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So I went to a decent (T-30) school that is well respected in my city and was stuck in doc review for 3 years (embarrassing but I had trouble passing the bar) before finally landing a gig at a debt collection law firm a few months ago. I know that the reputation of these firms is bottom of the barrel, and likely a stain on my resume, but I'm honestly glad to be doing anything other than doc review. Has anyone worked for or know anything about the exit opportunities for this type of work? I imagine they aren't stellar but was wondering if anyone had any ideas. Does the fact that I went to a relatively "reputable" school matter when looking to spin this type of "debt collection mill work", say 2 years from now when I will be 6 years out of law school? Is there anything I can do to broaden my horizons while in my current position and make the best out of a crappy situation?

Assistant DA or Republican politics.

Assistant DA actually sounds appealing. What about insurance defense? Would that be too high of a barrier to entry given my background?

Insurance defense would be another area that should be open to you.

Seriously, with a couple of exceptions, civil litigation rules and procedures are the same regardless of whether you are doing a $1000 credit card case or a $10BB class action. So you can make yourself valuable to other firms by getting substantive lit experience. Do motions to dismiss, deps, summary judgment motions, jury instruction conferences. If you are just doing default judgments against poor people for a couple of years, you will not have gotten a lot of marketable expertise.

ninthcircuitattorney wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:04 pm

Seriously, with a couple of exceptions, civil litigation rules and procedures are the same regardless of whether you are doing a $1000 credit card case or a $10BB class action. So you can make yourself valuable to other firms by getting substantive lit experience. Do motions to dismiss, deps, summary judgment motions, jury instruction conferences. If you are just doing default judgments against poor people for a couple of years, you will not have gotten a lot of marketable expertise.

The last sentence of the above quoted post probably reflects the real world experience of a creditors' rights attorney.

True, the last sentence probably describes "creditor rights" work, but that doesn't mean that OP can't search out opportunities to do real lit on occasion.