Despite virtual classrooms and graduations, a twice delayed and remotely proctored bar exam, and other frustrating upheavals to the expected normalcy during the last year of law school, perhaps the most daunting and stressful changes faced by third-year law students last year were those wrought on the job search process and the start of new employment. An overwhelming sense of unknowing descended on the process of applying for and starting new jobs, both for recent grads and for other lawyers making a career move. I was among the ranks of lawyers looking for a job in March 2020, having decided to relocate permanently to South Florida after moving back home for a judicial clerkship ending in the fall. And, at the time, it felt like the only thing to do was be proactive, and be patient.

Relationships Matter in an Uncertain Environment

When the coronavirus struck, job seekers were trying to obtain concrete information about possible employment—information that in many cases did not exist as prospective employers scrambled to keep pace with evolving news about the virus. Law offices were implementing austerity measures and evaluating how to approach hiring—many while transitioning to remote work or a hybrid work-from-home system. A survey conducted by the National Association for Law Placement, Inc indicated that nearly half of law schools reported that 2020 graduates had had post-graduate employment offers rescinded. Another report issued by the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Thomson Reuters Institute, indicated that 40% of law firms nationwide reduced fee earner salaries and 11% discharged fee earners altogether. This was not the predictable world of on-campus interviews and publicly posted job descriptions of sedate and stable years past. Still, some aspects about landing a legal job had not changed: a workmanlike approach to sending out resumes and word-of-mouth communication about potential jobs remained invaluable.