New York Lawyer
June 29, 2006

Q:
I graduated from a second tier school with high honors, and had a lot of extracurricular activities (including an executive position on a journal) while in school, which I believe enabled me to obtain a Summer Associate position, clerkship and offer at a big firm (where I will start this fall). I seemed to have fewer opportunities, though, than other students who had fewer credentials, which I attributed to my age (career services required us to put our year of undergraduate studies on our resumes) since I had received a bachelor's degree nearly twenty years prior to entering/finishing law school.

My question has to do with the future: now that I'm in my early 40s, should I even hope to have an opportunity for partnership, or would you advise me to get all the experience I can and plan to go out on my own to obtain that level of achievement? In other words, can I expect to have the same opportunities as a "more traditional young" associate?

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A:

There's little question that older graduates face more hurdles than do younger ones. While of course strictly speaking age discrimination is illegal, the fact is that it occurs every day and is difficult to prove as there are many benign reasons to reject an applicant that on the surface don't implicate age.

As an aside, I can't understand why career services "required" you to put your year of graduation on your resume. That's exactly the sort of inquiry that an employer is not permitted to make, as it is age related.

In any event, I do believe that you will have to be more careful about what sort of firm you select than you would be otherwise. The opportunities at larger firms may not be what they would be if you started at a younger age, and often smaller firms have the flexibility and imagination to be more innovative and open to different sorts of applicants.

That said, you will have many advantages that a younger attorney does not have, e.g., professionalism, probably a greater ability to relate to clients, skills that are transferable from your previous profession, etc., so don't sell yourself short. A major one might be that you have peers or friends who are at high levels in organizations and therefore are potential clients. Younger people simply don't have friends who have risen high up in companies and don't have those connections, so that's a big advantage for you.

You will have to get over the initial skepticism hurdle about your age, but once you prove your abilities, and most especially that you are not averse to being given direction by people younger than you (a major bugaboo), you can take your place in a firm and excel.

Stephanie Richman, associate director of Office of Career Services, Rutgers School of Llaw-Newark, advises that it's way too early to get discouraged. As she points out, you've gotten an offer, so you've passed the most difficult hurdle already, which is convincing a firm that they ought to invest their time and resources into hiring you. "This is a concern that we get with a lot of second career students," she comments. "Generally the response is that there is hope to obtain partnership, and it does happen." Richman doesn't think that the "big firm" aspect is more likely to jeopardize your chances: "I don't get that sense. Once you've been there, summered there, and gotten an offer, the firms extend offers with the intent and hope that whoever it is will come on board and succeed." She says "the bigger challenge might be getting that foot in the door for even a summer associate position," but you've already gotten an offer, which is great.

Richman warns that older grads must be prepared for two main lines of questions/concerns: that older grads won't want to work for younger people, especially if they had attained a high level of supervisory power in their pervious job, and that they may have a questionable commitment level to the law, in that they are already going for a second or perhaps third career. "We have heard that there is a little bit more of the `why law?' kind of question," she notes. Be aware of these concerns and, even if you are not asked directly about them, address them on your own in a pro-active manner, emphasizing your commitment in the law, making sure that you have a coherent "story" about why you changed careers, and commenting that you look forward to learning from everyone as you progress in the law.

Go for it, get that partnership, and show those young whippersnappers a thing or two.

Sincerely,
Holly English
Principal Consultant, Values at Work