Career Alternatives, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Weirdness

Who says government jobs are impossible to get?

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We’re doing a little catch-up blogging this weekend, covering some stories we meant to cover during the week but didn’t get around to hitting. E.g., the update on Loren Friedman, a former Lawyer of the Day who doctored his law school transcript.
This post is a happier one. It’s about a lawyer at a big firm who managed to land an interesting and high-profile government post.
Laid-off lawyers, recent law school graduates, and Biglaw attorneys seeking greater job security are flocking towards positions in federal and state government. As a result, government gigs are very difficult to land these days, with hundreds of applicants applying for a single posting on USAJOBS.
But as shown by the story of Jeffrey Fenster, a former Stroock associate who was picked earlier this month to head up the Workers’ Compensation Board of New York State, getting a government job is not impossible.


From the New York Times:

Gov. David A. Paterson named Jeffrey R. Fenster as the board’s new executive director, the agency’s highest-paid official and the person charged with running daily operations. He reports to the board’s chairman. Mr. Fenster is a 29-year-old lawyer who worked briefly as a litigation associate at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, but has no management or workers’ compensation experience.

His appointment left many who work in the system bewildered.

So, how did Fenster get his new job? It’s unclear. From Gothamist:

“When I had a chance to look at Mr. Fenster’s background, I noticed he has absolutely no administrative experience,” Michael Berns, a former commissioner on the Workers’ Compensation Board told the NY Times. “And he has no experience in workers’ comp or labor law. I’m totally at a loss as to what he brings to this job. It makes no sense whatsoever.”

Fenster, who worked as a fifth-grade school aide for disabled children before entering law school, seems equally bewildered. Last summer he sent out resumes as part of his search for a job in the public sector. He doesn’t know how one of them found its way to the governor’s desk.

Experience working with disabled children? Maybe Fenster should have been sent to the New York State Senate instead.
UPDATE: More about this story appears here.
Jeffrey R. Fenster Picked for Workers’ Compensation Board Post [New York Times]
Paterson Picks Unknown for High-Paying Workers’ Comp Job [Gothamist]

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