The Bad Job Market and the Law Schools' Responsibility

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

Here's a message I sent this morning in response to an article on CNNMoney.com about the difficulty graduates from law schools are having finding a job.

Hi Jessica Dickler,

As you read what I have written, consider that for decades the percentage of those who are dissatisfied with their careers in the law has been extremely high - higher than that of most occupations.

SOME ISSUES RAISED BY THE STORY

There are SO many other stories contained within your article about the tightening of the legal job market; for example:

"Employment opportunities for legal professionals have traditionally been plentiful - and lucrative." To what extent did these legal professionals want this employment? What did these positions offer other than being “lucrative”?

"And last year was the sector's strongest showing in 20 years, with 92% of graduates finding jobs in their field, according to the National Association for Law Placement. But that's beginning to change." What does it mean that 92% found jobs “in their field”? Are there majors in law school? Do law schools prepare their graduates to practice in a field? What do law school surveys show about what law students want to do when they graduate?

"Which means the 150,031 students who were in enrolled in law school last year face a job market that is contracting for the first time in recent history." Most lawyers practice in firms of 5 or less lawyers. Do we know that that market is contracting or is it primarily in the large law firms?

"That means recent graduates not only face experienced competition for limited jobs." There may be limited “jobs”. What are the law schools doing about that? Did their graduates want “jobs”? Don’t they want to be on their own? Will law schools begin to train lawyers to practice law so they can represent clients upon graduation?

"but also hefty student loan bills. Recent grads are going to have a hard time," What are law schools going to do about these hefty student loans? What are the law schools doing to reduce the cost of law school? Why is the cost increasing? What are the additional services being provided that justify the increases? Why don’t they simply eliminate the wasted third year and reduce the cost by one-third?

"Every day I send out resumes, both electronically and through the mail, and every day I receive responses that the law firms are not currently hiring, ..Roughly 300 resumes have landed me one job interview." Where did he learn that the way to find a position is by sending out mass mailings?

" 'I do think the jobs are out there, you just have to look harder for them. You have to dig,' she said." Is that what is known as career planning? “Dig”? Is that the same thing as reviewing your history, your goals and your values, looking at your options, narrowing down to the one that will give you the most satisfaction, finding out who practices in that area, marketing and promoting yourself to that network and accepting a position whether that is a”job” or a position as an independent contactor or sole practitioner?

HOW LAW SCHOOLS FAIL THEIR STUDENTS

After practicing law for 20 years representing individuals and developing programs to deliver legal services to low and middle income people, in 1984 I became the public interest advisor at Harvard Law School. While there and while working with career staff at law schools around the country, I came to the conclusion that traditional law schools provided a service to large law firms and the law schools while ignoring the needs of its students and the public. From surveys I learned that few law students entered law school hoping to be associates at large law firms but year after year law schools “funneled” their graduates to these law firms. The law schools accomplished this by:

Failing to teach law students the skills they needed to practice law (the MacCrate report says that lawyers need 10 skills and law schools teach only 2 and don’t teach them that well);

Failing to teach them the values of the legal profession; i.e., the obligation to promote justice and the obligation to take positions consistent with their personal values and professional goals;

Failing to teach them the wide range of options they had in the practice of law; i.e., not letting them know that over 66% of all practicing lawyers were in firms of 5 or less lawyers;

Selling the job placement system to large law firms through the highly negative on-campus interview program while at the same time;

Failing to teach them career planning: the process whereby students look at their goals and their values, explore their options, make a decision and then look for appropriate positions where they are likely to find career satisfaction; and

Charging exorbitant amounts for tuition for minimal services (recognizing that they do not teach their students what they need to practice law) and continuing to increase tuition (while most agree that the cost of law school could immediately be reduced by one-third by getting rid of the useless third year of law school.)

So we have an “educational” system that starts with at least half of its students interested in representing individuals or representing small businesses or hoping to be entrepreneurs. Through a three year program, it fails to teach its students what they need to know, puts them heavily in debt, pressures them to take positions in large law firms that for many are boring, meaningless and incredibly time-consuming. The law firms are happy because they get laborers. The law schools are happy because the loans get paid. The graduates are unhappy and the middle and low income members of the public get no one to help them with their personal plight issues.

Before I left Harvard Law School in 1989 after a new dean there said that my office was not needed since few Harvard Law School students were interested in positions serving the legal needs of the public, I analyzed the first positions taken by the graduates in the classes from 1984 through 1988 and was not shocked to find that ONLY 4 had done something on their own. Two started City Year and two started a legal services program. The other 2496 took jobs as employees. Why did they not go off on their own and start something?

Have you ever looked at the annual ranking of law schools by the US News and World Report? If you do, it will take no time to realize that there is NO category – NO column ranking a law school based on which one best prepares its students to practice law!!!!

Since I left Harvard Law School in 1990, I have been an adviser to thousands of law students and unhappy and dissatisfied graduates. The one characteristic most of them share is a lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. Their “expertise” is narrow and they know of no options. They feel trapped.

I recommend that you also read this article I wrote for my column in FindLaw "Taking Control over Your Career and Your Life: Looking For Law in All the Wrong Places? Choosing the Best Law School" over ten years ago. It is probably still relevant.

The next article I wrote Alternatives to Law School for Those Who Want to Be Lawyers proposed reinstituting the apprenticeship system that was in effect a century ago through which you worked for a lawyer for a number of years and then took a bar examination. This is still in effect in about 7 states and does not require attending a law school.

I invite you to contact me if you would like to discuss any professional development issue relating to lawyers.

Thank you for your attention to these issues.

Ron Fox

Ronald W. Fox, Esquire
Center for Professional Development in the Law
(781) 639-2322


You should also read the other articles at http://profdev.lp.findlaw.com/

This blog is sponsored by the Center for Professional Development in the Law

Prospective Retrospective - Why Most Should Avoid the "Funnel" to the Large Law Firm

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

If you are a law student, which of these will you be in the future? If you are a lawyer, which of these are you now?

The plurality of my clients have been out of law school from 8-12 years. Their primary area of practice is commercial litigation in a large law firm. Most have changed firms at least once with the assistance of a recruiter. Some describe the process as “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”.

A second category of clients are those who went to law school not interested in practicing law but rather “to keep their options open” and ended up believing that their only option was practicing law.

A third category of clients are those who went to law school planning to pursue a public interest career but ended up believing that their only option was to practice corporate law supplementing it with “pro bono” work.

A fourth category of clients are lawyers who, for a variety of reasons, no longer have a choice of remaining in their present law firms.

A fifth category of clients are those who have an entrepreneurial creative spirit which they believe has been squashed by the needs and requirements of law firm practice.

A sixth category of clients are “senior” lawyers considering leaving the law firm practice they have been associated with for sometimes many years.

My services are structured in two stages - the Career Search and the Search for a Satisfying Opportunity. Underlying the entire effort is one critical component - the need to help rebuild a sense of self-confidence and self-worth that most of my clients have lost.

I often remind clients about the role that Noah Wyle played on ER, Dr. John Carter. When he began, he was an insecure medical student. At the end of his medical training, in his residency, he is a capable, competent, confident physician.

The opposite occurs in the case of lawyers as they work they way through law school and the practice of law. Capable men and women who did well in college, wrote creatively, were active socially, started businesses and traveled, entered law school feeling good about themselves. The law schools then failed to teach them what they need to know to practice law and failed to teach them how to plan their career. At the same time, through the on-campus placement system, law students are often funneled to large firms to do work that never held their interest and, in addition they often find the work boring and meaningless. They feel trapped because they do not know any options and, therefore, do not know how to make a transition.

No wonder so many are unhappy, dissatisfied, frustrated and depressed!

I help my clients realize that the large firms are only one segment of the legal profession and a fairly small one when you look at the demographics; i.e., the vast majority of law firms have less than 5 lawyers AND THAT THERE ARE A HOST OF REASONS WHY THEY WOULD WANT TO WORK FOR SUCH A FIRM.

I know about small firms because for the last thirty-eight (38) years, I have been involved with them. I have worked for them, started them and worked with them. I have worked with firms that do commercial work, firms that represent individuals in personal plight issues, and public and private public interest law firms and non-profits.

In addition, many of my clients never wanted to be employees. They wanted to be their own boss and be in control of their lives. They are entrepreneurial. They would never contact recruiters or need to. Who would a recruiter send your resume to if you are planning to open your own office? In fact, who needs a resume if you are going to be a solo practitioner?

If you see yourself in these comments, please e-mail me or give me a call so that we can discuss how I can help you search for and locate a satisfying position.

Ron Fox

Ronald W. Fox, Esquire
(781) 639-2322
admin@ronaldwfox.com

You should also read the articles at http://profdev.lp.findlaw.com/

This blog is sponsored by the Center for Professional Development in the Law

Lawful Pursuit: Careers in Public Interest Law

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

So you want to use your legal training to serve the legal needs of the public.

Easy enough!! Just go to the resource center of your law school's career services office and read my book entitled Lawful Pursuit: Careers in Public Interest Law.

This "remarkable, awesome, invaluable addition to your library" (quote from an unpublished blurb by Ronald W. Fox) was published by the American Bar Association's Law Student Division.

What do you mean, it is not there??? How can that be?

The book is such a superb career planning guide for law students (and lawyers) through which they learn that public interest includes not only public law firms and non-profits but also private law firms. In addition, they learn how important it is to know their goals, focus on one of their many options and then market and promote themselves in the search for a satisfying position.

Even better than that, it is a powerful critique of traditional law school education:

"So how do law students journey from wanting to work for social justice to being a dissatisfied practicing attorney? My belief is that the primary cause of rampant dissatisfaction of so many within the legal profession can be ascribed to the law schools which fail to teach students the values of 1) recognizing their professional and personal goals, 2) improving their skills, and 3) promoting justice in their work. Rather than encourage students to pursue a career in the public interest, law schools generally divert their student from following that type of career path. Page 2 ....

"Unfortunately, students graduating from what are considered the most selective law schools display little knowledge of the vast number of lawyers who practice in small firms (i.e., few know that 65% of all lawyers in private practice are in firms of less than six lawyers), have little respect for such practices,, and have almost no idea of the range of representation of these lawyers. Even if they are well aware of the overwhelming majority of lawyers who practice in small firms and are interested in joining these practitioners, few students, knowing how little clinical experience they were given in law school, have the confidence it takes to look for positions where they will immediately bear responsibility for representing individuals. The “Green Man” made an appearance on one episode of the television show Northern Exposure constantly advising Ed about his lack of competence and many other reasons why Ed would fail if he pursued the career he envisioned for himself. The Green Man was eventually revealed to be the mythical cause of all evil in the world – the lack of self-esteem. Law students are introduced to the Green Man early on in their law school years. Pages 43-44."

The book can be ordered thru the ABA. I also have some copies here which you can purchase for $15 including s&h. If you are interested, contact me at admin@ronaldwfox.com .

You should also read "Looking for Law in All the Wrong Places. Choosing the Best Law School" and the other articles at http://profdev.lp.findlaw.com

This blog is sponsored by the Center for Professional Development in the Law

Who Will Teach Law Schools to Teach the Obligation to Strive to Promote Justice, Fairness and Morality?

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

Today's topic is about justice and the traditional law schools.

I just found something sent to me from the Progressives' Election Coalition (PEC) some time ago. PEC was formed to work to elect progressive candidates. PEC's goals included

Ending the US occupation of Iraq
Universal health care
Combat global warning
Election integrity
Pubic financing of federal campaign
Fast-track, alternative energy programs emphasizing renewable
fuels
Reform corporate media
Institute corporate social responsibility
Equal rights for all US residents
A national living wage and support for the right to organize
Fair trade
Restoration of our Constitutional rights
Open and honest government
Strenghthen public education
Fair and simplified tax code
National security based on diplomacy and elimination of root causes of
terrorism
Perhaps most importantly, buidling a culture based on peace, social justice
compassion and generosity, rather than fear, greed and aggression.

Millions of Americans hope that the election of Barack Obama will mean that steps will be taken to reach these goals.

According to the MacCrate Report one of the four fundamental values of the legal profession is "Striving to Promote Justice, Fairness and Morality. As a member of a profession that bears special responsibility for the quality of justice, a lawyer should be committed to the values of .. promoting justice, fairness and Morality in One's Own Daily Practice."

Does or did the law school you attended teach you that?

Does or did your law school rely on on-campus interviewing to funnel its students to large law firms representing large corporations?

Based on the election of Barack Obama and his platform to the extent we know it, will your law school substantially restructure its curriculum and its career office so that its graduates will be prepared to take positions which will help to attain the goals above, many of which strive to promote justice, fairness and morality?

ONLY FOUR (4) out of 2500

So, one day in 1989 just after my position as public interest adviser at harvard law school was eliminated because the new dean said that there was insufficient interest among its students to warrant having such a position, I reviewed the first position taken by its graduates over the last five years.

What struck me (but did not shock me since I was generally aware of what I would find) was that of the 2500 graduates of that law school - men and women who had during the previous decade or so of their lives had lead organizations, created works of art, had traveled around the world, had written articles, had started businesses - ONLY FOUR (4) out of 2500 had NOT taken JOBS - ONLY FOUR (4) out of 2500 had NOT become employees - ONLY FOUR (4) out of 2500 had maintained or kept the confidence they had when they entered law school that they could do something on their own. Two started City Year and two started a legal services program in Texas.

What Harvard Law School (and other selective law schools) did was to do the opposite of what medical schools seem to do. While the medical profession seems to build the future doctors' confidence by teaching them how to treat patients, the legal profession does the opposite. Beginnin with its law schools which systematically erode their students self-confidence and their sense of self-worth by failing to teach them how to represent their clients

The Jobs of Their Dreams (or Their Nightmares)?

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

Here's a research project for you.

Are you attending a hard to get into law school (notice that I did not use the descriptive words "good" or "best" or "tier x")?

If yes, what percentage of the Class of 2006 graduates took positions initially in large law firms or did so after a judicial clerkship?

What percentage of the Class of 2006 dreamed of such positions when surveyed during their first year of law school?

Is there a significant disparity between these two percentages?

If so, what steps has the law school taken to remedy this?

What does it mean if there was no survey taken to find out what the law school's students wanted to do with their legal education and who they wanted to represent ?

Yes You Can

I just posted this on my Center for Professional Development in the Law website

The election of Barack Obama was a victory for those who believe that there are serious problems facing our society and a critical need for changes in the way our country is governed. In addition, Barack Obama is a role model for those who entered law school hoping to use their legal training either to serve the legal needs of the public or to simply find satisfaction in the practice of law. Most of us know that upon graduation from Harvard Law School as the President of the Harvard Law Review, he returned to Chicago. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago and joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a twelve-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development.

While, as he says, there can only be one President of the United States at a time, and that position is not presently available to you, what his campaign does say is that “Yes You Can”. While your law school experience may not have made you aware of your options, you do have them. While your law school experience may not have taught you how to plan your career, there are guidelines and practices you can use to search for and locate positions consistent with your professional goals and personal values.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama