practicehacker

Via abajournal.com

It seems the editor-in-chief of the Chicago-Kent Law Review, one David Freedman, was unable to find work. According to a piece in Above the Law sourced by the ABA Journal, interviewing, volunteering, applying for clerkships, and surfing the Internet had all failed to land him an entry-level legal job. So Mr. Freedman wrote to the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law, Attorney Mark Herrmann, who sent him a copy of his book. Freedman wrote back to complain that the book had gotten him excited about working, making him even more bummed out about being unemployed. Apparently Mr. Herrmann agreed to meet Mr. Freedman, gave him some job-search advice, and they all lived happily ever after. [Read the full piece].

Having interviewed law-school grads for the past few years (including just yesterday), I’ve found nearly all of them to be wildly unrealistic about what they are worth. I can only wonder who is more responsible for the current market cluster-fu@$: gullible students, arrogant practitioners, ambitious law school deans, or lying placement office personnel. It’s got to be some kind of toss up; but any way you look at it graduating law students have been screwed for decades.

All I can say to Mr. Freedman and the other graduating law students is “Welcome to the party, pal.” It’s a rough, tough profession and nobody will pay you for your charming company. If you cnanot produce, consider yourself a liability (hint: recent law grads are almost pathalogically incapable of producing anything but hot air). If you are a recent law school graduate in need of work feel free to call my office and prove me wrong.

How did we get the news before social media?