1 year since graduation = still no job

[Eugene Young]

Still with Matthies on this one. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Pretty much comes down to survival at this point, at least professional survival. Miss P, you're in NYC. Go down to Court St. and throw a rock and you'll hit about 12 lawyers. I take it the OP is in Dallas, there's gotta be something man. Even in this economy. Hell, when I go to the courthouse in a suit and observe trials a couple of people always come up to me and ask if I'm a lawyer. Surely, with a bar card, you can find something. If the transactional thing isn't working out, you may need to think about a different practice area. It may not be what you want, but it's gotta beat serving up grande mocha fraps with skim milk and no whip. But again, that's just me. I'll be damned if I'm ever on my ass like that. I'll make something happen. But not everybody is that resourceful. Again, do you.

[sheltron5000]

Matthies you need to cool down a little bit. This guy is not whining. OP could probably be a little more proactive, but just because the advice he is getting from other people is different from your experience doesn't make him a flame. In fact, I think this is the best post on "the dark side of law school" yet. He isn't whiny and he seems to have actually just fallen through the cracks. He's NOT some TTT grad complaining about not being able to make $300k.

OP, just to clarify, from your tone it sounds like you aren't in total panic/breakdown mode yet? How close are you and how bad are things for you? Have you been able to make your loan payments and all that? How much longer can you hold out before it all falls apart?

[Miss P]

Still with Matthies on this one. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Pretty much comes down to survival at this point, at least professional survival. Miss P, you're in NYC. Go down to Court St. and throw a rock and you'll hit about 12 lawyers. I take it the OP is in Dallas, there's gotta be something man. Even in this economy. Hell, when I go to the courthouse in a suit and observe trials a couple of people always come up to me and ask if I'm a lawyer. Surely, with a bar card, you can find something. If the transactional thing isn't working out, you may need to think about a different practice area. It may not be what you want, but it's gotta beat serving up grande mocha fraps with skim milk and no whip. But again, that's just me. I'll be damned if I'm ever on my ass like that. I'll make something happen. But not everybody is that resourceful. Again, do you.

This is exactly why it's not easy to make it as an entry-level solo practitioner here, and why my friends who are doing it (I know several!) are having such a hard time.  And yes, I also get asked if I'm a lawyer all the time when I'm in court, but not by people who can pay me.   Some people would prefer to have a steady income (from Starbucks) without the financial risk.  YMMV.  I don't see the point in being so judgmental about this choice, especially when the OP seems to be working hard and wasn't even complaining all that much.

[newmom]

He seems too earnest to be flame.  Well, back to my practice exam so I don't end up like him.

lol, funniest post on this thread

[newmom]

He seems too earnest to be flame.  Well, back to my practice exam so I don't end up like him.

lol, funniest post on this thread

Don't encourage him.

was seriously funny tho...

just to add my two cent, I think everyone, or at least I would feel much more for the OP if his search wasn't taking so long.  I mean a year?? Just can't see it taking that long, even in this economy, to find decent legal work if he were really putting in the leg work

[Matthies]

I think I have done a poor job of clarifying what I am trying to say in this post. I think there comes a time, and what time that is probably varies from person to person, but I think a year is a pretty good point in which saying it’s the economy or the rank of your school that’s keeping you from getting a job becomes an excuse and not the primary reason.

I am not suggesting starting your own firm is a cure all, those that picked up on that missed my point, probably because I did not make it clear enough. The point is after a year, if your seriously looking for work you should have at least reviewed all possible options. One of those options would be to at least look into the basics of starting your own firm, malpractice insurance, CLEs this info is out there are readily available to anyone who took a few minutes to search it out. Someone who was seriously looking for legal work for a year would at least know that basic info if for nothing more than to say that’s not for me. After a year of poring coffee it’s something I would at least look into, even if it was just part time overflow for some lawyers I knew to get something legal related on my resume.

My point was not start your own firm, but at least look for options beyond a 100k firm job handed to you after a year. Comments like “What's said is that I have even been looking on craiglist and the firms there are only paying $30-40K/year with no benefits.” Or “People who go after ID/PI/Traffic are stuck and almost never move up to big law firms or even medium-small practice law firms. Apparently there is a stigma attached to those law jobs and unless you have the entreprenurial know-how to make your practice big, you will be relegated to 2000+ hours/year at $40-50K per year (plus a holiday bonus of a $50 giftcard to Starbucks).” That’s not, in my view, making a serious effort to find a legal job. Its hard out there no doubt, but after a year I would be exploring all available options to me, even if they are not my dream job, even if it means I got to start at the bottom and work my way up.

There comes a point where the economy/school rank argument is nothing more than an excuse in my book. If you’re not willing to start on the bottom and work your way up, if your only willing to take a job in a larger firm, or you think going to school X means you should get Y job or if your still holding on to this belief “I saw the $100K+ average starting salary stats and the 98%+ employment after 9 months of graduation stat and thought law school was a sure thing.” That’s fine, I have no problem with that, I have no problem with you deciding to work outside the legal field rather than take a job you think is beneath you. BUT that’s your decision, its not the fault of the economy or the rank of your school.

 My point is this is an exercise in excuses until one comes to term with the fact that they, not just outside factors, play a role in their own fate. Someone who can’t see that is either so oblivious to how life works or just flame trying to needless scare people.

[Eugene Young]

My point was not start your own firm, but at least look for options beyond a 100k firm job handed to you after a year.

co-sign.

go hustle.

/s/ Eugene Young

[Bigbie]

/s/ Eugene Young

When did /s/ become a thing. I've never seen it before this fall, and I've seen it like five times in the past few months in real emails.

[vap]

/s/ Eugene Young

When did /s/ become a thing. I've never seen it before this fall, and I've seen it like five times in the past few months in real emails.

I've seen lawyers do it to distinguish between their name/address block and their "signature" for a document filed with ECF.  They've been doing it for years although I don't think you really have to do it to sign.

[legalese_retard]

First and foremost, my intentions behind my posting is to provide a personal account. The only reason why I even stated where I went to law school, was to put my story in perspective. Most people assume that if you haven't been employed after 1 year of graduation that you must have gone to a "TTT" law school (however you define it) or did terribly in your class. While I know I may sound "whiney" and "entitled," I am mainly frustrated. The fact that several here think I am a flame demonstrates what I already know - that with my credentials I am "supposed" to have a job after a year. Now I had a family emergency that caused me to graduate in December instead of May, but that is only one component that might have delayed my employment. I've asked the folks at the OCS several times to review my resume and cover letters to see if there is a glaring mistake that I missed or if my approach is wrong. They have suggested that smaller firms may not take me seriously because I am "supposed" to be already employed at a higher paying job.

While some here think I am only sitting on my ass bitching online, no I am not. If I am not working at Starbucks, I am working at a free clinic getting to know several prominent attorneys who are doing their pro bono. They have told me that if a job or job lead come up, I would be the first one they would contact. The firm I summered at also said they are keeping an eye out for me and one of the partners even emailed me last week to see how I was doing. Again, they were all shocked that I haven't even received an interview. They told me that I should contact them before a future interview so they can recommend me and make sure that the firm knows that I didn't get an offer solely because of the economy and not because of my performance. I also attend local bar assocation meetings and the local young lawyers meetings (as long as they are free), but they are filled with other recent grads who are jobless and trying to network their ass off.

Again, you may think I am a flame or a loser or whatever explitive you want to use to describe me. I know I have done the best that I can do both in law school and after graduation. I don't expect my school to magically create jobs and I never viewed OCS as a career placement office. I'm also not expecting the world's greatest legal job - hell, if I was a temp doc review attorney getting $35/hour, you would not see me posting on here. That's a good job to hold someone over until the economy and job prospects turn around. Maybe you call this being "entitled" but yes, I thought that if I went to college for 4 years and law school for 3 years I could work at a job that I actually wanted and was remotely interested in. I'm sorry, but being a solo is the last thing I ever wanted to do. I know beggars can't be choosers, but when should a law school grad ever be a beggar? THAT is the story I wanted to share on this board. I never intended a "whoa is me" story or a "please be sorry for me" story, but a real story beyond the incesant complaints you will read on places like JDUnderground. Like I said many times before, I am grateful that I got into a tier one law school and had an amazing experience at Tulane that I would never give up, in the end I am frustrated with how it all ended. I got caught up with where I am "supposed" to be after I graduate and where I am actually at now.

As far as the other questions, I am not "too" worried about finances yet. I can make my minimum private loan payments and my government loans are in hardship deferrment. To me it's just embarrasing that I have to be in a hardship deferrment when several of my classmates ranked barely above and below me are making 6-figures or are at a legitimate law practice. The reason why I am at Starbucks is because I worked there before law school, it is the only job that would hire me that had health care provided (for my medical issues, I can't afford health insurance), and I can get free food on days that I close (we throw away any sandwiches that are left after closing, so I can eat off of those for a few days). If anything, I have learned to be especially frugal since law school