In my career spanning more than two decades as an attorney and legal recruiter, I have met an astonishing number of people who have chosen nontraditional legal careers. With very, very few exceptions, most of these people are far happier than they ever were practicing law. A good number of these people who left the legal practice also make more money in their new professions. The great thing about these 60 jobs is (1) having a law degree may make you better at them, and (2) you can do them without passing the bar exam.
Sometimes it is not easy to see the forest through the trees. When I think about people coming out of law school and struggling to get jobs, it is upsetting to me because the person could usually get an associate attorney job if they did the right thing. This article discusses what you need to do to get a job. I am not going to sugarcoat anything, and I am not going to coddle you and tell you everything is going to be okay. If you do not get a job, everything will not be okay.
The lateral resume is an extremely important marketing tool. It is a key component of the recruiting process. Although a lateral resume differs in some respects from a student's resume, some basic ground rules remain. Law firms generally want more information from lateral attorney candidates and are less forgiving when errors occur. So, it's critical that you do your homework and take the necessary time and effort to prepare a solid lateral resume. There are some major and minor differences in lateral resumes that you should be aware of when putting yours together. I'll point some of these differences out for you to help you get started.
Law clerks are important members of the legal industry. They assist judges by researching issues appearing before the court and writing opinions. Many of the top law school graduates become state law clerks for a year or so. The experience gained by serving as a law clerk and the influence they have on the formation of case laws opens up doors for more career opportunities. There are law clerkships that are more prestigious than others, such as with the United States Supreme Court, the United States courts of appeals, some United States district courts, and specialized courts like the United States Tax Court. There are other courts that are great places for law clerks to learn about a specific area. For example, the Southern District of New York deals with a high number of commercial litigation cases.
The path from public service to private practice actually occurs quite frequently. In fact, many senior partners at law firms have had some experience as a government attorney. Some of the issues that private firms will consider are the transferability of your skills and the current public position that you hold. Many times the skills that a government attorney has acquired from experience on important cases will be the determining factor for firms to consider him or her. For example, an experienced federal prosecutor will have an easier time finding a job in a large law firm than a first-year public defender. That is not to say that only those attorneys in the loftiest government positions can transfer to the private sector, but they will certainly have an advantage in getting into the prestigious private firms.
Please note that these popular practice areas depend on numerous variables such as the local economy, new law, and level of enforcement and are always subject to change.
This is, unfortunately, an extremely common phenomenon in the world of lateral hiring and recruiting, one that frustrates both recruiters and candidates. Unless the firm’s recruiting coordinator is extremely candid, it is mostly just a guessing game to figure out the reason for the delay at the time it is happening, but the following are the most common “behind-the-scenes” reasons for radio silence in the middle of an interview process.
Traditional job-search workshops will advise you to write a thank-you letter after each interview. We would like to offer an effective variation on the theme: the follow-up letter. The purpose of the follow- up letter is to continue promoting yourself. It is a reason to contact the interviewer once again and remind him or her of your superior candidacy for the position. All follow-up and thank-you letters must be typewritten. Handwritten notes are not appropriate in the legal field. You are not thanking a hostess for a Sunday brunch. Remember you are establishing a professional relationship.
