An Alternative Field Manual for Law Job Hunters

Whether they would readily tell it or not, every attorney has their own story to tell about how they landed their first job after law school. For some that experience is the next sequential step in a natural, smooth progression from a summer associate or part-time position during law school to a permanent position with the same firm afterward. For others, it might be an assignment in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. However, for many graduates, it is less of a planned affair, and more of a scramble. As much as graduation is a time of joy and the celebration of academic achievement, for many, the period immediately following graduation is a time of anxiety over the more mundane concerns of finances and of repaying student loans. With acknowledgement to the other more noble reasons law students attend law school and amass the resulting debt, the hope to be gainfully employed afterward is certainly high on the list of ambitions for most law graduates. After all, the practice of law has always been a profession as well as a calling.

We are constantly told that the world is changing and evolving. It is as true as it is obvious, but it is nevertheless important to acknowledge that law graduates today are indeed embarking upon a new landscape as it pertains to the practice of law, and even as it pertains to what it means to have a career in the law. Some of the changes which are today in full bloom sprouted from seeds sown decades ago. Consumer protection statutes and their implementing regulations have transformed various industries as they have grown, evolved, and strengthened over the years. Today there are more attorneys than ever employed in compliance positions with all sorts of companies. However, this is only part of the story of the growth of in-house employment for attorneys. More than ever, companies need and use attorneys in their everyday business functions, as well as in their corporate legal departments. This is an emerging trend¹ that is only gathering momentum, and recent law graduates should be aware of it if they do not want to overlook valuable career opportunities that can help them repay those student loans.