Commencement ceremonies at New York's 15 law schools are just around the corner, but these are times of anxiety as well as of celebration for many students, who are facing the worst attorney job market in years.
Historically, nearly two-thirds of law school graduates have jobs lined up before they pick up their diplomas, said James Leipold, executive director of the National Association for Law Placement.
But many members of the class of 2009 still have not found work with graduation only weeks away. And those who have job offers in hand are not yet out of the woods. With the economy in crisis, many firms have delayed start dates, and others have rescinded offers entirely.
Joshua Goldman, a third-year student at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, took a gamble last summer to pursue his passion for environmental law and worked for a nonprofit organization in Germany, knowing he would not be offered a job at the end. But he hoped the experience would open up employment prospects back in New York -- a bet that has yet to pay off.
"I understood that it wouldn't translate into a full-time position, but the experience would be so good that it wouldn't be such a tough time when I came back," said Goldman, 26. "When I came back, the economy tanked so I'm stuck with nothing. I had an amazing time and it was really good work experience, but if I had stuck around here and got a job with the promise of post-graduate employment, I may have been better off."
Goldman, who has an internship with the Environmental Protection Agency and founded the Environmental Law Society at Cardozo, said he is looking for jobs up and down the East coast.
"It has been really frustrating. There are environmental law jobs that I think I'm really qualified for and I haven't gotten any interviews or the employer takes months to get back to me, or I don't hear from them at all," Goldman said.
The job search has taken its toll, especially with loans coming due. "Some days I feel real good, some days I feel terrible. I'm going to have to do something, whether it's waiting tables or whatever."
David Lopez, 27, who is set to graduate from Hofstra University School of Law in three weeks, had hopes of packing his bags for Washington, D.C., after a second interview with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Then he got news that the agency was holding off on new hires until its budget came through.
Despite his experience working in the corporate department of a large law firm before law school, and taking securities and corporate law courses at Hofstra, Lopez said he knew his chances of getting hired had dwindled even further after the massive Wall Street layoffs sent veteran financial attorneys into the applicant pool.
"For someone like me, I'm at a disadvantage competing against securities attorneys looking for jobs. [Companies] are going to need people who are experienced, so it puts us at a disadvantage and our resumes go to the bottom of the pile," Lopez said.
Post-graduation unemployment was the exact predicament facing Long Island native Jennifer Chen, who took the February bar exam after graduating from Northeastern School of Law. But rather than sit back and wait for an offer, she took a volunteer position with the Nassau County Attorney's Office.
During her stint, she researched and prepared court papers in a bid to "keep active during difficult times, keep occupied and gain litigation experience."
"I knew that I didn't want to sit at home and wait. I knew I wanted to serve the public, get out there and get some experience," said Chen, 26. She credited the experience with helping her recently land an offer with a Manhattan solo practitioner. "I was learning, essentially, what I wanted to do."
LAW SCHOOL HELP
Chen's experience is proof of a mantra that administrators at Touro Law Center have been repeating to graduating students since the economic downturn began, according to Brett Gilbert, assistant dean for career services at the school.
"New grads can't just sit at home. They have to do pro bono work, volunteer, get their name out there," Gilbert said. "Most of our new alums want to work on Long Island. It's like pulling teeth to get them to look elsewhere, whether it's Albany[, N.Y.,] or Newark[, N.J.,] or Philadelphia."
But while there are no hard figures on how many of the Touro graduating class of 160 do not have jobs, Gilbert said the number is "more than usual."
To combat the extra anxiety of students who will be studying for the bar and looking for work, the school is trying to help throughout the summer by acting as a proxy for job-seekers, sending out applications for jobs in categories the students have pre-selected.
"We tell them that they should be studying for the bar and we'll pick up the slack," Gilbert said. "If in the early part of the fall they still don't have jobs, we'll get them back in here to see what the resume looks like, get them on some panels [to help] with networking."
Career staff at St. John's University School of Law took a page out of a matchmaker's manual and implemented a round-robin "speed dating" networking event last month. Students were given seven minutes each with a panel of 12 alumni to hone their interviewing skills, said Jeanne Ardan, chief of the school's career office. The event was "well received" and will be brought back in the future, Ardan said. Meanwhile, the staff is meeting with every one of the 275 graduates to help fill in any gaps in the job search.
"We are advising them to be a lot more active and be more than just a piece of paper in a pile," Ardan said.
Students are encouraged to step up face-to-face contact and attend events like panel discussions and try to set up informational interviews just to get a foot in the door.
Yesterday, New York University School of Law held a job fair for deferred and furloughed associates to help approximately 125 students with delayed start dates of at least one year put their talents to work helping non-profit organizations. According to Irene Dorzback, assistant dean for career services, the idea was a direct response to a market in constant flux.
"Every day there is another firm that is moving the start date," she said.
At a career fair for deferred associates in Newark, N.J., earlier this month, around 100 graduates-to-be, some with delayed start dates and some looking for jobs after their offers had been pulled, made the rounds and met with 26 non-profit groups looking for help.
Adam Waite, 27, a third-year New York University School of Law student whose start date was pushed back until January, said he was looking for a chance to give back to the community before launching his private practice career.
Another student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that her offer had been pulled recently, but rather than sit at home, she chose to get back in the mix.
"The key is to be positive and try to get some experience," she said.
PUBLIC OPPORTUNITIES SHRINK
As start dates at private firms recede, government work, known for its stability, is looking more and more appealing.
The problem is that across the board, government agencies -- their budgets hard-pressed -- are cutting back on new staff or have hiring freezes in place. And those attorneys who already have jobs are in no hurry to seek new employment, according to Stuart D. Smith, recruiting director for the New York City Corporation Counsel Office.
"Like most places, no one is leaving," Smith said. This September, 27 attorneys will join the office, compared with 57 the year before, he said.
Classes of new assistant district attorneys also have shrunk, both in the boroughs and on Long Island.
A spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said the office has cut its spring class due to budgetary constraints and plans to hire "a small" number of new attorneys in the fall. By comparison, the office had a total of 16 new hires for spring and fall 2008 and 27 for both seasons in 2007.
In Brooklyn, more senior assistants are staying put, said Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.
"Attrition seems to have slowed, so we are comfortably staffed," Schmetterer said. This year, the office has taken in 33 new assistants, compared with 48 in 2008 and 68 in 2007. "Fewer people are leaving, it appears."
And while Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau has yet to complete his hiring process, a spokeswoman said the projected number of new assistants would be lower than the previous two years: 57 in 2007 and 56 in 2008.
Nassau and Suffolk district attorney offices are both taking in half than what they did a year ago: 10 and six new hires, respectively.
Fewer law firm jobs are being offered to "the couple dozen fourth, fifth and sixth-year ADAs who might normally leave the office each year," said Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Nassau District Attorney Kathleen M. Rice. "Though the office becomes far more experienced as a result, our ability to hire new attorneys takes a hit when people stay longer and lock up the natural flow of attorneys through the office."
The result, Phillips said, is a much more competitive selection process.
A third-year student who spoke on condition of anonymity said she faces $170,000 in law school debt and while she wanted to stay in New York and work in the public sector, the limited opportunities have forced her to look elsewhere.
"I've had to start looking in other states -- the jobs that are available in New York either require more years experience than I obviously have or are paying less than what I pay for tuition and with the amount of debt I will have upon graduating, I just can't take a job that pays so little," the 26-year-old said.
Columbia Law School graduate-to-be Peter Kim, who spent five years in the U.S. Army before law school, said he is thankful to have a job to help him take care of his first child, who was born in November.
"It's nice to know at least now, knock on wood, my job is still safe," said Kim, who requested that the name of the firm that hired him not be used.
And there are other bright spots amidst the chaos. After the SEC position fell through, Lopez landed a job with a corporate and securities boutique in Garden City, N.Y.
"I'm one of the very fortunate ones," he said. "There are a lot of people who are still unable to secure anything."
Jason Hughes, a third-year from Albany Law School, had similar sentiments.
"A lot of my friends are scrambling right now to find a job, so I definitely feel fortunate," said Hughes, 26, who will clerk with a federal judge after graduation. "There are very qualified people looking for jobs right now."
Leigh Jones, associate editor of The National Law Journal, an affiliate of the New York Law Journal, contributed to this article.
