Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every Tuesday.

Q:I am a first-year associate who graduated from a top-tier law firm in the South and focused my job search in Texas. While I obtained good experience at big firms during my 2L summer in Texas, my fiancé and I decided that New York was a better fit this past June. I, therefore, missed the boat on recruitment at big firms in New York and have had a difficult time even getting an interview here since my class only started this September and no firms appear to have needs at the moment.

Should I persist in my quest for a big-firm position, hoping a spot will become available soon, or should I, realistically, shoot for smaller firms, having missed the boat for the foreseeable future?

Thank you,
Persistent

Dear Persistent: I believe in persistence.

I don't know that you necessarily missed the boat. Of course, that goes back to my belief in persistence. And, quite frankly, I don't know that you are going to do any better trying to get a job with a smaller firm at this time. The small firms, generally, don't hire first-year associates, so you are probably going to run into the same wall that you have smashed against with the big firms.

The good news is that the holiday season is almost over. And with the end of the holiday season comes bonus season. And then comes notice season. All those associates who are about to change jobs wait until they receive their bonus, and then they give notice that they will be leaving this job in two weeks.

A few of the people at each firm who give notice may be first-year attorneys -- not many, but certainly, one or two. This is your chance to continue your quest to snag an associate position at a Biglaw firm.

Continue contacting the Biglaw firms starting mid-January, once everyone has returned from their holiday vacations and the first-year associates have given notice, if they intend to do so. The downside here is you need to remember that you don't have any experience as an associate, and your class year now has almost six months experience. Additionally, I am going to take a wild guess that you are not admitted to the New York Bar, much less even sat for the bar exam. All of this is going to work against you. And it isn't going to matter whether you are looking at a Biglaw firm or a small boutique.

If at all possible, your best bet would be to sign up for the July bar exam, make sure you are registered for some bar review courses and then, until you sit for the exam, sign up for some temping assignments. Then, start sending out cover letters and résumés explaining that you are sitting for the bar in July and hoping to be hired as a first-year attorney in the fall of 2008. You won't have missed the boat -- you just will have to catch up with it a bit late. I really think this is going to be your best bet unless you catch a break during the January hiring period.

You are in a rough position when you are an out-of-state recent grad without admission to the New York Bar and no contacts within any of the Biglaw firms. Midyear hires for first-year associates are tough hires; this is a tall order you are asking for -- not impossible but very tough.

By the way, some of those smaller firms are made up of Biglaw alums and can offer the same level of lawyering that you would receive in the larger firms -- and sometimes with a higher degree of mentoring. Don't thumb your nose at those smaller firms!

Bottom line here: Take a couple of weeks off during the holiday season and then get ready to start all over again. Dust off the résumé and get the cover letters out in the mail. And don't forget all of the other ways that are so critical to finding a job: networking, attending bar association events, working with your law school career services office, etc. Persistence -- that's the name of the game!

Best wishes!

Sincerely,
Ann Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates