New York Lawyer
May 22, 2001

Q:
I'm trying to think about how to best ride out the current economic downturn.

I'm a recent law school grad who finished in the bottom half of my class at a top 20 law school. I wasn't able to find a permanent job before I graduated. I had meaningful summer employment, but not with a firm that had enough work coming in to give me an offer. I've passed the bar in two states. I have a year�s experience in sales and marketing.

While I plug away at finding a law firm job and look at temp positions, are there other areas, legal or quasi-legal, where my resume might get attention? Right now, I feel like my JD may be a liability � making me underqualified or overqualified, but never just right.

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A:
Indeed, we are in a period where consultants of all types � and that includes lawyers -- are sucking some serious wind. A lot of job-seekers are being forced to consider "stop-loss" employment -- that is, jobs that aren't necessary career-builders, but that put some food on the table.

There's two theories on stop-loss jobs. One says work at something so different from your chosen course (like a mail route or pizza delivery) that no one thinks this is "what you are." That way, the thinking goes, if you have to go "down market," accepting less responsibility or money, you haven't dinged your career path. The other says try to find something that has some sort of resume credential value, even if it's not directly supportive of you chosen career. You then explain the stop-loss aspect in your cover letter.

Personally, I favor the latter course. I understand the economics of desperation, but it alarms me when people are marking time in their careers, particularly when they're young. That's why I'm a fan of project work for young lawyers (although temp agencies report that they don't love temp candidates who also are seeking full-time jobs, because they may bail out if they land one).

One stratagem is to do whatever you can to develop a particular area of legal expertise that is certain to have some market value -- even if it's kind of dull or repetitive. Worker's comp, Lemon Law, foreclosure -- all these are skill sets with a fairly predictable market demand (although you do risk making yourself an expert in a narrow subject area, which may impact your future marketability).

In your case, another tactic would be to combine your legal expertise with your sales and marketing experience. Think of all the vendors who sell products and services to the legal profession -- case management software, litigation support, training and development, office space, finding expert witnesses, courier services, archiving, information management, electronic research services, etc. In each instance, it helps to have a sales person who "speaks legalese." Moreover, the very structure of such jobs has you seeing a lot of people, building a lot of relationships and generally showing the flag. All the better to create that magic moment, when a sales prospect tells you: "Say, I really like the cut of your jib. What would you think about working in a place like this?"

In fact, the overall strategy in tough times is GET SEEN -- both to get some market visibility and to gather information. Network your brains out -- with lawyers and non-lawyers alike. Build rapport with everyone. Do favors. Go to seminars, conferences, interest-group meetings. Get people to think in terms of what makes you unique, rather than those characteristics and credentials you share with all the similarly-credentialed job seekers you're competing with.

By virtue of having completed law school and passed the bar, you will be regarded as having some "transferable" competencies: good enough intelligence, decent analytical abilities, research skills, good written and oral communications ability, ability to learn new technical areas and disciplines readily. So sell those traits. At the most general level, litigation falls into "the persuasive arts" and all other areas of law fall either into the "avoid risk" or "collaborative arts" categories. Think of all the work out there that falls into these categories. Find and talk to people who work doing those sorts of things. Make acquaintances and contacts -- relentlessly. Practice the phrase, "Why, yes, that might be interesting. I hadn't thought of that.

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Richardson
President, The Richardson Group