Leave the law or graduate without a job? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am in a bit of a difficult situation here.

I worked in house my 2L summer (in house was always the goal) in a different market from my law school. It was my desired market at the time, but after my summer I decided that I would rather live in my law school market. I had an offer from my summer position.

I decided to start looking for positions in my home market and accepted another in house position. I was told it was a permanent position and everything sounded great. I turned town my 2L summer position offer and accepted the position in my home market.

About a month ago I was told the company might not have the finances to justify a permanent position. This leaves me sort of in no mans land.

Now my options are to remain with this company and hope they can justify keeping me on (I don't have a definitive answer one way or the other but doesn't sound good) or

I have another offer for a semi non-legal position.

This offer is essentially a business role with a retail/distribution company as a vendor relationships manager with a minor emphasis on small in house counsel activities (they don't have any in house counsel). This position is with people I know and trust on a personal level and pays the same/slightly more than the in house position (~90-100k base).

I guess I am here to get people's opinions. I am pretty eager to leave the first company as I feel betrayed. They incentivized me to knowingly leave my current offer with the promise of a permanent position and then reneged on the deal. Even if they did keep me on post bar I would never feel secure in my job. But at the same time i am hesitant to take the business role as I would essentially be leaving the law more or less and will feel stupid for having spent 150k on a legal education, and would probably have a very hard time every making the switch back into a legal position down the road if need be.

For reference 3L t30 school top 1/3rd.

[lolwat]

Do some research into the business role and if it's going to satisfy you career-wise I would go with that. It seems people that get jobs outside the law are often happier than those who stay, anyway...

I guess you could also check back with the company with which you had a summer position and see if that spot is still open or whatever. Can't hurt at this point, really.

3L t30 top 1/3 isn't going to have a great time finding a job, otherwise. Maybe the market's changed but I had enough trouble as a 3L t20 top 5% even getting interviews...

[Anonymous User]

Do some research into the business role and if it's going to satisfy you career-wise I would go with that. It seems people that get jobs outside the law are often happier than those who stay, anyway...

I guess you could also check back with the company with which you had a summer position and see if that spot is still open or whatever. Can't hurt at this point, really.

3L t30 top 1/3 isn't going to have a great time finding a job, otherwise. Maybe the market's changed but I had enough trouble as a 3L t20 top 5% even getting interviews...

I think the business role will satisfy me career wise. I mean I went to law school to make money (obviously the wrong reason, but irrelevant at this point) and this job checks that box. My title would be something like corporate counsel-vendor relationships so I feel that it might not entirely bar me from ever returning to the law if I ever wanted to. Although, I do think this role could be a long term career option and wouldn't feel the need to leave or be forced out at any point in time.

I could easily check with the 2L summer company and I am pretty confident they would honor my offer or at least help find me a position as I still have a great relationship with several of the attorneys in the office, but that brings me back to being in a market that is far away from my and my fiance's family....

I agree that given my stats it is far from a desirable option to be out looking for a job, never mind a month and a bit before beginning bar prep. I am definitely leaning towards accepting the business role offer, but I wanted to see if there was any part of the analysis that I am missing.

[existentialcrisis]

I'm just a 3L, but the quasi-legal role sounds like kind of a sweet gig. In fact, it seems like the kind of thing that a lot of big lawyers are clambering to exit to.

[lolwat]

Do some research into the business role and if it's going to satisfy you career-wise I would go with that. It seems people that get jobs outside the law are often happier than those who stay, anyway...

I guess you could also check back with the company with which you had a summer position and see if that spot is still open or whatever. Can't hurt at this point, really.

3L t30 top 1/3 isn't going to have a great time finding a job, otherwise. Maybe the market's changed but I had enough trouble as a 3L t20 top 5% even getting interviews...

I think the business role will satisfy me career wise. I mean I went to law school to make money (obviously the wrong reason, but irrelevant at this point) and this job checks that box. My title would be something like corporate counsel-vendor relationships so I feel that it might not entirely bar me from ever returning to the law if I ever wanted to. Although, I do think this role could be a long term career option and wouldn't feel the need to leave or be forced out at any point in time.

I could easily check with the 2L summer company and I am pretty confident they would honor my offer or at least help find me a position as I still have a great relationship with several of the attorneys in the office, but that brings me back to being in a market that is far away from my and my fiance's family....

I agree that given my stats it is far from a desirable option to be out looking for a job, never mind a month and a bit before beginning bar prep. I am definitely leaning towards accepting the business role offer, but I wanted to see if there was any part of the analysis that I am missing.

From what it sounds like, I'd definitely pick the business role. (The original post suggested that you just would "rather live" in your law school market, not quite rising to the level of "this is where my and my fiancee's family live and I want to be around them.) Besides the potential for a long term career option there, having that kind of a title (one with "corporate counsel" in the name) probably also helps since it suggests that you're still doing legal stuff even if in reality it's only tangential.

I don't think you're missing anything. In fact, without more information, I'd say you're probably right where you really want to be (and where most people graduating law school wish they could be)!