Law students still searching for jobs in a bleak market
by Barbara L. Jones Staff Writer
University of St. Thomas 2L Frank Aba-Onu and 1L Claire Hvass both are looking for summer positions. |
Check out the Minnesota Lawyer blog for video of job-seeking law students.
During the tough economic times of the early-to-mid ‘80s, Bruce Springsteen sang, “The times are tough now, just getting tougher. This old world is rough, it’s just getting rougher.” The Baby Boom generation rocker’s harsh message is apropos for today’s law students, whose hopes of an easy entry into the legal profession are collapsing as swiftly as the economy. Already stressed by steep declines in on-campus interviewers and help wanted ads, law students in need of jobs have been further unnerved by the recent news of law firm layoffs. Meanwhile, career services professionals at local schools offer what comfort they can to students nervous about their job prospects. Unfortunately, the hiring situation is such that there’s not a lot that can be done for the students right now, other than a little hand-holding.
Nancy Lochner, director of career services at Hamline University School of Law, warned that the situation may get worse before it gets better. To deal with the difficult employment environment, the law school already offers many career-planning services including mock interviews, networking and job fairs.
The University of Minnesota Law School’s Career and Development Center was already providing guidance in job searching skills, and now sees its job as letting students know they must be patient as well as network, volunteer and otherwise favorably position themselves, according to center director Alan Haynes. “I’m hopeful that over the next 16 months or so things will improve, but there’s a lot at a standstill right now,” he said. One of the issues facing job-seeking law students is the number of displaced attorneys now seeking lateral moves and whether they will be placed first, he added.
Haynes, who has only been at the university since last September, said that his priority when he came here from Brooklyn Law School was to develop relationships with Minnesota employers. “Now there’s urgency [about that],” he said. The school recently added Dana Bartocci, formerly the professional development coordinator at Maslon, Edelman, Borman and Brand, as an employer relations counselor. Haynes believes this focus on employers will pay off dividends for university graduates.
The university runs a blog accessible from the law school’s Web site that posts articles potentially helpful to job-seeking law students, including “Self-Marketing is Key to Being a Top Lawyer” and “Personal Branding 101.”
The University of St. Thomas recently held a program for third-year law students to help them focus on the opportunities that are available, and is putting together work groups and coaching circles for job-seeking students. Moravetz is also planning activities for second-year students.
Moravetz wants to encourage students to manage change and transition in a positive way and to avoid the “downward spiral” that comes from focusing on the negative.
“This is new ground for law students,” Moravetz said. “This is a lifelong skill — resilience, adapting to change, and managing a career. I’ve used this framework with mid-career lawyers and it works.”
’Scary and frustrating’
Resilience and adapting to change are skills law students likely will need, particularly once the bad news starts sinking in.
“Everything you hear is a horror story [but] it’s hard to grasp how bad it is,” said Josh McBeain, a 2L at William Mitchell College of Law. “I’m 24. [Students my age] have never seen a recession.”
McBeain, a member of a law review, does not currently have anything lined up for this summer. “It’s scary and frustrating,” he said.
The situation is really hitting 3Ls, said Frank Aba-Onu, a 2L at St. Thomas. He said that students who have clerked at law firms are not getting the offers one might expect toward the end of the third year of school. Second-year students are starting to look at what they can do now, he said.
“I’ve been talking to other 2Ls who have the same interests I do — basically, we pitch ideas to each other and if someone finds a position or a summer clerkship, we tell the other person,” he said. “Basically, it’s sharing our networks.”
First-year UST student Claire Hvass said that 1Ls are reassessing the career notions that they had when they entered law school. When she matriculated last August, Hvass was told that there would be fewer jobs available through on-campus interviewing than in past years. “You want to find something that’s certain and you wonder, if I get an offer, is it going to be taken away from me? If I work for a public interest job, will their funding be cut?”
In fact, rumors of rescinded job offers have been rampant on law school campuses. So far, those rumors for the most part appear to be just that. While career development officials who spoke with Minnesota Lawyer were aware of the talk, and can’t rule out completely that it has happened in a few isolated cases, they said they were not aware of any specific instances of this happening. Haynes went so far as to say that students who have solid job offers should be fine. “It’s not in the best interests of firms to do that because they will get killed [in future recruiting],” he explained.
St. Thomas 3L Rasheen Tillman estimated that up to two-thirds of her class is still job-hunting. Tillman is networking and doing everything she can think of to land a job, but finds the process stressful. “It’s nice to meet new people, [but] it’s hard to keep that connection and follow-up sometimes, especially when you’re trying to balance so many different people, so many different areas,” she said.
Tillman would like to be a public defender, but is aware that public defenders have been laid off and that hiring is frozen as the office awaits the result of the current budget process. With Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposing further cuts in the justice system’s budget, Tillman and others like her struggle to stay hopeful. Adding to Tillman’s stress is the fact that she has $100,000 in student loans that will have to be repaid after she graduates.
Virtually the only way to apply to law firms right now is to send in resumes blind, according to St. Thomas 3L Tim Brovold. Every day he looks through websites and other sources for attorney openings, but the few he does find are for more experienced lawyers.
But he’s not sitting around licking his wounds. Brovold is doing a lot of networking, making 10 to 30 contacts every day. “I almost feel like I’m my own marketing firm,” he said. “I’m willing to meet and talk with anybody.”
Brovold tries to keep a positive attitude, but, like many of his fellow law students, he’s feeling the pressure. He has a small child and faces the prospect of repaying loans from college, graduate school and law school when he graduates.
Despite the incredibly tight job market, Brovold said he and his fellow students maintain their camaraderie. Rather than hoarding information, when one of them becomes aware that a job has opened up, they share it so that everyone who is interested has the chance to apply. “It’s a victory for all of us if one of can get something. … We’re all in it together,” he said.
