Q: I failed my state bar exam. Will I be fired from the law firm where I work?
A: Failing the bar once, even more than once, is demoralizing and depressing. But it happens, and, yes, it happens to graduates of Ivy League and Tier One schools. Most BigLaw firms will hand out a ‘Get Out [...]
Q: Are law firms making hiring decisions now based on more than traditional interviews and GPA?
A. Yes. At least one BigLaw firm (McKenna, Long and Aldridge) has gone “corporate” to make sure they make the right hiring decisions. Soon after the recession hit in 2007, the firm’s hiring committee identified the factors and characteristic of [...]
Q: I am a non-equity partner/senior associate in a mid-size firm. I’ve always done respectable work, but I’ve never been good at business development. I’m concerned that I am at risk of getting pushed out to make room for a younger, less-experienced lawyer at the firm. How concerned should I be?
A: In the current firm [...]
Q: I make a good, six-figure income as a 4th year BigLaw associate, but I’m putting in sweat-shop hours … 2300/year. I’d like to move on when I’m able to pay off my school loans next year. But does it make sense to leave the firm … and all that goes with it … both [...]
Q: I graduate this year. But with my grades/class standing, I’m not sure I can get a position in major or mid-size firm. What are my options in this economy?
A: Give serious thought to a position at a small firm, preferably in a non-major city. Once hired, you probably will get as much — if [...]
SEATTLE, Nov. 8 – Twenty percent of America’s lawyers practice in towns smaller than 50,000 population, but with the legal job market still in free-fall more lawyers than ever before are actively considering opening a small town or rural practice.
In the absence of any current resources, LawyerAvenue Press, publisher of Solo By Choice, signed Bruce [...]
Raise your hand if, at your last job interview, the interview asked you one of these five questions:
a) Why are you interested in working at this firm?
b) Tell me about your last big mistake? How did you handle it?
c) What attributes do you have that would instill client confidence?
d) What is your favorite and least favorite aspects of teamwork?
e) If [...]
What do you say to a recent law school graduate?
“A double-shot latte to go, please.”
Cruel but often true.
From New York to LA, the downturn of the past two years has hit the legal profession with unprecedented severity … and it’s certainly not limited to new grads. Tens of thousands of lawyers and staff [...]
According to the Institute of Women’s Policy Research, working women on average earn only about 77 cents for every dollar that men earn (up from 59 cents in 1965), and part of the pay gap may be explained as a result of what happens at the salary negotiation table.
A recent story in the New York [...]
By Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D.
Law Career Consultant
An extremely bright and accomplished woman attorney explained to me why it was impossible for her to do anything but practice law at this point in her life. Having worked in both government and private settings, she was certain she had a clear idea of what her chosen profession entailed, [...]