this area and have them published by the ABA or your state bar publication so it looks like you have been continuously focusing on it.

Next, for jobs, although the firms may seem super prestigious/shingle-hanglers, I think you should pick one person at each and set up informational interviews with them. Let them know that you went this unconventional path to build expertise in this area but are now looking I get back into the practice of law. They will be skeptical and most will not respond but for the ones that you, you need to sell yourself and ask if they wouldn't mind passing on your resume to the recruiter or managing partner.

You can find volunteer legal positions. I hate to discredit you but you are doing yourself a disservice by saying there are no volunteer positions and that you are stuck. It sounds like you're not looking hard enough tbh. What about district courts etc.? Also apply for clerkships - they don't need to be prestigious but clerkships may understand pursuing academia in the shower term, rather than firms.

Honestly, you're in the same boat as a lot of people in terms of have difficulty finding jobs. Your situation might be unconventional but the solution is the same. You hustle, you meet with people, you keep knocking on doors, and you absolutely do not take no we can't hire you as the final answer.

[Anonymous User]

Poster from above here, all that should be done in the city/state you are in. While you are getting experience, you need to study for the feb bar for the state that you want. You cannot and will not get a job in that state without having some previous work experience.

[zot1]

Was the master's law related?

I'm not sure why everyone here freaks out about gaps. the market is bad so people are trying really hard to find jobs and can't. I know 2013 grads still looking. But yeah, volunteering helps. Does your rural place have a court? Ask the judge if he could use a free clerk.

[Anonymous User]

Original poster here, thank you for the response.

The one big problem I have is that I never finished the Master's. It was a 3 semester program (with some stuff over the summer) but I only made it through a semester and a half before I quit. It's kind of hard to say "oh I wanted the academia experience" if I never finished isn't it? I would love to be able to say "I got this master's, and I want to eventually use it to focus on this specific area of law." (And in fact, I know some great great lawyers that did that and now are living pretty comfortably) But I never finished. Honestly, I regret not finishing in hindsight, but I was absolutely miserable when I was actually in the program to the point where I felt like I was about to have a nervous breakdown. And while I definitely was unhappy my last semester in law school, that was more frustration than downright hate of the work, which is what the Master's was.

How dedicated can I claim to be to the subject if I never bothered to finish? If I had finished I think I would have been in a pretty comfortable position as far as talking about it goes. But what happened is I started, quit after a semester and a half, and then spent the next 7 months (to where I am now) essentially wallowing in self-pity and doing nothing. From the outside, it probably looks like I had poor job prospects, started to get another degree just for the sake of it, and then didn't finish. It's hard to spin that in a positive light.

As far as informational interviews go, I might as well. I actually applied for summers at a lot of firms in the area (when I was still in the top 5-10% of my class) but without any luck, but I suppose it can't hurt to go back and try talking to them again.

Thank you again for the response.

Was the master's law related?

It could maybe with some verbal finagling be stretched to be law related, but for the most part no.

Does your rural place have a court? Ask the judge if he could use a free clerk

Great idea. Thank you.

[zot1]

Well, not everyone will buy it but there's no harm in saying that you wanted the master's but then realize it was taking you away from the practicality of the legal field, so you decided to go back on the market.

Also, taking some classes is a legit answer when that's exactly what you did. If everyone bothers to check you out and ask you about it, then maybe use what I said before, but for now, there's no point in worrying about what ifs. Cross that bridge when you need to.