Law Schools

Graduating Law School Without A Job? Let's Have A Chat About That...

If you just submitted your last exam but are not sure from where your first paycheck will come, here are some tips.

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Ah, graduation season.  At law schools across the country (except for those schools on quarters, where commencement is scheduled for Junetember 83rd), 3Ls are taking their last set of exams and preparing to walk across a stage to receive the diploma they have spent at least the last three years of their lives, not to mention possibly upwards of $100,000, earning.  It can be a wonderful time filled with family and friends, not to mention a graduation dinner that you hopefully do not have to pay for — mine was at Gabrielle Hamilton’s delightful Prune.  But while commencement is a time of celebration for most, there can be a sense of impending doom for those graduating students who have not secured post-graduation employment.  If you just submitted your last exam but are not sure from where your first paycheck will come, here are some tips.

First, network.  Yes, I know this is starting to sound repetitive, and no, I do not have a bet going as to how many consecutive weeks I can mention networking.  The reason I keep harping on networking in these e-pages is that it truly can be the one action that lands you a job.  Early on in your law school career, it is perfectly acceptable to engage in what might be called passive networking, i.e., sending out some emails and striking up an infrequent conversation.  But, if you are about to graduate and need a permanent position ASAP, try active networking.  Set up coffee meetings.  Find attorneys who will meet you in their office.  Go to every legal networking event you can attend.  In fact, even events that are not necessarily branded as networking, but might have a number of attorneys in attendance (e.g., CLE programming), are worth your time, just in case it leads to a connection.  Not surprisingly, this active networking is easier to do if you are residing in the geographic area where you want to practice.  If you lack any sort of geographic preference for where you want to start your career, gravitate to those markets which have the highest concentration of alumni from your law school.  Also, if you are worried about the potential outcome of the bar exam, you might want to consider states whose exam has a high passage rate.

Following on that last point, while you should be networking and performing other aspects of your job search over the summer, your primary focus should be on the bar exam.  If your goal is to enter private practice at a firm of really any size, it is likely that at this point in the hiring cycle, they will not be bringing anyone on until the results of the bar exam are available.  While a firm will take a chance and make an offer to a student who has gone through their summer associate program before said student has even completed their third year of law school, to say nothing of the bar exam, that same investment will likely not be made for a recent graduate with whom the firm has no history.  Finding a job after graduation can be difficult, but it is possible; finding a job after graduation without bar passage is not impossible, but it can feel pretty close to that at times.

Next, stay in touch with your law school’s Career Services Office.  In his new Netflix special, comedian John Mulaney explains why he does not donate money to his alma mater, Georgetown University: “I thought our transaction was over. I gave you $120,000 and you gave me a weird cinder-block room with a Reservoir Dogs poster on it and the first real heartbreak of my life and probably HPV and then we called it a day.”  While it makes for a good joke, his take is not true when it comes to law school (I imagine the development offices at most undergraduate institutions would also object to such a characterization).  As an alumnus, the relationship you can have with your law school can continue for multiple decades post-graduation.  Most CSOs have staff members whose job, either in full or in part, is to serve as a point of contact for alumni.  At Vanderbilt Law, I am the Director of Alumni Advising.  If you are having an issue finding work, reach out and ask for some advice.  Sometimes, all you need for a successful job search is a quick résumé tweak.  In addition, many schools will likely provide alumni with continuing job board access, which will be tailored to a far greater degree than anything similar which is available for public consumption.  In the event you are looking for a job outside of your school’s traditional employment base, your CSO can try to arrange job board reciprocity with a different law school in that particular area, which would increase your chances of coming across a job posting in line with what you want to do and where you want to do it.

Finally, do something to develop your professional skills.  If the bar exam has passed and you still have not landed a position, do not just sit at home.  Not only are chronological gaps on a résumé the deepest shade of a red flag for recruiters, being so young in your legal career, any skills that you developed in law school will atrophy at a remarkably quickly rate.  Be open to a range of employment options and alternative career paths.  Think about hanging a shingle and starting your own practice.  If you do not want to take on that level of responsibility, try contract work — whether or not your list that on a résumé is a longer conversation for another day.  Explore clerkship options.  Not only is a clerkship likely going to give you more hands on training than you would get in several years of Biglaw, but it can also reset your job search clock for a year.  And while recent law grads automatically equate a clerkship with a federal clerkship — perhaps in no small part to the success of Above the Law — explore opportunities with state and local judges.  This is especially true if you want to stay in that part of the country after graduation.  In the modern legal market, your first job is not likely to be your last.

So, if you find yourself in your cap and gown, unable to concentrate on the commencement speaker because you have no real plans for the day after graduation, do not stress out too much.  Plenty of individuals have been your position and found fantastic opportunities.  Enjoy your day and then get to work.

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Nicholas Alexiou is the Director of LL.M. and Alumni Advising as well as the Associate Director of Career Services at Vanderbilt University Law School. He will, hopefully, respond to your emails at abovethelawcso@gmail.com.

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