Stark unemployment rates, law firm salary cuts and the suspension of summer associate programs may leave some upcoming law school graduates unsure about their job prospects.

But what recent law school graduates lack in experience, they make up for in understanding and speaking the legalese that carries influence and makes them attractive additions to legal tech companies.

While having a legal background isn't a necessity, a candidate with a J.D. would have an advantage when applying for a client-facing position at contract management company Evisort, said the company's co-founder and CEO Jerry Ting.

"They understand the culture and language of the legal world versus someone from the IT world," Ting said.

Similar legal education and shared experiences can also be useful when attempting to persuade a law firm or in-house lawyer to license software or change their workflow.

"The reason for that [trust] is a good one: We were trained and educated in the same way and when we try to solve a problem for a client there's a baseline of understanding we have," Ting explained.

Still, law schools aren't seeing significant market demand for their students in legal tech.

"Legal tech has never been a big employer of law school graduates," noted Suffolk Law School Dean Andrew Perlman.

In turn, law schools aren't developing educational tracks geared toward a career in legal tech. Instead, law schools are emphasizing how legal tech, data analysis and optimized project management enhances client solutions, said Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law director of law and technology initiatives Daniel Linna Jr.

"It's irresponsible for law schools to graduate students who do not have a growing understanding and basic technology competencies and an understanding of how technology is impacting the delivery of legal services," Linna said.

Still, Dean Gonsowski, a lawyer and chief revenue officer of e-discovery and information governance tech provider Active Navigation, argued law students shouldn't view the traditional law firm route as their only opportunity.

"The law firm profession is hard to break into and the track to partner isn't what it used to be," he said. "If you're really into and committed to it, it can make sense, but if you have other options I would look at them."

Those alternatives include legal tech sales, which can be a lucrative opportunity for attorneys that recently earned a J.D., Gonsowski said.

"Attorneys selling to attorneys is pretty fruitful and the better sales people I know in the legal tech industry have J.D.s and have practiced," he said. "It's not direct use of the [law school] training, but it can be pretty lucrative."

Aside from sales, attorneys also commonly fill a legal tech company's "discrete consulting" and project management role for e-discovery, information governance, data protection and other matters, Gonsowski said.

In addition, there's a "tremendous need" for subject matter expertise and content development in legal technology that recent law school grads can provide, Gonsowski said. Such job responsibilities may include writing blogs, white papers and a software's rules for General Data Protection Regulation, California Consumer Privacy Act and other regulatory compliance tools.

Those looking at the legal tech career path can bolster their chances by obtaining certifications and training provided by tech companies and law schools, said Relativity Academic Partner program leader Janice Hollman. 

Gonsowski also urged recently graduated or current law school students interested in a legal tech career to pursue business courses that offer insights into the corporate world, unlike the training provided by law schools for ascending law firm ranks.

"You're building from a very traditional professional service, hierarchy, apprentice model that is a law firm into a much more corporate technology environment and if folks are like me coming out of law school, I didn't have a great sense of working in a corporate or startup environment," he said.

To be sure, some law schools are already taking the initiative to prepare their students for the startup world. Last year, Albany Law School brought its students and the SUNY Polytechnic Institute's engineering students together for a program to develop and bring products to market, including the legal and regulatory hurdles.

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