Law Schools

What about 1Ls?

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Most of our coverage of the effect of the Great Recession on law school students has focused on 3Ls and 2Ls. The 3Ls graduate soon, but don’t start their Biglaw jobs soon, assuming they’re lucky enough to have jobs lined up, while the 2Ls are expecting shorter, less lavish summer associate programs.

But what about 1Ls? It would appear that many are seeking out refuge in Big Government. And facing fierce competition for Little Money. (1Ls aren’t the only ones — Legal Times reports that government jobs are elusive for laid-off lawyers as well.)

At the deferred associates job fair in New Jersey earlier this month, a representative from Newark’s Office of the Corporation Counsel told us he had received hundreds of applications for 12 available spots in the city’s unpaid summer law program. This is at least double the amount of applications received in previous years.

And a source from Texas says the trend is the same there:

I don’t know exactly what 1Ls are doing this summer, but I know that they’ve been applying for judicial intern jobs in droves. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has gotten tons of applications. They’re seeing about triple the applications as usual, if not more. This is even though the court hasn’t exactly been getting good press lately.

I also heard that the US Attorney’s Office here, which runs a year-long unpaid internship program, has gotten 35 applications for next year (up from about 6 applications two years ago) and nearly the entire UT Law review editorial board has applied. So I think it’s not a stretch to say that law students are freaking out.

Who’s not freaking out these days? It’s the friggin’ Great Recession.

A 1L from a T10 school says the classmates who wanted firm jobs are doing public interest work. Others who wanted public interest jobs couldn’t get them. “There are more public interest jobs out there. But they are in small towns where no one wants to go,” she wrote. “Seems like a lot of people are working for professors, some who wanted to anyways, and others as a last resort. Still others don’t have jobs despite excellent credentials. I think those people are now looking for jobs that are only marginally law-related, but I know a couple who are just taking the summer off. It’s tough.”

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At least 1Ls have two more years of law school refuge time. Unfortunately, the legal world that will greet them upon graduation will be mighty different from the one that existed when they enrolled (Biglaw to 125K and the end of lock-step!).

One Michigan 1L wrote to us asking if he should drop out if things aren’t looking good at OCIs this summer. See his speculation as to what the future holds, and offer the poor kid advice, after the jump.


One Michigan 1L wrote to us asking whether it’s time to pull the plug on law school:

I’m a 1L at Michigan. I’ve been thinking a lot about all the stuff going down and it’s terrifying. I was wondering what you think of my hypothesis. This is all predicated on the assumption that the economy doesn’t pick up substantially in the next few years.

I think that now that firms have deferred 3Ls to 2010, they’re going to defer 2Ls to 2011. They will just completely skip over us, and then hire next year’s 1Ls for 2012. To me, it seems like that will be the best way for them to avoid reputational harm of having to rescind offers or no-offer half of a summer class. It makes sense to me.

I feel like an entitled idiot to be expecting a six-figure job when I graduate, but it would be really tough for me to pay off my loans without one.

Should I drop out if firms are clearly not hiring anyone during OCI this summer?

Unfortunately, nobody knows what is going to happen to 1Ls. The firm’s don’t even know yet. But don’t forget that while some firms are delaying start dates, many firms are not. It might be statistically more difficult for next year’s 2Ls to get offers, but some people will get offers. Some people will summer at a firm in 2010 and start working for that firm in 2011. You can’t lose sight of the forest by focusing on every terrifying tree.

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Many firms will be participating in OCI and hiring summer associates for the summer of 2010. Which ones? That is what everybody is trying to figure out.

One thing that will be worth paying special attention to this year is offer rates. Another thing worth thinking about is getting a clerkship so you can delay entering the firm while still building skills and making a little bit of money. Dropping out of OCI entirely seems like an overreaction. But taking and acing Evidence is something that a lot of people are doing to enhance their clerkship applications.

Taking on extra debt is another matter. Many 1Ls are considering options that would incur extra debt. But if firms start cutting salaries in earnest, the extra debt load is all the more onerous.

There are very few good options available to 1Ls right now. But there is still a lot of time for good things to happen between now and graduation day 2011. 1Ls are already one-third of the way through. It’d be more tedious now to turn back than to press forward.

Incoming 1Ls, we have no idea what you are thinking.

Earlier: A Disturbing Note from Villanova School of Law

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