A Note (or Wake-Up Call) to Mid-Level Associates

The lateral job market is consistently at its best for associates with 3 to 5 years of experience, as these attorneys generally have adequate enough training and experience to be able to hit the ground running at a new firm. More junior level associates – with one to two years of experience – tend to be in demand on a less consistent basis, with demand increasing during economic boom years. So, for the foreseeable future, the market continues to favor associates at the mid-level.

Attorneys with more senior level experience consistently have a more difficult time making a lateral move, unless they have a portable book of business or very specific and in-demand practice area expertise.  While in past years, law firms were interested in bringing on senior level attorneys, with top experience and credentials, to “service” other partners or firm practice areas, the trend has changed. We are not likely to see increased demand for senior level attorneys until the economy picks back up. It always pays to try, but senior level candidates need to be patient and recognize that, at their level, it could take significantly more time to make a lateral move.

For those who have not yet reached the senior associate level, now is the time to look to make a lateral move. You will be at your most marketable between your third and fifth years and, therefore, will have more available options. Peak hiring season tends to start just after the start of a new year, which makes now the optimum time to begin your job search.

Mastering the Phone Screen

To save on interviewing costs, many firms prefer to start the interview process with a phone screen.  Phone interviews can be tricky – since the interviewer can’t actually see you they end up judging you solely on your voice and your answers. Below are some tips on how to master the telephone screening interview and secure a callback interview in the office.

• Use a landline. Don’t allow outside noises or a spotty cell signal to interfere with your interview. Making the call from a landline leaves less room for misinterpretation and cuts the odds of disconnection to a minimum.
• Print out your resume: Have a copy of your resume and the job description in front of you during the call. Type up a bulleted list of items and or questions you want to cover during the conversation.
• Have a cheat sheet.  Since the interviewer can’t see you – print out the partner’s bio as well as information on the practice group and the firm- and have it (along with your prepared questions) in front of you for your reference.
• Smile. Smiling when you speak brings energy and excitement to your voice. When speaking on the phone, your voice actually loses about half of its energy during transmission.
• Focus on your voice.  Stand up, or at least sit-up straight at a table or desk.  You’ll sound more confident and dynamic if you stand while you speak than if you sit. Speak clearly and slowly and do not mumble.
• Listen. Do not interrupt the interviewer at any point.  This is much harder to avoid when you are on the phone.  However, take time to listen to the interviewer and make sure he is done talking before you jump in.
• Convince them. You must convince the interviewer that having you come into the office for a meeting will not waste their time. Make sure that your answers during the call reiterate your experience, interest in the position, and desire to continue the conversation in person.
• Be thankful.  Thank the interviewer for his time and ask him what to expect in terms of when you should hear back.

Follow these tips and I guarantee that you’ll greatly increase your chances of getting a callback interview!

Tips for Effectively Utilizing Internal Contacts During Your Job Search

I decided to write this article after being asked by candidates, on a number of occasions, for my opinion on how to best utilize internal contacts during the law firm application process. This is a great question and it comes up often. While much depends on the circumstance, as a general rule of thumb, candidates fare far better when they allow their recruiter to submit their application and then have their contact “bolster” the candidate’s submission. This is the case for several reasons:

• First, if you are working with a good recruiter, they will present a complete application to the firm (rather than just floating a copy of your resume to someone). This will include a detailed cover letter prepared by your recruiter, your resume and transcript, a writing sample, and any additional relevant details.
• Second, your recruiter should know the appropriate contact person within the recruiting department and can make sure that your application gets in front of the correct person.
• Third, your recruiter has the expertise and can commit the time to continuously following up on your submission and advocating for your candidacy as needed.
• Fourth, if you are granted an interview, your recruiter can help you prepare for that interview.
• Finally, if you use this consistent approach to applying to firms – rather than supplying your resume to multiple people without accounting for where it’s going – you will preserve the confidentiality of your job search and will ensure that your resume does not get into more hands than necessary.

I have talked to many former colleagues and acquaintances that are at the management and partner-level in law firms of all sizes. Almost all of them receive resumes from friends, colleagues and associates on a regular basis and, in most cases, those resumes simply sit in their email inboxes or on their desk. Why? They don’t have the time or incentive to pass that resume on to the appropriate department and to the firm’s recruiting coordinator. They are generally far too busy working on their own matters and do not have enough information about a candidate (based on a one-page resume) to effectively advocate for them. Additionally, keep in mind that – even though you may think the world of your friend who may be an associate at a law firm of interest to you – it is never clear what that attorney’s standing or reputation is at their firm. If they don’t have the clout, your resume may get nowhere. Recruiters with strong submissions and a reputation for presenting firms with excellent candidates will typically have a lot of clout within law firm recruiting departments and can, thus, get their candidates before the firm.

Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule. There will certainly be circumstances where it makes sense to directly present your resume to a law firm, but these circumstances will be rare (for example, if you have a direct connection to the firm or practice group’s hiring partner). Absent that sort of high-level connection, we have seen that the most effective way to get before a firm is to have a trusted recruiter submit your application and provide you with the appropriate contact person within the firm’s recruiting department so that you can have your contact “bolster” your submission by acting as a reference. Wait for a couple of days, following your recruiter’s submission to the firm, so that your submission has time to be processed by the firm’s recruiting department. Finally, I would recommend that you do not provide a copy of your resume to your friend/contact (but rather just have them contact the firm’s recruiting department to put in a good word for you).  In the past, when candidates have provided their friend’s with resumes, the confidentiality of their search has been breached and, more often than not, it has resulted in confusion and frustration within the law firm, since the firm then has multiple copies of your resume). While it requires some forward thinking and clear communication between you and your recruiter, if done correctly, this approach should be the most effective way to land an interview.

How Valuable is an LLM?

There is no question that an LLM degree in a particular discipline can be quite prestigious, but let’s tackle the issue of whether obtaining one will meaningfully increase your chances of obtaining a better position.

LLM degrees are not for everyone. But they can be beneficial to some attorneys. For foreign lawyers who have obtained their law degrees in other countries, obtaining an LLM degree may be the only way that they will be able to get licensed in certain states. We have seen a marked increase in the number of foreign attorneys who have come to the United States hoping to find meaningful work opportunities here once they have received their LLM and passed the bar in a particular state. Sadly, not all of these attorneys have fared well in the job market here. However, without question, if they are interested in returning to their native country with their U.S. LLM in hand, these attorneys are likely to be highly regarded and may even have a strong shot at being hired by a US firm doing business with an office in their own country.

For attorneys in this country, an LLM degree may or may not be a suitable choice, depending upon the practice area. For instance, an experienced civil and white-collar criminal trial lawyer without a technical undergraduate degree may not benefit from obtaining an LLM in intellectual property law. Intellectual property law in the areas of copyright and trademark, as well as technology and licensing have recently been badly hit by the collapse of the tech sector, and consequently, many attorneys in this area have been hard pressed to find work, despite their strong credentials and expertise in this practice area. For recent law school graduates, particularly those with little to no practical hands-on work experience in the area of intellectual property law, obtaining an LLM may not be a suitable choice at this juncture in their career.

Not all LL.M. degrees are created equal. One of the most respected LLM degrees to receive is in the area of tax law. Indeed, many firms make it almost a prerequisite that their tax attorneys have also gone on at some point in their career to obtain an LLM in tax, regardless of whether their practice area is corporate and partnership tax, international tax, or even ERISA and employee benefits. Consequently, many graduating law students, particularly in this market and especially if they are not graduating from a top tier law school, may find it useful to go right on for an extra year of study in order to have the added cache and prestige of an LLM in tax.

Tax law is obviously not for everyone. But it is a specialty that will always be in demand and many tax lawyers are capable of handling a number of transactional business matters in addition to their tax counseling and advisory work. Very few corporate transactional lawyers can say the same for being able to also do the quite complicated tax aspects of a business deal. In the areas of ERISA and employee benefits law, so few lawyers have this expertise, that the added cache of an LLM makes them an attractive candidate to virtually any quality law firm, even if the attorney did not originally graduate from a top-tier law school.

The same cannot necessarily be said of other practice areas. While there is no question that an extra year of specialized law studies in a particular practice area, whether it be international law or intellectual property, or health care law, will certainly enhance one’s resume, it is unlikely that an LLM will in and of itself make the difference in your job search.

Not all LL.M. programs are created equal. US News and World Report publishes a yearly report on the best law schools in the United States. Resources such as these are available to help you research what law school excels both across the board, and with respect to certain specialties. In considering an LLM program, do your due diligence and speak with the school’s placement office and find out the number of recent graduates who received job offers upon completion of their studies. Find out which law firms came on campus to the school to actually recruit for attorneys from the program. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, bear in mind that, with the exception of a few truly top ranked law schools such as Columbia or N.Y.U. which probably have a number of law firms from several parts of the country recruiting on campus, most LLM programs only attract indigenous law firms. Consequently, if you want to practice as a healthcare attorney in Florida, don’t go for an LL.M. in healthcare law in Ohio. No matter how successful that particular school’s placement record is in Ohio, there is little chance a Florida firm will be knocking on your door.

Conclusion. While an LLM can be a prestigious credential for some attorneys, it is not a panacea, even in a poor economy, for recent law school graduates with little to no work experience in that practice area. The most notable exception to this is in the tax arena. For experienced attorneys seeking to jump-start their careers or change practice areas, an LLM may prove useful, provided the practice area is in demand and provided the school they choose has a good track record.

All I Wanted Was A Vacation….

I recently had a firm ask to revisit a candidate that they had passed on several months ago. Their first question, logically, was whether or not the candidate was still on the market. “Are they still interviewing?” To my chagrin, I had to tell the firm that while this candidate was still on the market, she was no longer with her firm. Unfortunately, now the firm has decided to hold off bringing her in for an interview so that they can look at some other candidates.

The truth is that this candidate left her job willingly and happily and did so because “she had enough money to last a while and wanted some time off.” You work hard and deserve to take some time off. However, I can not stress to you enough to take the time off AFTER you secure employment.

I once wrote an article geared toward law students regarding the importance of how they spend their summers and how it can speak volumes to a law firm. Firms want to know their junior associates are focused, goal oriented and are going to be long-term hires. One way to gauge that focus is by looking at how they choose to spend their summers. Backpacking in Europe or billing hours at Skadden Arps?

The same goes for a candidate’s judgment when it comes to leaving one job before securing another. It is rare that a firm’s needs are so urgent that they are willing to walk away from an ideal candidate because they have asked to take a few weeks for some much needed rest.

While every situation is unique, I urge you to talk to your recruiter before taking that walk down the hall and giving your two weeks notice. Otherwise, you may be taking a much longer vacation than you had anticipated!