jobless 3L at T14 Forum

[Anonymous User]

likely bottom 25% of class with a 3.1 GPA, didnt have a real job this summer and worked for a family friend. Have continued to apply for biglaw, government and JD advantage jobs but haven't had any interviews since spring. I know im in this position because of my lackluster performance(as a student and networker), so I have a weird sense of acceptance of my fate.

[M458]

likely bottom 25% of class with a 3.1 GPA, didnt have a real job this summer and worked for a family friend. Have continued to apply for biglaw, government and JD advantage jobs but haven't had any interviews since spring. I know im in this position because of my lackluster performance(as a student and networker), so I have a weird sense of acceptance of my fate.

What's your debt situation and what did you do before law school? If you had a pre-law school career and you're not dying to be a lawyer, may be time to explore going back to your previous career.

[notinbiglaw]

You're done if you accept your fate. You don't have anything better to do now other than finding a job and creating options for yourself. If it means going back to your pre-law career, so be it.

If you want to struggle for law related jobs still, talk to professors, take specialty (tax?) classes and look at Tax LLM/big 4 if you really want another crack at a good start to your career.

If you give up, it's all over.

[2013]

Why no midlaw/small firms? A lot of those firms would love to have a T14 grad. You are not too good for these jobs.

I’m assuming you’ve only applied to fed gov, fed clerkships, biglaw, and BCG/Bain/McKinsey types of places.

[albanach]

Does your school offer fellowships? If so, work with career services to structure one that has a good chance of transforming into a job later.

Otherwise, you need to reassess your networking strategy and be pounding on the career services door once or twice a week, while mass-mailing, networking and anything else that can help in-between visits.

Look at the employment stats for your school. Since it's a T-14 you should see that the vast majority of students in your position end up with legal jobs at graduation.

[Anonymous User]

likely bottom 25% of class with a 3.1 GPA, didnt have a real job this summer and worked for a family friend. Have continued to apply for biglaw, government and JD advantage jobs but haven't had any interviews since spring. I know im in this position because of my lackluster performance(as a student and networker), so I have a weird sense of acceptance of my fate.

What's your debt situation and what did you do before law school? If you had a pre-law school career and you're not dying to be a lawyer, may be time to explore going back to your previous career.

I will have around 180k in debt. I worked in a warehouse making 15/hr before law school.

[andythefir]

This thread is nonsense. The only way these responses make sense is if you are exclusively oriented to 1 pre-bar job offers 2 in enormous cities/on coasts. Applying to JD preferred jobs just to have one before graduation is crazy. If you have a license you can get a job today in the rural mountain west, then apply again to whatever market you prefer with experience and have more success.

[The Lsat Airbender]

The only way these responses make sense is if you are exclusively oriented to 1 pre-bar job offers 2 in enormous cities/on coasts.

I will have around 180k in debt.

That's kinda what OP needs fam

[andythefir]

The only way these responses make sense is if you are exclusively oriented to 1 pre-bar job offers 2 in enormous cities/on coasts.

I will have around 180k in debt.

That's kinda what OP needs fam

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loan ... ic-service

[Anonymous User]

This thread is nonsense. The only way these responses make sense is if you are exclusively oriented to 1 pre-bar job offers 2 in enormous cities/on coasts. Applying to JD preferred jobs just to have one before graduation is crazy. If you have a license you can get a job today in the rural mountain west, then apply again to whatever market you prefer with experience and have more success.

i'm in an enormous city and can't leave because i'm married.

[JOThompson]

You won't be jobless in this market unless you have overly strict criteria for your first legal job. It's not the end of the world if you aren't working in biglaw or federal government as your first job. I graduated just after the recession and had to set aside my pride for a few years, and I'm glad that I didn't give up.

If you are open to working in smaller and medium sized cities, you can absolutely find a job, especially from a T14. I know attorneys from third tier schools who are employed, but they're usually in smaller markets and often don't specialize.

You should not apply to JD preferred jobs if you have law jobs available. You might get locked into something non-law related and employers will always wonder if you couldn't pass the bar. It's easier to transition from law to something like consulting, rather than the other way around.

[Anonymous User]

Former t14 with bottom 25% grades and shitty networking skills here: without geographic flexibility, you are in a really tough spot. You need to either become extremely un-choosy about what kind of jobs you're looking for (even if you're in D.C., the chances of you getting a federal job without experience with your credentials is very low).

Otherwise, you need to ask about a fellowship from your school yesterday, I don't know how hard they are to get now, or at your school, but in your situation, you need a job and to start building your resume, and the better that first job is, the better chance you have of working up to something you're happy with. My fellowship, along with extreme geographic flexibility, got me a clerkship, which got me into the job I was hoping for all through law school. If you can get a fellowship and think strategically about what it might plausibly lead to afterwards, you can set yourself up for a pretty good career trajectory. Good luck!

[QContinuum]

i'm in an enormous city and can't leave because i'm married.

You may want to seriously consider - in consultation with your spouse - whether you'd be willing to accept temporarily living in two different cities. As the anon above notes, lack of geographic flexibility at this critical stage may torpedo your legal career. Of course, I know nothing about your personal situation and don't want to make any rush judgments, but just as a general rule there is nothing about marriage alone that ought to prevent you from seeking jobs in other cities. Many couples face the "two-body" problem and many accept the need to live separately on a temporary/time-limited basis.

[nixy]

All that said, if the OP is in an enormous city and hasn’t looked outside traditional biglaw/at mid-law jobs, they should do the latter first. (I don’t know if they have, just throwing it out there.)

[QContinuum]

All that said, if the OP is in an enormous city and hasn’t looked outside traditional biglaw/at mid-law jobs, they should do the latter first. (I don’t know if they have, just throwing it out there.)

Good point. IMO it depends on which city it is. If NYC or Bay Area, then I agree no need (yet) to look out of state. But if Philly or Boston or even D.C., the local market's small enough that OP would be doing a great disservice to their career by refusing to look elsewhere (Philly especially). (Again, though, OP's personal circumstances may justify that decision - I'd certainly never, e.g., advise someone to torpedo their marriage in order to chase the BigLaw train.)

[andythefir]

In the markets I know there’s complete saturation in large(ish) cities, some more flexibility a hour’s commuting distance away, and jobs for everyone 3 hours away.

My first job was 3 hours away from the major city, and I worked with 2 guys with wives and kids in the major city. They’d drive home Friday afternoon, then back Monday morning.

[QContinuum]

In the markets I know there’s complete saturation in large(ish) cities, some more flexibility a hour’s commuting distance away, and jobs for everyone 3 hours away.

My first job was 3 hours away from the major city, and I worked with 2 guys with wives and kids in the major city. They’d drive home Friday afternoon, then back Monday morning.

Even jobs 2 hours away may be commutable. E.g., if OP's spouse works in Manhattan, and OP finds a job out in, say, eastern Suffolk County, two hours east of Manhattan, OP and their spouse could easily find a place in between, in Queens/Brooklyn/Nassau, and end up with a ~40-60 minute commute each which should be, at least in theory, manageable for both.

Sure, it's not ideal but it's a heckuva lot better than being unemployed or living in two completely different cities.

[ND2018]

The above is credited. I once knew a Suffolk County DA working out in Shelter Island (think east of eastern Suffolk county) whose spouse worked biglaw in Manhattan. They split the commuting distance by living somewhere in Nassau and he was usually home before she was despite his 2 hour commute by car.

[Dahl]

OP have you looked in local gvmt jobs? The starting pay is terrible, but if you went to a T14 your school should offer good LRAP (in addition to public sector forgiveness) which will take care of the loan problem.

The pay goes up fairly well after a few years, and the work/life balance is great. In my big city there are certain agencies that are always hiring and in need of new blood.

[JOThompson]

OP have you looked in local gvmt jobs? The starting pay is terrible, but if you went to a T14 your school should offer good LRAP (in addition to public sector forgiveness) which will take care of the loan problem.

The pay goes up fairly well after a few years, and the work/life balance is great. In my big city there are certain agencies that are always hiring and in need of new blood.

If OP interviews well and has a resume that seems consistent with the desire to work in public interest, a T14 degree opens up doors. For Seattle and Portland government agencies, having a T14 degree results in an interview more often than not, even without connections from what I've seen, with a high chance of being hired. I've seen plenty of trial attorneys who were hired primarily based on the prestige of their law school here, who probably wouldn't get an interview offer but for that.