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.