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A ‘Lost Year’ for 2Ls: About Half of BigLaw Jobs Are Gone

post #1 of 21
8/30/09 at 9:27pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.abajournal.com/news/a_los..._jobs_are_gone

Posted Aug 26, 2009, 09:46 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

The timing couldn't be worse for second-year law students.

Large law firms are hiring about half as many summer associates as usual, resulting in "the most wrenching job search season in over 50 years," the New York Times reports. For many second-year law students, the "golden ticket" to a high-paying career at a big firm is slipping away. Now these students are scrambling for other jobs at smaller firms, in government and in public-interest organizations.

Students who took out large loans to go to top-tier schools assumed they could pay off their debt with high-paying law firm jobs. But this year is different, says Irene Dorzback, the assistant dean for career services at New York University law school.

"People are now accepting this notion of a lost year," she told the Times.

The newspaper includes this evidence of the declining job market:

"¢ Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has cut the size of its 2010 summer program by more than half.

"¢ Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has canceled its summer program and all on-campus recruiting.

"¢ DLA Piper and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe have postponed recruiting.

"¢ Law firms canceling interviews at Yale include Baker & McKenzie; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, & McCloy; and White & Case.

"¢ Law firm interviews are down by a third or a half at New York University, Georgetown, Northwestern and other top law schools. It's even worse at lower-ranked schools.
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post #2 of 21
8/30/09 at 11:45pm
Glad I'm not in law sk00l.
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post #3 of 21
8/30/09 at 11:50pm
Is that Caspar Weinberger as your avatar? If so, what did I miss?
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post #4 of 21
8/31/09 at 12:15am
wow, glad i am a 2L... Good thing im not interested in any of that BS big-firm sheeiitt.

Plan on working in the PD's office next summer, crime only increases in a bad economy.
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post #5 of 21
8/31/09 at 12:27am
Also a 2L. Well, 3L in a week. Lucked the fuck out. I cannot express how relieved I am, it's the same up here. Last year 14 people without prior summer positions got biglaw jobs in Vantown, I'm betting this year it's less than half that. So many 3Ls are going to be without jobs.
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post #6 of 21
8/31/09 at 12:36am
My girlfriend is starting her 2L year tomorrow and early interviews last week were brutal. She's public interest with a very strong public interest background- so hopefully she's in a slightly more protected position. It was certainly tough to watch all her friends go through it.
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post #7 of 21
8/31/09 at 2:06am
That is rough...what are all these folks with huge student loans going to do? With the cost of professional schools being so high, the normal federal loans usually don't cover everything. Can private student loans be discharged in bankruptcy?

How does someone essentially "start over" when they are very qualified in a particular area like law that is no longer in demand? Clearly, more school isn't the answer as new grads aren't finding work (last stat I heard was the undergraduate class of 09 is at about 80% unemployment in the US).
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post #8 of 21
8/31/09 at 2:19am
Hopefully these prospective lawyers will edit their career choice. We don't need any more asshole lawyers, and "big law" lawyers are assholes.
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post #9 of 21
8/31/09 at 5:19am
Who Hoo! 2L here, guess I'll just have to rely my safety career: BigPimping.
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post #10 of 21
8/31/09 at 8:18am
Mrs. T is already in her role starting on her 3L, but a friend of hers just graduated and is having a hell of a time finding anything.
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post #11 of 21
8/31/09 at 11:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milhouse View Post
How does someone essentially "start over" when they are very qualified in a particular area like law that is no longer in demand? Clearly, more school isn't the answer as new grads aren't finding work (last stat I heard was the undergraduate class of 09 is at about 80% unemployment in the US).
"Law" is not a "particular area;" it's arguably the profession with the vaguest and most widespread breadth of scope. Many law school grads end up pursuing careers which fall far beyond the realm of the traditional legal job. What law school teaches (or purports to teach) is a specific way of thinking which has vast applicability across a number of different fields. The benefit of a legal education is also its detriment, as most law school grads come out of school with zero practical knowledge of a specific industry or practice area and, therefore, are essentially useless in the field (aside from serving as over-paid researchers in the biglaw setting). From my comments to the above-referenced article on the ABA site: Stop complaining, find yourself a job with the fed. gov't, take a bit of a pay cut (but still make enough to be comfortable); take advantage of the loan repayment program, and SPECIALIZE in a particular area of the law. Far too may young attys emerge from law school having made no effort to specialize/make themselves an "expert" in a particular area of the law (read: NOT family law, or some other vague b.s. practice area). There are so many niche practices out there (maritime law, energy, import/export law, etc.), that make an atty practicing in such an area much more valuable. It takes time find these areas, and requires a bit of actual initiative while in law school to break free from the standard law school course track and to immerse yourself in an area of the law that will actually make you an asset in the long run. Specialize, find a gov't agency, etc. that oversees/regulates a particular area/industry; stick it out in gov't for a few years; after some time make the move to a firm. Doing this allows you to bypass the traditional first/second/third year associate nonsense, and instead come into a firm being able to make a valuable contribution to a specific practice area. You'll be familiar with the internal working/policies of the agency for which you worked, and you might actually be able to generate business due to you real experience.
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post #12 of 21
8/31/09 at 11:29am
Law career threaks = automatic facepalm
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post #13 of 21
8/31/09 at 6:27pm
There are something like 40,000 law school graduates per year. The government sector, particularly the federal government sector, can't (and shouldn't) hire them all each year.
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post #14 of 21
8/31/09 at 6:40pm
^Agreed, though the government can defer interest payments on student loans for a longer period which would be a reasonable and helpful thing to do.
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post #15 of 21
8/31/09 at 9:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JT82 View Post

From my comments to the above-referenced article on the ABA site:
Stop complaining, find yourself a job with the fed. gov't, take a bit of a pay cut (but still make enough to be comfortable); take advantage of the loan repayment program, and SPECIALIZE in a particular area of the law.

Far too may young attys emerge from law school having made no effort to specialize/make themselves an "expert" in a particular area of the law (read: NOT family law, or some other vague b.s. practice area).

There are so many niche practices out there (maritime law, energy, import/export law, etc.), that make an atty practicing in such an area much more valuable.

It takes time find these areas, and requires a bit of actual initiative while in law school to break free from the standard law school course track and to immerse yourself in an area of the law that will actually make you an asset in the long run.

Specialize, find a gov't agency, etc. that oversees/regulates a particular area/industry; stick it out in gov't for a few years; after some time make the move to a firm. Doing this allows you to bypass the traditional first/second/third year associate nonsense, and instead come into a firm being able to make a valuable contribution to a specific practice area. You'll be familiar with the internal working/policies of the agency for which you worked, and you might actually be able to generate business due to you real experience.

This is my plan - the loan repayment plans while working for the government are pretty attractive. 10 years of making your minimum payment and the balance is forgiven.
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