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I'm a 0L considering attending a school where about 40% of graduates don't have full-time, long-term jd-required positions 9 months out.

My question is: What is a typical trajectory for the few years post-graduation of someone who hasn't secured a full-time, long-term legal position by 9 months out (But who, I'm assuming, like most law school grads, desires one)?

Knowing that law school grades are fairly unpredictable, I may very well end up in that 40%. Some on tls say these people will "never become attorneys" - I'm wondering, is this true of most grads who don't secure full-time long-term jd-required work @ 9mos? Or do most end up with a legal career, but it just takes longer to get started?

There is no reliable data on this. But ancedotal musings are that your J.D. becomes stale if you don't use it. Most employers would rather higher a new graduate than someone who has been on the market for over a year. And there are plenty of new graduates.

Also, I think we overstate how important grades are to jobs. They matter a good bit for clerkships and biglaw. But at a school where 40% don't have jobs, hardly anybody is going into those high prestige jobs. People are getting jobs largely through connections and luck. Top third at a place like Temple isn't guaranteeing you a job. But having an uncle who is a successful solo will probably get you a job.

This is anecdotal, so completely unscientific, but at my lower T1, there were a bunch of people who didn't have jobs 9 months out, and everyone I know of eventually found some kind of legal job. (Yes, lots of caveats there.)

Now, whether they're jobs you'd want is a whole other question. A lot are at small firms, but then, my law school's legal market has mostly small firms so that's pretty common. A few have gone solo; they are practicing law, but I have no idea what they earn or how many hours they work or how happy they are.

At my school I know of people from last years graduating class (about to be 9 months out) who are still employed by the school. The school gives them office space, access to west law/lexis and directs clients to them. They charge $90 an hour for their legal work. I'm sure there are others unemployed and the people who failed the bar just retook this month.

Anecdotal but from my T3, some people got into law after 9 months. Most people left law completely. The people that left law completely probably have the better job outcomes. THe others are working shitlaw and hustle hard to make a very mediocre living.

They keep searching until they find a job. IMO, if you aren't going to be persistent in your job search then it's probably a waste of your money to get a JD. The entire "there are lots of things you can do with a law degree!" is a big scam. Law is still the best thing to do with a law degree, unless you have a specific alternative career in mind.

If being unemployed concerns you, I would suggest retaking and going to a school with better placement numbers.