Okay, I confess. I have been doing a bit of job searching.
I know, I know. But I am not looking for a full time job. Just a job where I can work an hour or two a day from home, at maybe an hourly rate of $100+? Oh wait, such jobs don't exist? Crap.
In all seriousness, I would love to find something like that (maybe the salary is a bit unrealistic). I figure if I can write this blog every couple of days, why can't I get paid to do something a few hours a week? Surely I have some skills that someone somewhere out there would want to utilize and pay me for? So, as an unemployed attorney, I have been searching the most logical place for such an opportunity: Craigslist.
Believe it or not, if you go to Craigslist -> DC -> Jobs -> Part Time -> Telecommute -> Legal Jobs - some jobs actually exist. Most are for paralegals, secretaries, and filing assistants. But a couple have been for contract attorneys, to provide general assistance and legal research, which I think would suit me perfectly. I have probably spent the equivalent of a two week vacation on Westlaw. Legal research is something I definitely know how to do, for better or worse.
So when I saw these postings, I figured they were mine for the picking. I mean, who wouldn't want to hire me, with an ivy league law degree and five years of biglaw firm experience? They will be popping the champagne when they get my resume, right?
Not so much.
Guess what. I've applied for 3 of these contract positions, and no response! I even checked my email spam box - surely the offers must be in there. Then it dawned on me - I am now one of "them." "Them" being the unemployed attorneys, laid off or otherwise, that I've been reading about on Above the Law and pretty much any legal publication for the past two years. It doesn't matter that my departure from biglaw was voluntary. I have now joined the club.
You see, when I graduated from law school in 2005 a job was a given. At Penn, pretty much everyone I knew got multiple offers as a 2L, including myself (I even beat out my husband - the only thing I've ever "beat" him at, besides swimming ability). If you didn't get any offers, it was usually obvious why (undiagnosed Aspergers, the kid that got the one "C" in property, etc.). When I left Skadden, it was similarly easy for both my husband and I to get jobs, and we both had multiple offers. It was simply a matter of choosing which one. Somewhere along the way the economy tanked and the legal industry changed. But I wasn't really paying attention.
But now I've realized that there are still a lot of "them" out there. And if and when I compete for jobs with "them," I am not necessarily on the top rung. You know why? It's a big secret, but I'll divulge: all the currently employed, overpaid, biglaw associates have little to no practical experience. That means trial experience usually = none. For all you non-lawyers out there, you know all those courtroom drama shows, where attorneys shout dramatically in court, plead with the judge, and make a witness cry on the witness stand? That's not what we're doing. And maybe some of these employers actually want someone with practical skills, in addition to research skills. Weird.
A typical biglaw attorney won't take a deposition until perhaps their 6th year. And stand up in a courtroom? If it's not pro bono, you'll have to wait until you're a partner, or a senior, senior associate that was recently passed over for partner, if you're lucky. This means that if any biglaw attorney ever wants to scale down, and perhaps work for the small, local lawyer shop that expects its attorneys to speak in a courtroom, the said biglaw attorney is pretty much completely unqualified. To be sure, a law firm will teach you how to write well, do legal research and review thousands of documents at record pace. But if you choose to leave, the only thing you're really qualified to do is be a biglaw associate somewhere else.
Obviously, I am very lucky. I don't NEED a job. But, I have to admit, getting paid for a few hours of work a week would be nice. Really nice. It would make me feel less guilty about the Chai Lattes I buy at Starbucks and the fact that we still have a cleaning person come two times a month.
So if anyone out there needs a legal researcher, attorney blogger, or otherwise flexible job that I can do on my own time and requires no court appearances, I'm your woman. In the meantime, I'll just keep blogging.
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Maybe since you don't desperately need the income right now, you could start by volunteering your time to a local non-profit/pro bono program. It would provide you with an opportunity to 1. Build some practical experience; 2. Schmooze with the non-Big Law members of the legal community; 3. Get that warm, squishy feeling of doing good; and 4. Might even turn into a paid gig somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lost my job last year, I figured I could either sit on my ass and feel sorry for myself like several of my classmates were doing, or use my law license to help others while adding to my resume and experience. I heard about a medical-legal partnership at the bar convention the week after I got laid off, that they were looking for volunteer attorneys. I took a few cases for them, and they offered me a part-time job, which is where I work now (in addition to my own case load). Not glamorous, but it's kept me afloat!
Great post, Shannon. You very articulately described the situation I lived with for about two years, which is fortunately now a few months in my past. And in small-law we get to take depos and run cases and midlevels, which is wonderful and terrifying. Hope all is well.
ReplyDeleteI'm telling you, Social Security hearings.
ReplyDeleteOne of the local attorneys here just got his position as an ALJ, so there's even the possibility of a uniionzed judicial position to look forward to!
I just talked to a partner at the firm I used to work for and he's doing pro-bono VA disability hearings (which I avoid because I'm so busy I don't want all the work I have).
And the hourly rate for some cases is in the $200 - $500 per hour range (depending on the complexity of the case). Just pick the case where the client is actually disabled. This helps.
It's administrative law. Much easier than my proir experience in the world of patent litigation. Although somehwat harder than trademark Office Actions because it's not a completely paper process.
You can even take sworn statements of treating physicians if you crave that litigation feeling.
I don't know if you've talked about what area of law you practice(d) or what you did at your last job. But if not, I'd love for you to share.
ReplyDeleteHi there, I am a couple months late to comment on this post, but I just found your blog and am catching up on it. I am an attorney and mom to a toddler, and I am doing the part-time laywer/full time stay at home mom thing. It is not easy, because, as you imagine, I do all my work when my child is sleeping or in preschool or on the weekends. Not much time leftover for me or my marriage at the end of the day. However, you may be interested in what I am doing and how it happened. After law school, I was in private practice at a small law firm. When I got married, I moved to the city in which my husband was living, and decided to go for a clerkship. I was pregnant during the clerkship, which ended right before I had my baby. When the baby was a few months old, a lawyer friend put me in touch with the general manager of a small company that wanted a part-time in house attorney. The company was tired of paying $500 an hour to biglaw for routine employment law advice, and it needed someone to oversee litigation that had to be given to biglaw, which was not communicating well with the small company. So, I now have the holy grail of resume positions, but I do most of my work from home and go in only when it coincides with my child's preschool. I get all my CLEs and am active with the Association of Corporate Counsel. The company is happy that all of its needs are fulfilled for less than 1/10th of biglaw's price, and I have extreme flexibility. I imagine that there are a fair number of smaller companies that may be interested in such an arrangement with you. In addition, I just started teaching a business law class as an adjunct at a nearby university. My resume looks awesome, yet I am with my daughter nearly full time. I will say that it is utterly draining, though, trying to do both. My husband really wants me to stop all of the part time stuff because I am not getting enough sleep, and we don't have enough time together, since my class preparation begins after the little one is asleep. When I am with my child, I always have work in the back of my mind, and how I wish that after I conclude an 11-12 hour day with my child, that I didn't have to THEN start my paid work. I'm really starting to think that although women can have it all, we really can't have it all at the same time. I'm almost ready to switch completely over to no paid work. I used to feel like it was worth it to "have something for me," but then I realized that wasn't the case--that's just what society expects since it doesn't value stay at home moms. I know that raising your children is the most important thing in the world. Society obviously places value on childcare, cooking, and cleaning, as evidenced by the exorbitant amount people pay to daycares, maids, and restaurants, but it has disdain for actual mothers and wives doing those things. Working moms also love to hear that you aren't totally stay-at-home to assuage some of their own guilt. And, as attorneys, guess who most of our friends are? That's right, working moms. But, as attorneys, we have already worked damn hard for a decade, and we will be able to continue to work for the rest of our lives. Our children deserve one decade of our lives. It will be over before we know it. Keep up the good blogging, and good luck with whatever you do!
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