Is my legal career nearly over?

Question

I blame myself and society for this, and here are the stats: 28 years old, mediocre law school GPA, no internship/clerkship offers, licensed to practice law in an area with too many lawyers (I suppose this is true everywhere). I have been working for a legal temporary agency for the last two years and nobody seems to want to hire me. I find it hard to market to potential employers. People have advised me to get out of there, which is what I have been trying to do!

I would really like to work in public service, such as county attorney, but all the offices keep saying no. I am starting to believe that I am not worthy of anything except carrying mail-my previous career before law school. I was very good at it but was underpaid and underappreciated. Still, it seems like staying there would have been the wiser choice than spending time and money in school for a profession that probably won't ever receive me beyond the bar passage.

Answer 1

I feel your pain. I am an attorney. However, I went to a top 15 school and had mediocre grades. I found the job market to be depressing. So much time, planning, and money went into undergraduate school, I had a 4.0 GPA, and scored above the 95th percentile on the LSAT. I naively thought going to a top school their would be plenty of lucrative and exciting jobs waiting for me and I would be set to have a good quality of life. I remember sending out 300 letters one time and getting no positive response, either they said some nonsense about you are great, you have good accomplishments, but at this time we cannot offer you a position, we will keep your resume on file. I took the Bar Exam in two states wasting time studying and not earning any money. I had to move back in with my parents, fun. Meanwhile many of my friends and people that I knew from High School and College were establishing themselves in their careers and making money, gettng promotions, etc. I worked post-law school as a car salesman and a mortgage broker. Finally a family friend had a friend who was a solo attorney, I worked for him basically for free, actually it was negative because I spent money on travel, long distance phone calls, etc., still living at home with mom and dad, saddled with law school debts, the student loan people started calling wanting $$$. Eventually I left that attorney. I struggled to find another attorney job. Eventually, I got a job in 2003 at firm paying the princely sum of $25,000 per year. I moved out of my parent's house but was still subsidized by them. Dad kept threatening to cut me off, but I lived in an expensive state the cheapest place to stay I found was $1,500 a month all inclusive. My paycheck was like $430.00 a week take home. Eventually, I did go solo, it was hard, but I did make some money in real estate closings for 3 1/2 years. Now the real estate market stinks and I have no income, and I am trying to plan my next move, which may be back to my parents temporarily. I have interviewed for some associate positions and the salary range was 38k-55k, this is pretty low for somone with 5 yrs experience and a doctorate degree. My wife works at a nail salon, as a manicurist, she took a three month course and makes 50K a year. It has been an exquisitely painful road for me. In my family I am the most educated and the least financially secure. My dad makes like $350,000K engineering+MBA degree, my younger sister makes $165,000K a year psyche degree and an MBA. My conclusion, LAW SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! Too many law schools fighting for tuition $$$, night programs, weekend programs, low academic standards, too many attorneys, lowering wages and limiting opportunities, compare to the AMA and ADA that insure a shortage of dentists and doctors. When I was solo it seemed like everyone was an attorney, or their cousin was an attorney, or their sister's friend was an attorney, or their brother was an attorney and so and so on, I lost a lot of business because of this. I do not think doctors and dentists face such client poaching. If you are in the top 5%, law review, and went to a good school, yes, you will probably get a good job right from the start. I would have been better off not going to College and instead picking up a trade like being an electrician. Heck, if I had all the money I wasted on education, worked at a gas station during all my non-earning years and put the money into a CD I could probably be able to retire. Looking back, if I had to do it again, if you want to through the hard work and invest the $$$ for education so it pays off you should go into healthcare. Heck their is a shortage of pharmacists and their median wage is $98,000K well above lawyers. Dentists 180,000K median and their is a shortage. Oh well this sucks but this is my life and I will deal with it, I spent my educational time and $$$, and the dye is cast.

Answer 2

Firstly, there is not point sitting around complaining. You have to get working.

Law has a vast number of different career options, you didn't even tell us what sort of law you specialise in.

So what are you doing, sitting around watching day time soaps and clips on youtube....maybe you don't have an internship, but you could go around to every small law practice in your area and tell that you are prepared to do work for free to get experience. Someone is bound to say yes. If you do a good job, get a good reputation you are going to get more offers, more work, and more opportunity.

Maybe you will be making the coffee, pouring over documents, researching past cases or something equally exciting, but it is a start.

If you want it, you have to work for it.

Answer 3

Ashley, you look to be the ordinary moron who does not recognize some thing political and is blind to the sector round her. Firstly, Obama was once a member of the Illinois senate for eight years. And went directly to emerge as senator, and you realize what occurred after that. There is not anything unconstitutional approximately this regulation, except you desire to take a literal system of the charter, which is solely asinine pondering. The charter is a dwelling and respiring file and is discipline to adapt with new suggestions and improvements. Now, nations that do have common wellbeing care pay much less in step with capita than America and likewise get greater outcome. America is the richest nation on Earth, but Cuba can get the identical outcome as we do at $251 in step with capita. The funny story is on you, the ordinary ignorant American who thinks loose marketplace capitalism can paintings and the whole lot that's regarded left-wing is evil.

Answer 4

OK, let me tell you DON'T GIVE UP! The fact of the matter is GPA, and blah de blah mean NOTHING! Sounds like you are stuck in a rut and you are not being given the opportunity to prove yourself BUT you decided to go into law FOR SOME REASON, right? WHY did you do it ..there must be SOMETHING that attracted you to that career? Find out what it is and then find a way to get yourself in that field. Start out as a clerk in a firm that specializes in your field of interest .. eventually you will PROVE yourself if you have a real passion for what you do. I can speak from experience .. I was a mediocre student .. I hated school ..scraped through ..barely ...BUT later on in life I discovered my passion .. today I am a VERY SUCCESSFUL business owner ... FOOLED THEM ALL!! I highly recommend you BUY the movie "The Pursuit of Happiness" and an older movie "Door to Door" ..both based on true stories ..if they don't inspire you then nothing will ..GO FOR IT..you can do it!

Here is a link for the "Door to Door" movie on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Door-William-H-Macy/dp/B00007AJFZ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-6784059-5945543?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1190008645&sr=8-1
..the other movie you can find at Walmart ..

Answer 5

Sounds like you need to do some pro-bono cases and win to build up your local fame.
Then with that will come clients and offers elsewhere

Answer 6

Keep your chin up. There are opportunities every where you may have to look harder to find them. Find a clinic in your area and volunteer. Fair housing is a hot area and who knows what may sprout up.

Answer 7

Well you are a lawyer but you don't seem to be marketing yourself correctly. You need to be where the action is ( legal action ) but not too pushy.

Answer 8

comeon now, get some ambition. open your own little practice do some speeding tickets.

Answer 9

stay motivated