Meet Stewart Rhodes. He graduated in 2004 from Yale Law School, where his paper, “Solving the Puzzle of Enemy Combatant Status,” won a prize for the best paper on the Bill of Rights. Before entering the law, he served as a U.S. Army paratrooper.

What’s Rhodes up to now? Many military men turned lawyers troop off to large law firms, where the discipline and diligence cultivated in the armed forces help them succeed. Others join the JAG Corps or work for defense contractors.

But Rhodes, who was a non-traditional student at YLS, has taken a non-traditional career path since graduating.

Last year, discussing the surprising success of clothing consultants in the recession, we wrote: “When the going gets tough, the tough get new wardrobes.”

Maybe we should amend that statement: “When the going gets tough, the tough ditch their wardrobes.” Faced with the dismal legal job market, yet another law student has decided to earn extra cash by taking it off for the camera.

In September we reported on Stephanie Christine, a UNC law student who posed nude for Playboy’s “Girls of the ACC” issue. Now, thanks to a horny diligent reader, we’ve learned that Kennedy James (right), a law student at Florida Coastal School of Law, has joined Playboy.com’s “Cyber Club.”

Kennedy was recently honored as “Coed of the Week” by the Playboy Blog. How many law students can claim that accolade? Order of the Coif, suck it.

Kennedy is jokingly described as majoring in “Advanced Sophistry” at Florida Coastal. To preempt the commenters: yes, Florida Coastal is fully accredited by the American Bar Association.

Check out a redacted (and therefore safe-for-work) picture of Kennedy James, plus links to the not-safe-for-work stuff, after the jump.

In these difficult times for the legal profession, it’s more important than ever to know all your options. So we resume our series on career alternatives for attorneys — jobs for J.D. holders that don’t involve working as a Biglaw associate or contract attorney.

In a prior post, we discussed the career alternative of entrepreneurship. If you’re tired of working for a boss, then become the boss: start your own company.

Today we focus on two lawyers who, interestingly enough, have started their own businesses in the same area: admissions consulting and academic coaching. Perhaps this is the start of a hot new trend? Cf. the cupcake craze sweeping the nation, which another lawyer is capitalizing on.

Adam Nguyen, formerly of Paul Weiss and Shearman & Sterling, is the president and CEO of Ivy Link. Jon Palmer, formerly of Schulte Roth & Zabel, is the president and founder of The Admissions Experts.

Both businesses are headquartered in New York — which makes sense, given how obsessive Manhattan parents can be about getting their offspring into elite educational institutions. NYC ≠ TTT!!!

Read more about these gents and their new enterprises, after the jump.

As we mentioned yesterday, some jobs with the federal government — an excellent refuge from the economic storm — are disappearing even before the application period closes. So we’ll tell you about this next opportunity even before the application period opens (which is tomorrow).

A tipster tells us:

I’m a longtime reader of ATL and a big follower of all the useful info and entertaining gossip posted on the site.

I notice you recently posted about the DOJ Honors program. I was hoping you might consider writing about the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program.

[T]he PMF program is a hidden, relatively-unexploited gem for graduating law students, and it has not received proper attention by most of the law schools’ offices of career services. While the DOJ Honors program and the Bristow Fellowship got pretty good publicity at my school’s career services office, nobody knew much about the PMF program. I heard about it through a non-law-school source, and had to go to my university’s public policy school for more information….

[T]he PMF program is one of the absolute best avenues for graduating 3Ls that are: (a) interesting in working for the government; (b) interested in public service; (c) willing to accept a government salary with average tuition reimbursement opportunities; and/or (d) voluntarily or involuntarily not planning to work for biglaw after graduation. Fellows can apply for a position from a wide range of government agencies, including the DOJ, State Department, Department of Defense, USAID, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Department of Education, Federal Elections Commission, etc. These positions are generally not available for public application because of stringent government hiring restrictions (agency preference, civil service preference, veteran’s preference, etc.)

Sound promising? Read more, after the jump.

We’ve written extensively in the past about law students and lawyers taking their clothes off for the camera. For whatever reason, most have been women. For example:

an associate from Thacher Proffitt (& Wood — hehe), who previously posed for Playboy;

a U. Miami law school graduate, who also posed for Playboy;

a UNC law student, who auditioned for Playboy’s pages; and

a Brooklyn law student, who appeared on Playboy TV.

But we are equal opportunity oglers here at Above the Law. We’re more than happy to write about naked male hotties (or clothed male hotties, at Davis Polk).

Meet “Jacob” (surely not his real name). He’s a male law student who has turned to performing in gay pornography to pay his tuition.

NOTE: We’ve included a screencap. It is safe for work, but it does include shots of a shirtless man, which some may find risqué. Accordingly, we’ve posted the image AFTER THE JUMP.

Do NOT click on the “Continue reading” link below unless you are prepared to see some skin. Thanks.

Are you a laid-off lawyer who has been spending way too much time on Facebook? Here’s a way to turn that “résumé gap” into job experience:

Director of Social Media

Medium-sized Atlanta law firm seeks candidates interested in a part-time or full-time social media position. The primary responsibility of the Social Media Director will be to actively promote our growing law firm using a variety of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and our existing web-site. Projects include: managing the firm’s Twitter, Facebook and web-site account, research current and relevant legal stories in the news and republish to social networks and firm web-site on a daily basis, communicate through social web-sites about all specific practice groups and their developments, update marketing team on a weekly basis with web-site content.

Managing a professional presence on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites felt like a full-time job to me. But I didn’t know you could draw a salary for it.

So what are the qualifications for this position — and, more importantly, the salary?

A female associate at a large law firm recently sent us a message along these lines (we’ve tweaked and paraphrased her original email in places):

In these tough economic times, people are (1) having trouble finding jobs as they come out of law school, (2) recently laid-off, or (3) miserable in the jobs they still have, given how low morale is and how many hours they’re expected to work now (given the “be grateful for your job” mentality).

People in such situations are often unable to make a change, given how few jobs there are out there and how much competition there is for them. But they’re scared to just up and quit, because very few employers would actually buy that they had resigned and not been fired.

What’s a girl to do? Make babies. That’s what.

Making the case for making babies, after the jump.

When the going gets tough, the tough get…. hoeing? On this morning’s open thread regarding 3L recruiting, one commenter recommended that instead of applying for legal jobs — perhaps a futile task in this economy — 3Ls should “[t]ry subsistence farming instead.”

Good idea! From the Associated Press:

They are lawyers, factory workers, insurance adjusters, even an accountant and a dentist. All share the same dream: They want to farm.

And all have applied to a special Iowa program that tries to link aspiring farmers with seasoned landowners who are looking toward retirement — or just planning for the future.

Seriously? We thought the legal job market in Iowa was relatively strong.

So what’s the lure of the land for lawyers?

If you’re leaving Biglaw and moving to New England to innkeep is not your thing, maybe you should consider moving to Los Angeles to promote music.

The American Lawyer has an interesting piece on a laid-off first-year associate, Brandon Dorsky. He was among the batch of Pillsbury Winthrop associates whose departures were inadvertently leaked by a garrulous partner on the train from D.C. to New York.

Dorsky was doing IP work in Pillsbury’s Los Angeles office. The Ohio native had moved to California with the intent to get into the entertainment industry and so he seized the opportunity provided by being laid off:

After leaving Pillsbury, Dorsky decided to build a practice geared to entertainment clients, while also managing musical acts. He e-mailed friends and business contacts looking for leads. Just three days after leaving the firm, he landed his first client, TRG Sports and Entertainment. A friend from the University of Michigan recommended him to the management company, which was looking for a lawyer to draft a recording contract….

“I’m out most nights,” Dorsky says. “I see five concerts a week. I’m out there looking for new clients and looking for opportunities for existing clients.”

Dorsky’s tale might provide inspiration for other laid-off first years. In addition to working with bands, he’s drafting recording contracts and doing trademark work. Read more about the secret to Dorsky’s success and the importance of being a “hustler” at the American Lawyer.

After the Layoffs [American Lawyer]

Earlier: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to New York
(Or: Pillsbury associates, brace yourselves.)

Welcome back to our occasional series on career alternatives for attorneys — i.e., things you can do with a law degree that don’t involve working for a law firm as an associate or contract attorney. If you feel like your knack for being hospitable is wasted in the law, you might be interested in this alternative.

Rob Gregor was an attorney in the New York office of Paul Weiss until April of this year, when he quit to head north. One of the partners to whom he sent his departure e-mail responded to say that he had the best excuse ever for leaving the firm: becoming an innkeeper in Maine.

Gregor is now the owner of the Herbert Grand Hotel, a 27-room historic inn in the small ski town of Kingfield, Maine. Gregor wrote to us: “The town has a population of about 1,100 and I have become BigLaw’s version of Bob Newhart.”

So how does one go from dealing with SEC complaints to dealing with plumbing leaks for a hotel built in 1918? Find out after the jump.

The legal job market is a little dicey right now, leading some law grads to question the worth of their shiny new J.D. degree. Suffolk Law grads — and not just the ones who can’t get dates — are really questioning the value of their degrees, after an ill-timed job advertisement from Weil Gotshal & Manges went out on their career services list-serv:

Dear 2009 Graduates,

I wanted to make you aware of a great opportunity currently posted on Symplicity. Please find the job information below. Interested parties should apply through Symplicity with a resume and cover letter.

Employer: Weil Gotshal & Manges, LLP (Boston, MA)

Title: Paralegal Position for ‘09 Graduate

Description: This posting is for the class of 2009 grads who are not deferred for another position. Monday-Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm, flexibility with overtime required.

Yay, that Suffolk law degree can get you into Biglaw! But there’s a catch.

More after the jump.

The other night, a commenter with insomnia wrote:

Is there someone living in Flint, Michigan who will exchange their $18,000 house for my worthless JD? I will even take over the payments from your inflated mortgage. My piece of paper does not even provide shelter for my skinny ass. In exchange you could be a practicing attorney doing work that a trained chimpanzee could perform.

As Biglaw continues its painful unwinding, and as even contract attorney work becomes hard to obtain, holders of J.D. degrees have been asking: What else can I do with my legal education? Hence our occasional series on career alternatives for attorneys.

This was the subject of a panel discussion entitled Exploring the Range of Options With Your JD. It was the third panel at Tuesday’s conference, co-sponsored by the New York City Bar and Vault, on Getting Back in the Game: How to Restart Your Career in a Down Economy.

Read about the panelists and their perspectives, after the jump.

Every once in while, we like to explore career alternatives for attorneys, i.e., things you can do with a law degree that don’t involve Biglaw or contract attorney work. These days, we’ve come to think of the series of open threads as things you might do if you can’t find Biglaw or contract work.

Do you have a passion for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and HGTV? When you walk into a room, do you immediately judge the color scheme? Do you spend an inordinate amount of time rearranging doc review boxes to maintain the proper feng shui in your office? Maybe you should consider a second career in interior design.

Gordon Chin, a real estate lawyer and American University Law ‘99 grad, has always had an interest in design work. Since being laid off by Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell in November, it’s become his full-time gig. To see his ultra-modern style, check out this Washington Examiner piece [PDF] on him (though the article’s a bit cliched, describing his style as “unpretentious yet somehow still sophisticated”).

Chin told us:

I’ve always done design work on the side, but given the slowdown in big-law, I’ve found more time to devote to my passion. I’m currently working with some clients in the DC area — everything from interior design, to staging services….

Projects range in scope and size — some include entire rowhomes/townhomes, others are consulting with paint colors or staging, assisting clients with shopping or selecting decorative pieces.

A Q&A with Chin, and the bright side of being laid off, after the jump.

Last week, we brought you the story of an intrepid New York Law School graduate who started his own business. Think cupcakes on wheels.

Today, the proprietor of Cupcake Stop, Lev Ekster, stopped by our office with his delicious wares. Yumyumyumyumyum.

[Ed. note: For the record, I really hate donuts. I don’t even particularly like sweets. I owe my girlish figure to (1) things that can be wrapped in bacon and (2) a zero tolerance policy when it comes to exercise.]

The most important part of the visit was the excellent food. Lev brought over his three best-selling creations: cookie dough, Oreo cookies ‘n cream, and red velvet. I’d never had a cookie dough cupcake, but its gustatory greatness cannot be denied. Lat preferred the cookies and cream flavor, while Kash opted to continue looking beautiful.

After we finished stuffing our faces, we sat down to talk with Mr. Ekster. Our notes from the interview, plus pictures of the cupcake-y goodness, after the jump.

Lawyers and poker go together like rare steak and red wine. You need many of the same logical skills, interspersed with an ability to take managed risks. With the legal job market looking like a busted straight that you shouldn’t have chased in the first place, maybe it’s time for a different game?

Vanessa Selbst, a 1L at Yale Law School, certainly isn’t relying on a recovery in the legal market for future earnings. The World Series of Poker player was profiled in the Hartford Courant, yesterday:

Although she doesn’t carry a deck of cards with her at all times, Selbst is almost always thinking about gaming, whether she’s home, on the road or in a classroom at Yale law school, where she started last fall. It’s a mental discipline that has taken her from the cafeteria of her New Jersey high school, where she played pick-up games, to the high-roller suites at Foxwood Resort Casino and beyond, helping her become the first woman to win a bracelet in an open event at last June’s 39th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) and earn nearly $800,000 in tournament winnings in the four years she’s played professionally.

Well, that will pay for law school.

The stereotypical lawyer/poker player is a tight player who takes minimal risks. They tread water and don’t chase and take you down when you make your set on the river while they’ve been slow playing their boat all along.

But Vanessa doesn’t play that way at all.

After the jump, never bluff and bluffer.

Okay, we don’t have an example of a lawyer turned professional wrestler — though I would love to see the stage name on that one. But we do have an interesting opportunity for a “legal superstar.”

Drop-Kick your old job!

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. has an exciting opportunity for a Legal Superstar to be the primary attorney responsible for negotiating and drafting agreements and documents and providing advice in the areas of talent relations, creative writing, television production, music and TV clip licensing, and live events. This attorney will supervise a paralegal responsible for assisting with the matters identified above.

Come on, who wouldn’t want this job in a good economy? I can’t even imagine what kind of advice a lawyer could give on “talent relations,” but hopefully it involves getting Triple H out of any legal troubles he might have from breaking his foot off inside John Cena. Just beware of the paralegal you are “supervising.” You don’t want to take a steel Redweld to the back of the head.

Let’s take a look at some of the other WWE qualifications after the jump.

For those just tuning in, earlier today, we wrote about Stephanie Haney, a 2L at UNC who hopes to be one of Playboy’s Girls of the ACC. (See Career Alternatives for Law Students: Playboy Bunny.)

After our initial post went up, Maxine Eichner — a professor at UNC School of Law — emailed Above the Law directly to say that Ms. Haney was not a student at the law school. We updated the post and wondered:

Who is Stephanie Haney? Does claiming to be a law student really help you get into Playboy? Perhaps Haney didn’t get the memo after an accidental admission offer? Is she actually a student but using an assumed name? We don’t know the answers, but we’re trying to get them.

We sent out some inquiries and now we have answers for you. Stephanie Haney is enrolled at UNC as Stephanie Shimek. Haney is her maiden name. Here’s a note from UNC Law.

Dear Ms. Hill:

Thank you for checking in. Stephanie Shimek is a 2L at UNC School of Law. We believe that Ms. Shimek did not intend to cause any confusion about her identity; she has personal reasons for a recent change in her last name.

Regards,
KEB

Katie Bowler, MFA
Assistant Dean for Communications

Fair enough.

After the jump, commenters weigh in and Mrs. Shimek/Ms. Haney explains the personal reasons behind her name change.

Despite the rise in applications to law schools, many current law school students might be lamenting their decision to pursue a J.D. There’s more news about Biglaw firms firing than hiring these days. Summer associate programs are shrinking in size, being shortened, or being cut altogether. Start dates for 3Ls are being pushed back to next decade. What’s a law student to do?

Instead of aiming to get her head shot on the website at Boies Schiller, one (alleged) UNC 2L is doing an OCI hoping to get into the pages of Playboy. The men’s magazine is recruiting students from across the country for its college issue and is at UNC looking for models for “Girls of the ACC.” From the Daily Tar Heel:

Second-year law student Stephanie Haney, 24, said that she would be honored if chosen. “The women in Playboy are the most beautiful women in the world,” she said.

Haney said she would only pursue modeling in the short run so she can finish school. But she’s willing to put her degree on hold. “I feel like this is something you have to take if it comes up,” Haney said.

If “it comes up,” it would be a good sign for Haney’s future in pornography, or as she refers to it, “the entertainment and image industry.”

More discussion, plus some UPDATES, after the jump.

Back in rosier economic times, we started a series of open threads on career alternatives for attorneys, i.e., things you can do with a law degree that don’t involve Biglaw or contract work. These days, we’re starting to think of the series as things you might do if you can’t find Biglaw or contract work.

The latest installment in the series is inspired by a profile in last weekend’s Washington Post Magazine of “Saphira,” a lawyer who traded in regulatory analysis for shimmying in sequins and spangly scarves.

Rachael Galoob-Ortega has been a “professional oriental dance artist,” a.k.a. bellydancer, since 1996. She used to just moonlight as a bellydancer while working full-time as a partner at a small firm, The Salem Law Group. That led to at least one embarrassing incident, recounts the Washington Post. A potential career downside is having to perform for judges inside and outside of the courtroom:

After passing the bar on her first try, she started practicing at a Sarasota law firm representing building contractors. She also joined a belly-dance troupe that performed at high-end soirees. Her two worlds comically collided one night, after she’d spent part of the day discussing the motion docket with a county judge. At a party that evening, she was in the midst of a solo dance, dressed in full belly-dance garb and a long wig, when she shimmied up to a table and recognized the judge. “He said: ‘Oh my God. That’s Rachael Galoob — she was in my courtroom today!’ ” Saphira recalls. “And of course, the room erupted in laughter.”

She winked at the table and moved on.

We hope that after winking, Saphira told the judge, “These hips don’t lie.”

The Oklahoma City University Law grad also has an LLM from Georgetown. She gave up her full-time law job to open Saffron Dance studio in Arlington. The tipster who sent us this story says:

There are lots of belly-dancing lawyers. No fooling. We sometimes call ourselves founding members of Raqs Judicata (Raqs Sharki is the Arabic name for the dance). It’s a great exercise for people who have to sit in front of computers all day long drafting briefs and memos.

Indeed, Saphira has even recruited a Covington & Burling partner teach at her studio. More on that, as well as video of Saphira in action, after the jump.

(Warning: It’s not just shaking the belly. There’s also copious licking of lips and tossing of hair.)

When the economy was better, we had a career alternatives for lawyers series, for those in Biglaw looking to dabble in something new. Since idle job searches have given way to desperate ones, we’re running a new series: “Can’t find work?” It’s aimed at offering options to those shut out — or forced out — of Biglaw. If you have suggestions for the series, email us with “Can’t Find Work” as the subject.

So far, we’ve suggested volunteering or starting your own firm. One ATL reader has a novel idea: “writing the Alberta Bar.” He pointed us to Where’s a Lawyer When You Need One?. The MacLeans article suggests that Canada has a shortage of lawyers due to a dearth of law schools:

People call her family law practice in Edmonton all day long, trying to find a lawyer to hire, but there aren’t any available. “We can’t even call them all back. We’re too busy,” says Miller, a collaborative family lawyer and mediator. “It’s really problematic. Even if someone has an emerging situation, or court pending, sometimes you just have to say, ‘Good luck, sorry. We’re not taking any more clients.’ “

Miller’s office isn’t the only one fielding desperate calls. In Edmonton and Calgary, family lawyers are refusing to take on new cases, keeping closed client lists just as a family doctor would, says David Percy, dean of the University of Alberta law faculty. “We send out emails seeing if other lawyers are taking clients,” Miller says, but even if there are some available, “within two weeks, they’re booked up.” While Alberta’s boom has aggravated the situation, other parts of the country report they’re facing a lawyer shortage, too, especially rural areas.

Unemployed ones, here’s what you need to get started. No visa required!

Caveat: family law may be booming in Canada, but we have heard news of layoffs at firms in the Great White North. The Legal Post reports that “layoffs in the Canadian legal community are picking up steam,” but that it’s not as bad as in the US of A:

[Canada won’t] see the same scale of layoffs as in the U.S. legal community. There, law firms can fire lawyers without severance and they tend to ramp up and use more juniors to leverage firm profitability. Canadian firms don’t do that to the same extent, so when the market slows, they’re not as lawyer-heavy.

A tipster weighs in on Canadian stealth layoffs, after the jump.