Biglaw, Litigators, pls hndle thx, Public Interest

Pls Hndle Thx: Are Non-Lawyer Jobs Career Suicide for JDs?

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Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com.

Dear ATL:

I am a graduate of a T3 law school.  I was on a law journal, successfully competed in moot court competitions (regional and national) and loved my clinical experience during my third year of law school.  Basically, I love the courtroom, want to be a litigator, and have seriously been searching for a public interest job for a longtime.  It just hasn’t happened yet.

However, recently I had the opportunity to interview with BigLaw.  It’s a Vault50 firm, with an excellent reputation (like I need to say that). However, the offer I received was for a non-legal position, in the litigation support arm of the firm.  The pay isn’t great, but it’s almost in line with what most new lawyers are making anyway (those who aren’t going straight to BigLaw from OCI).  Is this a smart career choice?  Does the networking opportunity outweigh the cons of the position?  I’m just not sure if it’s smart to wait for a real lawyer gig, or take this position and run with it, and be the best non-lawyer I can be at the law firm.  Thoughts, comments, advice?

— Oliver Twist

Dear Oliver Twist….

Much to the chagrin of overweight housewives everywhere, this season of The Bachelor once again features Botoxed generic “hunk” Brad Womack, who has returned from three years of therapy and soul searching to once again find love among vampire models, nannies and hospital event planners while the cameras roll. But Brad almost didn’t make it back on tv because America was outraged when he “did the unthinkable” during his first stint on the show and failed to propose to either of the final two women after knowing them for a full three weeks. My point is — and I will tie this back to your question in a second — America judged Brad harshly and could not see him as anything other than a jerk.

If you have a law degree and start your career at a law firm working in a non-legal capacity, you are pulling a Brad Womack. Dive into any of the comment boards here on ATL and you’ll see that lawyers are THE most odious judgmental of people. Once you enter this firm as lit support, you’re lit support for life there. In fact, the firm where I summered had a policy of not hiring back administrative staff who subsequently went to law school because the lawyers would supposedly feel uncomfortable working with peers who previously occupied the servants’ quarters mole world of interior offices. I think some firms may still have segregated cafeterias for lawyers and non-lawyers. In other words, even if you’re the most diligent, meticulous lit support person ever, Michael Wallerstein has a greater chance of getting a 0% APR credit card than you do of being recognized as an unsung associate and promoted to the ranks of practicing attorney. And it goes without saying that as an admin, your clutch “networking” opportunities at the firm will be limited to saying “good morning” to a partner  in the elevator and pressing floor 16.

That being said, life (unfortunately), isn’t an ABC legal dramedy, and great public interest jobs with well-dressed, attractive colleagues who grope each other in supply closets probably won’t pop into your inbox anytime soon. I know the economy’s still crappy because the overpriced “energy” smoothie place across from my apartment just closed, and working in a capacity somewhat related to what you want to do is probably a better way to wait out the recession dregs than remaining unemployed or working at Mail Boxes Etc. If I were you, I’d take the job, keep my eyes open for public interest lawyer gigs, and then exit as quickly as possible. If America can forgive Brad his transgressions, surely a legal employer somewhere will see beyond your “checkered” résumé.

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Your friend,

Marin

The willingness of people to give up on their dreams sickens me. Let me tell you a story. I knew a girl in high school who really wanted to be an actress. She knew it was going to be a long road. She knew she needed to take some acting classes and add a cup size and get lucky to boot. But she had a dream, and she followed it. She went to L.A., waited tables, lived in functional poverty, and put out for sleazy casting directors. She fought, she struggled, she did local commercials until she could save up enough money for her breast implants. She went for it.

And sure, one abortion and one child later she’s a hollowed-out husk of a 30-something woman who looks like she’s going on 50. She teaches art in a high school in Southern California, last I heard. But the point of this story isn’t that she succeeded (d’uh), it’s that she tried. She forced life to rip her dream from her with its powerful claws; she didn’t lay it down willingly.

Now look at you, Oliver Twist. Do you have the same commitment to follow your dream as my friend who is dead inside? It seems like you don’t. It seems like you had this vision of yourself as a trial lawyer, but in the six months (or 18 months, or 24 months) since you’ve graduated, things have been harder than you expected. Boo hoo. Realizing dreams is always harder than you expected. And now that you’ve experienced some hardship, a Biglaw firm comes by and waves a little bit of money in front of your nose and you’re willing to give up or put your dream on hold? For shame.

You want to be a courtroom litigator, you go be a courtroom litigator! (You did pass the bar right? ‘Cause if you didn’t, umm… take the job now before they reconsider.) Don’t “wait” for somebody to give you that job, don’t wait for anything. You’ve obviously already done way too much waiting around. Instead, go out and take what you want. Seriously, go to your local courthouse and sit there and offer to represent people. You go live your life, and work the night shift at the 7-11 if you have to in order to pay your bills while you get your practice started. That’s what people do when they have a dream.

When people don’t have a dream, when people don’t think about why they want to go to law school or what they want to do when they get out, they end up sending in questions like this one. My body stops producing testosterone when I read questions like this; it’s like smelling a crying woman. Follow your dream or GTFO.

You’re not trying to be a movie star; you’re trying to be a courtroom litigator. Tens of thousands of people across all 50 states have figured out how to do this, many of them without needing the titles of “Biglaw,” “Vault 50,” or “litigation support monkey” to help them out along the way.

Non-lawyer jobs in law firms are not “career killers.” They are perfectly fine for people who don’t know if they want to be attorneys — or for people who know they do not want to be attorneys. It’s just like how “high school art teacher” is a perfectly good job if it’s what you want to be doing (or if you are doing what you have to do to support your family, like my friend). But dear God man, follow your dream first. Take the easy money only after life has spent a decade or so with its foot up your ass.

Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com.

Earlier: Prior editions of Pls Hndle Thx

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