Job Search

From J.D. to Food Stamps: The Personal Cost of Going to Law School

A recent grad qualifies for food stamps, and the other costs of going to law school...

Now That’s Transparency: ‘Most Honest Law School’ Admits a Graduate Is Employed as a ‘Sheep Farmer’

But just a few weeks after winning our March Madness competition, Michigan Law actually did something really honest — the school released all of its employer statistics for the classes of 2009 – 2011. If that’s not transparent, we don’t know what is....

Size Matters: Spring Clean Your Résumé

Spring has sprung, and instead of just cleaning out your home, small-firm columnist Valerie Katz advises that you should spring clean your résumé, too.

Quote of the Day: More Like Week-Old Muffins?

Are the lawsuits against law schools over allegedly misleading employment data going to succeed? Some law professors opine on this question.

Twenty Additional Law School Class Action Suits Are in the Works; Is Your School One of Them?

David Anziska vowed to make 2012 the "year of law school litigation." Anziska told us that Team Strauss/Anziska's strategy going forward would be to sue as many law schools as possible in the first half of 2012. How's that working out for them? Anziska recently sat down with Bloomberg Law for an on-air interview where he revealed some noteworthy information about the next wave of law school lawsuits. The most relevant piece of information? Twenty more law school class action suits are coming down the pipeline. Which schools will be named as defendants?

Which Law Schools Are Trying to Be Honest About Their Employment Information?

Law School Transparency (LST) wrote to all law schools accredited by the ABA to request the NALP reports for the class of 2010. The NALP reports contain much more detail than that of the reports released by the ABA, such as information concerning part-time and temporary employment, as well as the number of graduates in jobs that do not require a law degree. This time around, 34 law schools provided their NALP reports, either by sending them directly to LST, or posting them on their websites. But which schools provided LST with the information? And which schools are still avoiding action?

Justice Scalia’s Advice: Don’t Work Too Hard, Move to Cleveland

On Monday, as the world was learning about Justice Stephen Breyer getting robbed at machete-point, fellow Justice Antonin Scalia was getting cozy in the hallowed halls of the University of Chicago Law School. A few years ago, Scalia criticized the law school's political drift to the left. But just before Valentine's Day, they kissed and made up. On Monday, Scalia gave a speech at U. Chicago, where he used to teach (and served as faculty advisor to the Federalist Society). He also offered some, how shall we say, unexpected career advice for attorneys who are just starting out....

Maryland Law’s Response Highlights Career Services ‘Expertise’

On Tuesday, we brought you news of a job opportunity that is currently available on the University of Maryland School of Law's Symplicity job bank. When we first wrote about the listing, we called it a "career services nightmare." After all, the job had more to do with orange parking cones than the law. Instead of hanging their heads in shame for trying to sell a job as a parking garage manager to its students, the career development office issued a vigorous defense of this exciting opportunity in vehicular supervision and coordination. The email was written by the assistant dean for career development herself. What did she have to say?

Maryland Law’s Tuition Is Down, But So Is the Quality of Its Job Listings

Back in December 2010, we reported that tuition at the University of Maryland School of Law would not be subject to the four percent hike for the 2011-2012 academic year that was thrust upon the rest of the programs doing business at the university's Baltimore campus. At the time, we gave Maryland Law major kudos for protecting its students from tuition increases. Now, we wonder if a just little more tuition money would have prevented this career services nightmare....

How to Succeed in Law School Without Really Trying? Make a College Kid Do Your Work

Hey 1Ls, is law school getting you down? Are you tired of doing your 1L bitchwork, like briefing cases? Then have we got a deal for you! For the low, low price of a weekly cup of coffee, you can outsource all of your undesirable tasks to an up-and-coming sucker! Because why try your hardest to succeed when you can get someone else to do it for you?

Morning Docket: 12.05.11

* Apprenticeship programs sound great (especially to Lat), but will they help you to become a lawyer? Of course they will, but only if you don’t mind failing the bar exam a few times. [National Law Journal] * According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 100 jobs were added to legal sector in November. Cue […]

Can Obama’s Jobs Bill Help Laid Off and Unemployed Attorneys?

According to the Department of Labor, 14 million people in our country are unemployed. And with a surplus of lawyers that reaches into the thousands in almost every state, unemployment is a serious problem for the legal profession. Unfortunately, we all know that Biglaw firms -- and surely other firms, as well -- are avoiding these attorneys like the plague. Facing these seemingly insurmountable odds, what's an unemployed attorney to do? As it turns out, President Obama wants to lend a hand, but only if he can get Congress to pass this jobs bill....

Career Center: Event Etiquette for Dummies (or Sloppy 2Ls)

This fall you will be invited to attend pre-interview receptions, post-OCI dinners, and various meals and receptions during and after callback interviews. How you handle yourself during these events can have an impact on whether you receive an offer and your reputation in the firm. Follow these sensible rules, courtesy of Lateral Link’s Frank Kimball, […]

Career Center: Negative Selling – A Dangerous, Misleading Tactic

It is crunch time for 2Ls and 3Ls. You’re awash in information — some of it concrete — but much of it ambiguous, amorphous, and second-hand, at best. The dissonance of hearsay collides with the harmony of recruiting. This year, perhaps more than any in the past ten years, Lateral Link’s Frank Kimball, an expert […]

You’re Saying the Cat Got a Job Because of His Hat?

Alright, we've got a little bit of a bone to pick with career services offices. Aren't the people who work there supposed to help law students find jobs? Or at least give law students some clues about how they can find jobs themselves? In lieu of jobs or career advice, career services offices are now offering children's poetry to their students....