Putting Your Legal Degree to Work While Taking Night School

Dear Lawcrossing,

I am a second-year evening student in a four-year program in Los Angeles. I currently work for the county health services department, inspecting radioactive materials users in L. A.County. I like my job, but I would like to start to put my legal education to work somewhere. Should I get out into the "real law world" before graduation? And if so, how? I realize I'll probably make less than I do now, but hopefully not much less.


BH, Los Anjeles

DEAR BH,

LawCrossing marvels at anybody like you, BH, who can work full time and attend law school at night. LawCrossing herself had her hands full with a simple full-time course load at law school, but then a steady diet of 25-cent draft beers and buffalo chicken wings may not have helped her stamina.

In LawCrossing's experience talking with evening law students, she has encountered four broad categories of people. First, those who intend to use their law degree to move into the legal department where they work; second, people who want to parlay their experience and their law degree into a law practice of their own; third, people who don't want to stay where they are but have a definite idea of what kind of work they want to do; and finally, people who don't have any idea what they want to do when they get their degree, but hope that whatever it is will bring them great satisfaction and, not incidentally, buckets o' cash.

Let's say that you fit the first category, BH, and want to stay pretty much where you are, but do legal work as well. Talk with people where you work and find out who handles legal issues, whether there is an in-house legal department, or whether all work is farmed out to law firms. If everything is done in-house, make yourself known to everybody in that department. Get to know them, find out about the work they do, and offer to help out researching issues or handling projects in your spare time (LawCrossing realizing that "spare time" is a relative term). Let them know that your goal in going to law school was to expand your horizons, and that while you enjoy the work you do, you'd like to stretch your skills by helping them out, too.

Find out about when they have job openings and how, when you graduate, you might go about getting one. LawCrossing has found that the problem most people have in this kind of situation is that they feel it's too bold to talk to people in the legal department this way. But if you put yourself in their shoes, BH, you can see that what you're doing is very flattering; you're saying, "I want to be like you." And people inevitably respond positively to that kind of attention.

If it turns out that working in-house isn't feasible, find out which law firm handles work for your employer, and get to know them through lawyers who are in- house. Because you work for a client, your employer's law firm will certainly be open to, at the very least, meeting with you so that you can learn more about the field and discover new and valuable contacts.

Another viable option might be to combine the expertise you have with the law degree you're soon to have, and hang out your own shingle. This is a very popular route for evening students, and with good reason: they typically have a built-in potential client base as a result of their daytime career. While this is far too large a topic to tackle in this one column, if you haven't considered it before, it's worth thinking about. After all, when it comes to potential, as your own boss there's no limit to the amount of money you can make.

But let's switch hats, BH, and pretend you're in the third group; that is, you know what you want to do with your law degree, and it's not what you're doing now. It's actually very easy for you to get your feet wet even with your intense schedule. How? Go to your career services office, and find out who runs the specialty section for the specialty you want to get into at the local bar. Start reading local bar newsletters and keep up with who's doing what in the legal world via your local newspaper (assuming you want to stay where you are). Go to the specialty bar meetings, lunches, seminars, anything that you can fit into your schedule. Introduce yourself to people, learn about what they do, and when they ask about you, explain to them that you'd like to do some freelance work to gain experience in the specialty you want to enter, and offer to research issues, write briefs, whatever you can do on your own time. Make this known to the attorney who runs your specialty section for the local bar association, to see if any members have stated a need for freelance help, and also to see if you can do any projects for the local bar itself to gain experience. Certain kinds of practices, of course, do have office hours that could accommodate you. For instance, legal aid offices are typically open at night and on weekends, and you might be able to work there if that interests you. Again, by doing these kinds of activities, you are getting to know the right people and learning about jobs you'll want, so that you'll be perfectly situated to make that jump when you've got your degree.

Now if you're in the final group, and you just don't know what you want to do (but you know it's not what you're doing now), you've got to do a bit of exploratory work before you jump into anything. As another Career Services Director suggests, "I always advise evening students to spend their first year focusing on academics. Then, in year two, it's time to start putting feelers out, just in the sense of learning what's out there. Read legal newspapers and magazines, which your career services office will stock. Call your local bar association, and find out what kinds of activities they have, and what you can fit into your schedule." Go to those events, listen to speakers, and talk with people who already practice law, being very frank about your desire to learn more so that you can plot a career path for yourself. If you feel at all reticent about this, remember that every practicing attorney was once a law student, too, and many of them-primarily the miserable ones-wish they'd done the kind of footwork you're doing! Once you've identified a specialty you like, go ahead and pursue the kinds of activities LawCrossing has already discussed; volunteering for freelance projects and the like.

Incidentally, BH, LawCrossing applauds you for your acknowledgement of the possibility of a pay cut when you start law. It is one of the cruel ironies of law that very experienced, highly-qualified people in other fields get a law degree assuming it will enhance their income potential, only to find that they are looking at jobs making less-sometimes considerably less-than they are used to. While getting a law degree needn't mean a new diet of deviled ham and Spam on a Ritz, it's important to recognize that you may have to take a step back in order to make a giant leap forward in the near future. And you may find, as many evening students do, that the value of pursuing what you really want-typically in the form of a public interest position, but not always-provides in psychic income what is lost in the hard green stuff.

So ultimately, BH, what is LawCrossing suggesting? That it's not really a jump you're making at all, but a series of bunny hops that amount to a jump. By taking the steps outlined here, you're gradually submerging yourself in your new career, making sure every step of the way that you're getting into something you really will enjoy. And with all of the sacrifices you've made, you deserve it!