How Hard Is It To Get Paralegal/Legal Assistant Jobs? Forum

[SkepticalAboutLaw]

I browsed through several pages of posts to see if this question has been recently answered. I found a few people asking about their personal circumstances, but not much regarding the general job prospects for paralegals. How hard is it to get into a firm as a paralegal, legal assistant, or receptionist/secretary? What kinds of people actually get hired for these jobs? Are you completely screwed if you did not graduate from a prestigious school?

Bonus points if you can address my personal situation. I would ideally like to work in an immigration firm, but I would be just fine working at a miscellaneous small firm. I am not particularly looking for biglaw paralegal jobs and am not set on NYC, DC, etc.

Am I going to get autorejected from everything in NYC, DC? How about everything in immigration? Everything period?

Here's what I've got.

The good:
-4.0 GPA in my BA
-Fluent Spanish
-Partial fluency in three other languages
-"Work experience" -- three summers at a nonprofit and two years peer mentoring/basic counseling

The bad:
-BA from a random public university
-No legal experience, not even an internship
-Graduated in August, so no post-BA work experience

I realize that I probably sound utterly ridiculous, but I am actually asking if I have a shot. Am I wasting my time applying for work in DC, NYC, etc because of where I went to school?

[gavinstevens]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 4&t=195995

Good info in the above thread answers most of your questions.

As to your educational background, there are definetly firms that say they only hire from ivies/top ugs. I think that's more the case in primary markets.

I work at a big firm in a secondary market and the paralegals/legal assistants usually had good grades (3.5+) from a state school, went to a top ug (maybe not ivy, but Northwestern, Emory, etc.), or have connections.

[SkepticalAboutLaw]

Thanks for the reply and the link!

[SkepticalAboutLaw]

P.S. If anyone wants to share additional insight into paralegal hiring outside the biglaw firms on the East Coast, I remain very interested in hearing from you. I get the impression that most TLS users aim to work in biglaw, but if there is anyone out there who knows what happens outside the world of East/West Coast biglaw, I would love to hear from you.

[Younger Abstention]

Here is your firm. Make it happen: http://www.fragomen.com/

[SkepticalAboutLaw]

Thanks!

[CanadianWolf]

A 4.0 GPA & English/Spanish fluency should get you many more interviews than you can handle--especially if targeting immigration and/or criminal law. Nevertheless, many large law firms target grads from the Ivies, baby-Ivies, & other elite undergraduate schools like Chicago & Northwestern so you will have to undertake a lot of legwork to get into the primary markets of NYC, DC & Chicago. Good luck !

[stressed2010]

you can also try temp agencies that specialize in legal recruiting. that's how i got my paralegal gig before law school. started as a temp and then was hired full time

[stressed2010]

to clarify it was at a nyc big law firm

[SkepticalAboutLaw]

Thanks to both of you for the tips!

[SchopenhauerFTW]

you can also try temp agencies that specialize in legal recruiting. that's how i got my paralegal gig before law school. started as a temp and then was hired full time

TITCR