This piece was sent in by a reader, and it's presented without editing. The story, however, is typical and the message it contains for incoming law students is extremely important to understand:
My story is typical of the lost generation of law students. One area where my story is different relates to my age and my pre-law experience, so I hope it will helpful for people like me who are considering law school.
I came to law after 8 years of working as an engineer. I didn’t fully do my homework prior to entering law school. I knew the intellectual challenge of law school appealed to me, I had no desire to go to business school, and I did not want to be an engineer for the rest of my career. I also thought I would easily find a job as a patent attorney with my 10 years of experience. Like many others, I relied on Chicago-Kent’s published employment statistics . As you can see from the link, there was no mention of what percentage of graduates reported finding employment; the picture was all rosy.
Needless to say, my first semester grades were a bit of a shock (solid B to B+) but I decided to stick it out. Eventually I worked my way up to the top quarter by the fall of 2008. The real problem by then was a failure to obtain any actual law experience. This was not for want of trying. In the fall of 1L I got to know local patent attorneys and applied for every on-line job posting I could find. I joined the local and national versions of the intellectual property organizations, attended their meetings and hobnobbed with the members. I targeted specific employers in the area of my technical expertise and crafted personalized cover letters and resumes based on my perceptions of their needs. I did not limit myself geographically, I tried for every externship possible, took the patent law clinic and other specialized IP courses at my school, sat for the patent bar in the summer of my 2nd year, signed up for career fairs, etc. About the only thing I didn’t do was get a paper published, but I drew the line at putting my name on yet another derivative non-peer reviewed paper that was mere recycling of unoriginal thoughts. I probably applied for 200-300 jobs in total.
One “interview highlight” during this time was an interview with a solo. She ran her practice out of a filthy junk-festooned condo and had an associate working out of the bathroom. I shit you not. Actually, she never even showed up for the interview and I had an awkward couple of minutes sitting with my potential competition, a young man from another Chicago Toilet.
However, the worst thing was getting a verbal offer from a partner that was later rescinded. The law firm, a notorious patent mill, flew me out to Houston and I thought I nailed the interview. In the elevator on my way out the hiring partner told me the terms of the offer ($150K salary, $15K signing bonus, etc) and said a formal letter would follow. Of course when I asked them for the letter a week later it started with “we regret to inform you…”
Eventually I got so desperate that I took on patent search work. This is good work if you can get it at the PTO but where I worked it paid about the same per hour as a fry cook. I even offered to work for free but there were no takers. Finally, I started a small painting business about a year after graduation. I never made much money off it, but it helped me to imagine I was taking charge of my life in some way.
One thing I learned during my job hunt; law firms do not like to hire older entry-level attorneys, so be very careful about attending law school if you are over 30. I was in my early to mid-thirties during this time. I have now become convinced that law firms have a heavy bias against hiring older people. My grades and technical background were no worse than those of younger people who were able to find jobs. I think it boils down to law firms being uninterested in people with distractions like spouses/children, nor are they interested in people who find it unacceptable to be screamed at. They want lumps of clay to pound, not fully-formed people.
My lack of career prospects distressed me as I had foregone 3 years of engineering employment at $85K/year and I had shelled out about $100K in tuition and fees. Like many other depressed law students and recent grads, I was soon on various combinations of alcohol, anti-depressants and benzodiazepines. I found therapy to be worse than useless. One of the things that eventually lightened my depression was accepting how stupid it was to go to law school. The other was finding out that many bright, personable, qualified people were in a similar boat.
The second thing I learned during my job hunt: don’t assume you can go back to your old job if law doesn’t work out. A year after graduation I was desperate enough to start applying for engineering jobs. If you leave the law degree off your resume you will have three years of “blank” to explain. If you keep the law degree on your resume, you will, at best, be regarded with a lot of suspicion. I was pointedly told that the law degree was a major impediment to me being hired. Employers think you either made a colossal mistake in going to law school (which implicates the soundness of your judgment), or they think you’re just biding time before leaving for a legal job. Your experience also tends to get stale over time.
The third thing I learned during my job hunt: don’t assume people will let you work for free to gain experience. I applied to volunteer at all the major legal aid organizations in Chicago and was repeatedly told they were overstaffed and had no need of my services. Quote: “I get literally 10 resumes a week from unemployed attorneys hoping to volunteer in XXX field or YYY field.” The legal aid organizations have people from Northwestern and the University of Chicago coming out of their ears and have little time for Toileteers.
In the end, it took me two years to find full-time employment. I am not working as an attorney. I do not need a law degree to do my job. I make less than I would have had I stayed as an engineer and do not foresee ever making the kind of money that I would have as a third or fourth-year associate. I am out at least $370,000 in lost income and law school tuition and will probably have to delay retirement. It has already impacted my lifestyle and it may impact where my children can go to college. The cumulative stress and depression has probably impacted my eventual lifespan. I will not fully appreciate this disastrous decision for another 30 years. I hope this gives some pause to others who might be where I was 7 years ago.
My story is typical of the lost generation of law students. One area where my story is different relates to my age and my pre-law experience, so I hope it will helpful for people like me who are considering law school.
I came to law after 8 years of working as an engineer. I didn’t fully do my homework prior to entering law school. I knew the intellectual challenge of law school appealed to me, I had no desire to go to business school, and I did not want to be an engineer for the rest of my career. I also thought I would easily find a job as a patent attorney with my 10 years of experience. Like many others, I relied on Chicago-Kent’s published employment statistics . As you can see from the link, there was no mention of what percentage of graduates reported finding employment; the picture was all rosy.
Needless to say, my first semester grades were a bit of a shock (solid B to B+) but I decided to stick it out. Eventually I worked my way up to the top quarter by the fall of 2008. The real problem by then was a failure to obtain any actual law experience. This was not for want of trying. In the fall of 1L I got to know local patent attorneys and applied for every on-line job posting I could find. I joined the local and national versions of the intellectual property organizations, attended their meetings and hobnobbed with the members. I targeted specific employers in the area of my technical expertise and crafted personalized cover letters and resumes based on my perceptions of their needs. I did not limit myself geographically, I tried for every externship possible, took the patent law clinic and other specialized IP courses at my school, sat for the patent bar in the summer of my 2nd year, signed up for career fairs, etc. About the only thing I didn’t do was get a paper published, but I drew the line at putting my name on yet another derivative non-peer reviewed paper that was mere recycling of unoriginal thoughts. I probably applied for 200-300 jobs in total.
One “interview highlight” during this time was an interview with a solo. She ran her practice out of a filthy junk-festooned condo and had an associate working out of the bathroom. I shit you not. Actually, she never even showed up for the interview and I had an awkward couple of minutes sitting with my potential competition, a young man from another Chicago Toilet.
However, the worst thing was getting a verbal offer from a partner that was later rescinded. The law firm, a notorious patent mill, flew me out to Houston and I thought I nailed the interview. In the elevator on my way out the hiring partner told me the terms of the offer ($150K salary, $15K signing bonus, etc) and said a formal letter would follow. Of course when I asked them for the letter a week later it started with “we regret to inform you…”
Eventually I got so desperate that I took on patent search work. This is good work if you can get it at the PTO but where I worked it paid about the same per hour as a fry cook. I even offered to work for free but there were no takers. Finally, I started a small painting business about a year after graduation. I never made much money off it, but it helped me to imagine I was taking charge of my life in some way.
One thing I learned during my job hunt; law firms do not like to hire older entry-level attorneys, so be very careful about attending law school if you are over 30. I was in my early to mid-thirties during this time. I have now become convinced that law firms have a heavy bias against hiring older people. My grades and technical background were no worse than those of younger people who were able to find jobs. I think it boils down to law firms being uninterested in people with distractions like spouses/children, nor are they interested in people who find it unacceptable to be screamed at. They want lumps of clay to pound, not fully-formed people.
My lack of career prospects distressed me as I had foregone 3 years of engineering employment at $85K/year and I had shelled out about $100K in tuition and fees. Like many other depressed law students and recent grads, I was soon on various combinations of alcohol, anti-depressants and benzodiazepines. I found therapy to be worse than useless. One of the things that eventually lightened my depression was accepting how stupid it was to go to law school. The other was finding out that many bright, personable, qualified people were in a similar boat.
The second thing I learned during my job hunt: don’t assume you can go back to your old job if law doesn’t work out. A year after graduation I was desperate enough to start applying for engineering jobs. If you leave the law degree off your resume you will have three years of “blank” to explain. If you keep the law degree on your resume, you will, at best, be regarded with a lot of suspicion. I was pointedly told that the law degree was a major impediment to me being hired. Employers think you either made a colossal mistake in going to law school (which implicates the soundness of your judgment), or they think you’re just biding time before leaving for a legal job. Your experience also tends to get stale over time.
The third thing I learned during my job hunt: don’t assume people will let you work for free to gain experience. I applied to volunteer at all the major legal aid organizations in Chicago and was repeatedly told they were overstaffed and had no need of my services. Quote: “I get literally 10 resumes a week from unemployed attorneys hoping to volunteer in XXX field or YYY field.” The legal aid organizations have people from Northwestern and the University of Chicago coming out of their ears and have little time for Toileteers.
In the end, it took me two years to find full-time employment. I am not working as an attorney. I do not need a law degree to do my job. I make less than I would have had I stayed as an engineer and do not foresee ever making the kind of money that I would have as a third or fourth-year associate. I am out at least $370,000 in lost income and law school tuition and will probably have to delay retirement. It has already impacted my lifestyle and it may impact where my children can go to college. The cumulative stress and depression has probably impacted my eventual lifespan. I will not fully appreciate this disastrous decision for another 30 years. I hope this gives some pause to others who might be where I was 7 years ago.
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