Volume XVI, Issue II
June 2002

If you have the misfortune to be actively seeking employment at this place and time, you may naturally have begun to wonder whether, from a marketability standpoint, you might as well have opted for that degree in Medieval French Poetry.  If you’ve been reading the local papers, you know that the unemployment rate (at least at the time I write this) is vying with Oregon for the worst in the nation, that state and local governments have instituted a hiring freeze and that the entire country is overrun with attorneys.

So what is a relatively inexperienced attorney with staggering debt to do?  To find out, I spoke with three local legal placement professionals.  Here’s what they had to say:

 It’s Not Just You: The Economy Stinks.  Most law school graduates are aware of that.  They read it in the newspapers.  They hear it on television.  But as the months wear on and you’re still collecting unemployment checks after doing everything Guerrilla Tactics, Knock ‘Em Dead and Sweaty Palms suggest, you may begin to wonder if it’s not just you.

 “I’m surprised at the number of people -- even when the market is bad -- that have a tendency to get down on themselves and feel less worthy and that’s just ridiculous,” says Linda Jonas of Legalease Placement Services in Kirkland.  “I think it’s important to remember that it’s a function of supply and demand . . .  It’s been worse than this and recovered very quickly . . .. People need to give themselves a break about the rejection and remember that this is all cyclical . . . and it will get better.

 Karen Summerville, a former attorney who now runs a career counseling service for legal professionals in Seattle, agrees with Jonas.  “There are opportunities out there, but it’s just harder to find them . . .  I’ve been doing this for nine years now and I think one of the things that is very different now is that people have to be much more creative in how they approach it.  They can’t just use the old tried and true methods of looking for want ads or even networking . . . and they may have to do something outside the profession in order to pay the bills while they’re looking for their professional choice . . . but it’s absolutely possible to find something and to find something meaningful -- it just takes a lot more effort.

Maintaining Focus.  When times are tough, people have a tendency to sue each other.  So if you’re out of work and your ideal job is in commercial litigation, you may have a slightly easier time uncovering that entry-level position.  But what if you don’t know what your ideal job is?  Or you do know and it’s not in litigation?  Should you take that position in insurance defense in the hopes that it will translate into something else in the future?   

 “Once you start off in law, almost after day one, you sort of get pigeonholed,” says Jeff Minzel of Minzel & Associates, a Seattle career counseling and legal placement agency.  “You can break that, but it becomes tough to break and we see a large number of candidates -- good quality candidates with five and seven years of experience -- who are looking for a career change and finding it tough . . .  So with a junior attorney, it really makes sense to figure out what they want from quality of life.  What sort of interaction do they want to have with people?  How much autonomy do they want to have?  How much freedom?  Are they willing to work weekends?  What are they willing to give up?” 

Jonas cautions against casting the job-hunting net too broadly or choosing entry-level positions far removed from your ultimate goal. 

“I would discourage people from getting legal work in unrelated areas just to get work, because their résumés can wind up unfocused,” says Jonas.  “It may be better to be patient . . .  Do your research and find the kind of places -- maybe one through twenty-five -- where you’d most like to work and maybe offer your services for a low rate for a trial period . . .  Try to keep your résumé in a direction that is consistently moving forward and looking focused so that when the market does change or you run into that opportunity where through networking somebody is willing to offer you that position, your résumé satisfies expectations.”

How to Acquire Experience without Experience.  So let’s say you’ve done your soul-searching.  You know what you want to do and the knowledge and skills required to do it.  Now the only problem is you don’t have that knowledge, you don’t have those skills and with listed legal positions requiring a minimum of two and three years of experience, you’re not sure how you ever will.  You need experience, but how do you get it without experience?

According to Minzel, volunteering for a law firm or corporation is one way of overcoming the experience hurdle.  “The first summer out of law school I worked for free at GTE,” says Minzel.  “I worked hard and at the end of the Summer, they wrote reference letters to all the hiring attorneys they knew at all the major firms that I was applying to . . . and at all the places that they sent a letter, I got an interview.”  

Even for graduates, Summerville urges those struggling to find work to consider volunteering on a project-by-project basis.  “Sure, people have law school debt to pay off and they may have to do something outside the profession in order to pay the bills,” says Summerville.  “But when people come in and say, ‘I don’t have a suitable writing sample to present,’ I say ‘volunteer to write something so that you’ll have a suitable writing sample!’” . . .  It’s actually kind of a throw-back to the olden days where people in law school and right out of law school clerked, but they didn’t get paid . . .  The difference now is that students have so much debt that they can’t really do that kind of apprenticeship, but it’s a way of approximating that kind of apprenticeship experience.” 

Building relationships (a.k.a. Networking).  All three -- Jonas, Minzel and Summerville -- emphasize the importance of building relationships as the best method for a junior attorney to find work.  But when asked where to look for those relationships, they respond with a variety of answers.

If you have a minimum level of experience, Jonas suggests serving on the board of a philanthropic organization.  “Assuming you meet a minimum criteria, often boards are looking for people,” says Jonas.  “It’s all on a volunteer basis, but you’re around a lot of really interesting, diverse attorneys . . .  Apart from the networking, it reminds you of the profession you’re in and gives you kind of a sense of pride.  I walk out of those things feeling like I’m contributing something and staying connected -- which is a really valuable thing if you’re trying to maintain the motivation to keep moving forward toward something like looking for a job.”

In addition to volunteering and participating in state and local bar section meetings, Summerville emphasizes the importance of keeping your research and writing skills up to date.  If you are a recent graduate and not currently engaged in a project for a practicing attorney, she suggests contacting a former professor and asking for a research project that can be used as a writing sample and listed on your résumé under “experience.”  She also recommends maintaining contact with fellow graduates -- particularly those with jobs.

But be prepared to be turned down.  “There will probably be a number of people who say they just don’t have the time,” says Jonas.  “We all say, ‘oh, personal networking!  Get out there!  Do it!  It’s the only way!  But if you do it and you get the door slammed in your face five times, it’s probably kind of discouraging.  So maybe go into it knowing that there will be people that have personal priorities that are just going to preclude them from opening a set of time for anybody . . . Who knows what’s going on in their lives? . . .   Have respect for that and just move on.”  

“It can be a little discouraging,” says Minzel.  “But if an attorney goes out there and works hard on developing relationships, he or she is going to find someone who can use their services . . .  They might be turned down a hundred times, but it just takes one.”

“Think of it as an Easter Egg hunt,” says Summerville.  “There are always the eggs that are right out there and everybody is grabbing for the same ones.  Then a couple of weeks later you go through the place where they had the Easter Egg hunt and there are a couple of eggs that were left behind because they were hidden too well . . .  Those are the ones that people need to look for and if they’re willing to look for them, they’ll find them.”

So — don’t get down on yourself.  Get your friends and family to help you stay focused and encouraged.  Talk with those around you who will be supportive, and avoid those — even if they’re well meaning — who will be critical or simply not understand what you’re up against.  Try to keep in mind that what you have to offer above all is your potential — your intelligence, your talents, your desire to learn and succeed.  There are attorneys or firms out there who need someone like you but, ironically, don’t really know the best way to go about finding you.  Others may not realize just how much they could use someone until you show up and demonstrate it to them.  Volunteering to work on a project may be just the revelation they need. 

And as much as you might be tempted to, don’t take just any job that comes down the pike.  Keep in mind that your choices now may affect future opportunities.  So if you don’t already know the area of law in which you want to work, do as much as you can to identify that now, and maintain that area as the focus of your search.

But keep in mind above all that it is relationships that lead to relationships.  Meeting others in the field — whether attorneys or not (I found my current job through a tip from friend who is a retired paralegal) — and letting them know that you are looking, can open doors that you might not otherwise even know exist.  Be imaginative (even ruthless!) in your strategies for forming new relationships.  Don’t be discouraged by those who turn you down or “don’t have time” (you don’t want to work for them anyway).  

And keep in mind that these relationships, this whole challenging (sometimes exasperating) process, is not just a way to find a job.  The lessons you learn, knowledge you gain and the relationships you form can carry on into the future, providing you with valuable resources, professional support, and friendships that will become part of your own practice in the years to come.

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