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So, struck out of OCI big law last year. I am at a regional T1. I saw that some big law firms are hiring full-time paralegals at the moment. My question is, are there any success stories of people taking on such positions, such as paralegals... and then eventually going on to be hired by such firms after graduation, as first year associates?

I spoke to one of my friends, and he believes this is not the way to go. However, he says it may work.

So if I was to work as a 2L (this semester and the rest of 3L year) at one of these big law firms as a paralegal, what are the chances of them making me an offer after 3L if I work hard and show commitment? Is this a good entrance into big law? A few of my other friends are actually working in big law as paralegals now as well, with the intention of being hired after graduation; however, most are 1Ls.

I'm a little confused, because don't they want full time paralegals? Not part-time during the school year or just for the summer?

In any event, it's hard to imagine this working. It's one thing for paralegals to work for a firm out of college, go to law school, and come back as an associate. But I've never heard of someone being hired as a paralegal with a law degree and then "transitioned" to being an associate. Just the internal firm mechanics of that would be awkward at best. Same for staff attorneys.

Ive heard of it happening for staff attorneys for biglaw. Same for paralegals but for nonbiglaw though.

Not sure how common it is but definitely more of the exception than the rule

Anonymous User wrote:I'm a little confused, because don't they want full time paralegals? Not part-time during the school year or just for the summer?

In any event, it's hard to imagine this working. It's one thing for paralegals to work for a firm out of college, go to law school, and come back as an associate. But I've never heard of someone being hired as a paralegal with a law degree and then "transitioned" to being an associate. Just the internal firm mechanics of that would be awkward at best. Same for staff attorneys.

I think it depends on what the staff attorney's role is. Different firms use staff attorneys for widely different purposes.

OP here, yes, sorry for the confusion. It is a full-time paralegal job while in law school.

They will/are working full-time while in law school. Yes, I also think it is very likely unheard of.

Also, they are not working as a paralegal first after graduation and then hoping to transition to a first- year associate, as the first anon poster replied. Rather they are working full-time as a paralegal while in law school, with the hopes of being hired as a first-year associate upon graduation because they struck out of oci and see this as a means of getting a first-year associate position at big law.

If it pays well and isn't that much of time suck away from school I guess go for it. Although I would recommend doing it 3L year and focusing on trying to work somewhere this 2L summer that can give you an associate position.

Because it is almost certain that a big law firm will not have you go from paralegal to associate. As someone said, it does happen with staff attorneys, but even that is pretty rare in big law

This worked for Rachel Zane. And I think PSL is V5 now.

You would be better off doing almost any legal job or internship than being a paralegal (as far as chances of getting a full time attorney job out of it... If you need the money, that's didferent). I think the path you are considering is nearly unheard of. Maybe in some extremely unusual circumstance it's happened before, but the thing about extremely unusual circumstances is you shouldn't count on them.

No. Do not do this.

Don't ABA rules keep you from working full-time in 3L?

Anecdotally, I've asked about staff positions at NYC biglaw and the consensus was that, once you go staff attorney, you're forever stained as such. The pay isn't as much as an associate; however, the gig isn't that bad. Lower billable requirement, which probably means less office-time. Not that much of a chance to make partner anyway.

I would imagine, though, that if you absolutely KILLED it as a staff attorney and was well-liked by practice area partners, you could probably get moved up to the associate ranks. IMO, for someone who is already an associate, it is a risky move to pursue such options, but may be necessary for some who absolutely need to work in a biglaw office.

1styearlateral wrote:Anecdotally, I've asked about staff positions at NYC biglaw and the consensus was that, once you go staff attorney, you're forever stained as such. The pay isn't as much as an associate; however, the gig isn't that bad. Lower billable requirement, which probably means less office-time. Not that much of a chance to make partner anyway.

I would imagine, though, that if you absolutely KILLED it as a staff attorney and was well-liked by practice area partners, you could probably get moved up to the associate ranks. IMO, for someone who is already an associate, it is a risky move to pursue such options, but may be necessary for some who absolutely need to work in a biglaw office.

The only ones I know of that went from staff attorney to associate had really good connections and had already done very good work. I know more people that went from small firms as associates to big law staff attorneys. They really only did this because the pay was better. It is not nearly as uniform as associate pay scale, but I think most first year staff attorneys start around $90k and they get bonuses and maybe even OT. So not a terrible gig at all, but generally not room for advancement.

For OP though, as a 2L, staff attorney should be something they look at as a last resort late 3L year and definitely not as a paralegal yet.

1styearlateral wrote:Anecdotally, I've asked about staff positions at NYC biglaw and the consensus was that, once you go staff attorney, you're forever stained as such. The pay isn't as much as an associate; however, the gig isn't that bad. Lower billable requirement, which probably means less office-time. Not that much of a chance to make partner anyway.

I would imagine, though, that if you absolutely KILLED it as a staff attorney and was well-liked by practice area partners, you could probably get moved up to the associate ranks. IMO, for someone who is already an associate, it is a risky move to pursue such options, but may be necessary for some who absolutely need to work in a biglaw office.

I agree, but OP, this would be hard as a staff attorney - it's going to be completely unrealistic as a paralegal.

I am confused. I am not sure how you can work full-time and take a full load of classes. You just tell one of the lawyers, "No, I can't do it now, gotta run to crim pro class for the next 2 hours," and they are like, "Oh, that's cool." If it is a true BigLaw firm, I cannot fathom that they would not rather have a paralegal (that is truly full time) with experience and no law degree rather than a law student. It just seems really strange. And as another poster pointed out, I am pretty sure the ABA prohibits this practice anyways, so not sure why a reputable firm would do this.

No offense, but it sounds like you are borderline obsessed about being with a BigLaw firm. I think if you go this route, you are going to be sorely disappointed and unemployed (or at least, not practicing law), but it is your gamble to take.

People are already telling you that it is extremely difficult to go as a staff attorney to an associate. This is for a paralegal gig to an associate. Those odds are not good at all. You would be better off targeting smaller law firms or government work. A regional T1 doesn't give anyone a very good shot at BigLaw even if you had good grades. The more likely scenario is that they will already hire an associate from a higher school with better grades (or at least someone from your class year with better grades), and they will continue that trend in the future because that is the BigLaw hiring system. Best of luck.

What biglaw firms hires a full time law student as a paralegal?

You would be better off focusing on getting your career going.

I know of one or two paralegals that worked at the firm before law school that came back as summers, but I haven't heard of the other.

Just an FYI, the ABA no longer has a rule prohibiting full-time employment for full-time JD students. This changed in 2014.

http://tippingthescales.com/2014/08/law ... ed-by-aba/
http://gingerlibrarian.blogspot.com/201 ... limit.html

They're not even going to hire you as a paralegal in the first place when you're a law student, so it's dumb to even apply for that position. You're basically going to look really desperate applying for a paralegal position as a law student, and that's going to make it very difficult to get interviews for associate positions going forward. I'm not at a big firm, but we had a few attorneys apply for a paralegal position at my office, and they just looked dumb and obviously didn't get interviews (like people in the office talked/laughed about them applying for a paralegal position as a lawyer). I feel as though if they now re-apply for an actual attorney position, it's likely that they also won't get interviews if any of the decision makers remember that they applied as a paralegal. I've heard biglaw firms keep a record of everything you've ever submitted to them in terms of applications, job inquires, etc., so it would be a lot easier for people on the hiring committee of a firm to see that you were so desperate for any job that you applied for a paralegal position at the firm, which I imagine would be a massive red mark. You should really reconsider this idea and apply to jobs that will actual further your legal career (as oppose to detrimenting it---no lawyer at any organization is going to be impressed by the skills you acquired as a paralegal while in law school).