Job Searches, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

Back In The Race: The Plight Of The Long-Term Unemployed Lawyer

Long-term unemployment creates special problems for lawyers, as columnist Shannon Achimalbe explains.

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resume girlIt sucks being unemployed but when you haven’t been working for a long time, it really sucks. You’re considered one of the long-term unemployed. It creates new problems in addition to making your current ones worse. Long-term unemployment creates special problems for lawyers.

Most define long-term unemployed as someone who’s been out of work between six months to one year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines long-term unemployed as someone who has been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

For attorneys, being unemployed is not just about being jobless. It is also about being able to work as an attorney or at least in a legal setting. If your employment history consists of stints as a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker, you might be viewed with the same level of skepticism as someone who has not been working at all.

Why someone (or a group of people) is unemployed for a long period of time depends on a number of factors. One is supply and demand, depending on the location and the practice area. Another is employers’ obsession with credentials. Timing is also important – jobs are easier to find during good economic times and harder during depressions. Finally, the applicant has to be motivated enough to search for every opportunity out there.

The long-term unemployed lawyers have special problems with their prolonged job search. It gets harder to explain the growing gap on your résumé to employers and headhunters. If you don’t provide a credible explanation, they might think you are lazy, picky or someone who is incompetent or has something to hide.

Prolonged unemployment can have an effect on morale and self-esteem. You submit your job application to hundreds of firms only to get rejected or ignored. You start to feel inadequate and guilty so it gets harder to keep trying and one day, you just stop. You get increasingly annoyed when your family and friends ask you how your job search is going. You have to do your best to smile and look resilient, reassuring them that everything is fine. You have to come up with all kinds of excuses as to why you haven’t upgraded your housing or your car. Trying to keep up appearances while keeping up with your bills can be mentally frustrating and will one day take a toll on your health.

Finally, because most law school graduates have enormous student loan debt, want to start families, and – let’s be honest – want to live well, they cannot afford to stay unemployed for long. But their options will be severely limited. Some will have to pursue a different career to put food on the table and pay the bills. Others will have to move to a faraway land and take another bar exam.

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I’ve wondered how long-term unemployed lawyers are able to support themselves. Some have side jobs that pay the bills. A few have sustainable solo practices. But many of them are relying on family support. On one hand, it pains me to see parents use their retirement savings to support their children.

But on the other hand, I have also seen parents buy their children expensive clothes, cars and tickets to exclusive parties. The parents are betting that by making their child appear rich, he or she will marry someone with money. The problem with this gamble is that there is a chance that their special snowflake will meet and marry someone just as “suckcessful” as they are. The newlyweds will have little income and double the debt, which usually leads to arguments over money and in some cases, divorce.

So how do long-term unemployed lawyers get out of their situation despite the growing difficulties? There’s plenty of generic advice out there on the internet but I have one brief, general thought I wanted to share: Do something different. For example, if you are sending hundreds of résumés and job applications to Roborecruiter for six months and all you are getting is a few sympathy interviews, then something is wrong. You may need to change your approach by speaking to an actual human recruiter instead.

In short, if you are a member of the long-term unemployed, then you will have a harder time finding a job. You may have to consider doing something drastic, such as changing location, changing specialties, or even changing careers.

It looks like I have been writing for ATL for two years. Looking back, I must apologize for deviating from my original purpose for being here: chronicling my job search. But I think reading weekly articles about my job interviews and many, many rejections would soon get boring and depressing. So I appreciate the editors here letting me write about other things. Since I haven’t been killed off, offered a SCOTUS clerkship, or somehow mysteriously disappeared, I must have just barely met ATL’s very stringent writing quality standards.

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Over the years, I exchanged emails with lawyers who started as solo practitioners and later moved on to better things. A common theme from their stories is that their big break came unexpectedly. They didn’t work hard, they networked only occasionally, and they even had fun on a regular basis. But somehow, their break came. Maybe this is a sign that even though many things about legal education and the profession need to be reviewed and reformed, maybe, just maybe, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Earlier: 4 Types Of Jobs That Will Hinder The Career Advancement Of New Attorneys

Shannon Achimalbe was a former solo practitioner for five years before deciding to sell out and get back on the corporate ladder. Shannon can be reached by email at sachimalbe@excite.com and via Twitter: @ShanonAchimalbe.

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