Landing an In-house Legal Job – 3 Important Tips Recruiters usually don’t cover in-house legal jobs at all. You may not realize this until you look specifically for an in-house legal position. Normally, recruiters focus on jobs in various law firms; very rarely do they list or even look at openings for in-house legal positions. On the other hand, those recruiters who do focus on this type of job are on the payroll of... (161 views)
Low Grades Should Not Stop You from Landing a Great Legal Job The belief goes like this, “If you are not in the top 10% of your class, you are not likely to get a good job in the legal field.” The first thing you should remember as a lawyer and professional, is that everything is possible if you push it strongly enough. In this case, you need to approach the task just like you would if you had filed for bankruptcy and were... (47 views)
5 Tips for Targeting Your Job Search as the Economy Recovers Many new college graduates take a similar, passive approach to attempting to gain employment: Post a resume on job sites and hope for the best. However, as the economy begins to recover jobs are still at somewhat of a premium, so doing this and nothing more just isn't going to cut it. (15 views)
How to Land Your First Job as a Lawyer Students fresh out of law school have little better than a 50-50 shot at landing a job as a lawyer within nine months of receiving a degree, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Many of the graduates find work as sole practitioners or at smaller firms, which tend not to hire full-time until graduates pass the bar exam. (307 views)
Getting a Job in the Legal Field - A More Serious Issue than Getting the Degree A legal career is gaining momentum and is rising up with many other job options. Many are getting attracted toward a legal career as the perks that it offers are far more impressive than many other career options. Once you find out that you have all the skills required for an attorney and you have earned your degree, how do you get started with your practice? (320 views)
How to Land Your First Job as an Attorney Everyone wants to begin on the right foot, and it’s no different for law graduates. Finding the right first job is like laying the foundation of a building. If the foundation is not strong then the strength of the building is always vulnerable. However, on the contrary, a strong foundation ensures a firm structure for many years. In current scenario, getting the first... (193 views)
Advice to New Attorneys - Networking Of all the advice I could give a new attorney, the one thing above all they should know is that their ethics is the calling card, and to never put them in doubt. (18 views)
Finding New Law Associate Positions The key to finding a position as a third-year student is to determine which firms are hiring. Some firms hire new associates all of the time, while others hire only once in a ten-year period. Your job is to keep moving and to find and target the firms that are hiring now. Your best bet is to stay away from the large firms (firms with over 75 to 100 attorneys) and... (10 views)
Locating Legal Employment after Third-Year It's not unusual in the current job market to be a third-year student without law firm job prospects by the time graduation rolls around. But don't despair and lose complete faith in your ability to find a position as a third-year student or beyond. Increasingly, many firms, especially the small ones, are waiting until after students take and pass the bar exam to hire new... (15 views)
Second-Year Hiring in Small Law Firms I've talked a lot about how large and medium-sized firms hire students for their summer programs. But your chances of landing a law firm position are much greater in a small firm than in a large firm, simply because more hiring is being done in small firms than in large ones. Usually the stakes aren't as high, and the credential factor, isn't as big an issue with the small... (39 views)
The In-house Law Interview The in-house interview is the "meat" of the recruiting process. This stage of the recruiting cycle requires a substantial amount of time and energy and is also the most stressful part. The best advice I can give to you at this stage of the game is to plan, prepare, and listen to what your intuition tells you. (35 views)
General Legal Job-Hunting Tips No matter what type of legal job you are looking for, or when, the following general tips and guidelines should be kept in mind. (73 views)
How Networking Helps You Get a Legal Job Your chances of getting a legal job will almost certainly increase if you network. As the term is commonly understood, networking means to make contacts with individuals who can in some way help you advance your business or professional career. Sometimes, if you are lucky, such individuals can provide you with direct help; they can offer you a job or purchase your... (24 views)
Interview Theory By definition, the employment interview is a two-way discussion between a job applicant and a prospective employer with the objective of exploring the probable compatibility between the applicant's qualifications and the needs of the employer, for the purpose of making an employment decision. It is the intent of both parties during this discussion to gain as much relevant... (3162 views)
Other Public Bodies Apart From Local Government Where You Can Look for Law Jobs Separate from local government there is a range of public bodies that also employ solicitors. These bodies include the Mental Welfare Commission, Equal Opportunities Commission, Race Relations Commission, Scottish Consumer Council, Scottish Child Law Centre and the Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureau. As will be obvious from their titles, solicitors appointed... (19 views)
Legal Profession beyond Private Practice When we talk of the legal profession there is a tendency to think mostly of solicitors and perhaps as an afterthought the more specialist roles of advocates or barristers. But there are a whole host of career opportunities available to lawyers beyond the corrals of the solicitor's office or the advocate's chambers. I have touched on some of these already in discussing the... (16 views)
Law Jobs at the Local Government in United Kingdom Local authorities throughout the United Kingdom employ a significant number of solicitors, usually in legal departments or in administrative departments that contain a legal unit. There are also solicitors employed in local government often in high-ranking, managerial posts, whose job is not primarily to give legal advice. However, for the purposes considered here, we are... (15 views)
Traineeships in Scotland Traditionally, vacancies in the job market are made known through adverts in newspapers or relevant professional journals. For those who seek a legal traineeship it is extremely rare to find a job advertised in this way. It is not necessary for law firms to advertise a vacancy as they are inundated annually with requests from law students looking for positions. A few... (389 views)
Legal Careers Other Than Traineeships For students who do not want a traineeship in either the private or public sector, but who are interested in a wider job market, the options for gathering information about what is available and about the prospective employer are slightly different. Careers Fairs vary in their focus but those with a general remit are usually attended by organizations such as the civil... (17 views)
Traineeships in England and Wales The profession in England and Wales is proportionately much larger than that of Scotland and this may explain the more comprehensive range of literature available to students seeking a traineeship there. While gaining work experience or a vacation placement is desirable for the student seeking a traineeship in Scotland, it is virtually mandatory for the student in England... (3 views)
The Legal Profession and Its Job Opportunities The main employment opportunities in the law are to be found in: (39 views)
Law Job Interviews for Women and Employment Barriers They Face Job interviews can be unpleasant because, despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidelines about what employers may ask consistent with anti-discrimination laws, some judges and lawyers continue to ask women questions about their marital status and plans for having children. Remarks such as, "You're so pretty; I don't care about your grades" and requests... (111 views)
Career Opportunities in Law Although it may seem quite early to begin to think about employment after law school, many prelaw students ask themselves whether they will find employment after investing thousands of dollars in a legal education. Some students understand that the choice of law schools has an impact on the career choices they ultimately make. The school's reputation, geographic location,... (26 views)
Getting Into a Good Law Firm Any clown can get a job as a lawyer. The goal is to get a good job. It's a complicated process, and it starts early. A summer job provides two things: (1) the name of a real, live law firm on your resume and (2) with any luck at all, an offer of permanent employment from that firm, to commence after taking the bar exam. Even if you didn't take that offer, having it would... (29 views)
So you have been invited If you have been invited to visit a law firm, corporate law department, or governmental agency, you have leaped an important hurdle. The chances of being offered a position have improved dramatically. Consequently, the need to establish the basic ground rules of this advancement in the process becomes even more important. (17 views)
Openings for Lawyers at Non-legal Firms Banks, insurance companies, law libraries, legal publishers and judicial clerkships (taking the liberty of defining a career judicial clerkship as an entity) employ a significant number of lawyers. In many instances, the number of lawyers actually employed in various capacities is surprising, even to those used to dealing with the recruiting and interviewing process.... (288 views)
Attorney Openings in the Federal Government Almost every reader will rightly assume that the magnitude and diversity of the federal government's annual hiring program for lawyers are unmatched. As always, the basic questions are how to find and take advantage of the opportunities. Almost all of the techniques discussed herein apply equally well to seeking an attorney's position with the government. As a result of... (47 views)
How to Apply to Corporate Law Departments One of the areas in which the most growth has taken place is corporate legal departments. There are several reasons for this phenomenon. (37 views)
How to Apply for Positions with Private Law Firms Our purpose is to survey generally those considerations which will allow you to take maximum advantage of obvious job opportunities. There are, however, ways to identify or create additional job prospects and, in the process, further refine your abilities to take advantage of the situations that you want to pursue. (1026 views)