Legal Career Advice: Keep Your Eyes Open!

Last week, I had the opportunity to revisit my law school days at my 10th law school reunion (go Fordham!) It is incredible to see how diverse the career paths of my classmates have been. Sure – there are those who joined a firm in 1998 and have now made partner there. But the vast majority have tried two or more law firms, before going in-house or on to another venture – either law or non-law related.

For many junior attorneys, partnership is the ultimate goal. That changes for many people as they gain seniority and realize that there are many other options for them. Some turn down partnership because they are more intrigued by another path.

In my class, we have spread like the diaspora around the country and the world. We are in so many different industries and are partners, counsel and associate at law firms big and small.

Here are some examples:
- partners at BigLaw firm in U.S.
- partners at BigLaw firms outside of the U.S.
- partners at smaller firms in NY and in smaller legal markets
- general counsel at a publicly-traded corporation
- general counsel at an investment firm
- solo practitioners
- in-house counsel
- government employees
- one (very) happy staff attorney
- one (very, very) happy legal recruiter!

You’ll have so many options throughout your career. Your career path has to work for you. Believe me – very few of my colleagues would have chosen to become a legal recruiter. But it completely works for me.

My advice for today: Work hard, be well-regarded among your colleagues and periodically assess your options.

My BCG Attorney Search colleagues and I are always here to discuss the legal market!

Don’t Panic Over Law Firm Silence

I am currently working with a candidate who specializes in a very unusual are of law and who is quite unhappy in her current position. She came to me looking for a new position in the same of the law but at a firm with a better culture. Finding such a job was not easy, especially in this market, where the need for associates in general is not particularly high.

After about 6 weeks of working together, I was able to obtain an interview for this candidate at one of Chicago’s premier law firms with a strong practice that matched her experience. She had a fantastic interview, loved everyone she met with and walked out of the interview believing that she had just found the perfect firm for her.

As I always do, I warned this candidate that firms tend to move much slower in this economy, and that it may take a few weeks to hear back as to whether the firm was going to extend her an offer. She appeared to be fine with that, although she admitted that she was anxious about it.

A week passed, during which I had followed up with the firm to see where they were in the process. I learned very little in terms of details, other than the firm was still considering my candidate. I reported this to candidate, who was becoming increasingly anxious about the job. She kept asking me what was taking so long and suggesting that if the group really liked her, they would move faster.

Another week passed with no updates from the firm, despite my efforts to follow up. With the passage of this time, my candidate began to rethink the firm and her opinion of the people she met. “Maybe they weren’t as nice as I thought.” “Maybe they don’t do quite the type of work I want to do.” “Maybe they aren’t as great of a firm as I originally thought.”

By the time I heard back from the firm three weeks later, my candidate had convinced herself that she hated the firm, did not want to work there and was not going to accept an offer if given to her. As she put it, the fact that the firm took so long to get back to her was a “clear indication” that they didn’t really like her and she therefore did not want to join them. Of course when she learned from the firm that they were, in fact, extending her an offer, she didn’t know what to feel. After all, she has initially loved the firm but spent the last month talking herself into hating it. Now what?

Talk about mentally sabotaging a possible job opportunity!

Remember that firms spend significant time collecting and reviewing resumes, eliminating those they aren’t interested in, and narrowing it down to a reasonable number of candidates to interview, they have to schedule and actually interview the candidates. Finding a single day that 5 or 6 busy attorneys can interview a single candidate can take weeks. Scheduling multiple candidates to interview can be next to impossible. Furthermore, even after the firm interviews the candidates, each individual lawyer has to complete and return an evaluation form, and we all know that attorneys are notoriously terrible at doing these types of administrative things. Once the evaluations are collected, they must be reviewed, often by a committee of attorneys, and then a decision made. All of this can easily take weeks, especially when you factor in that attorneys would much prefer to service their clients than deal with recruiting and hiring.

So, remember this: Firm silence does not mean that the firm is not interested in you. Don’t torture yourself or talk yourself out of what could be a fantastic job opportunity simply because the firm’s attorneys do not move as fast as you would like.

After much discussion, my candidate took the job with the firm that sent a “clear indication” that it was not interested in her…. And you know what, she is back to loving the firm and the people with whom she works.

Do We Really Need More Law Schools?

Plans for three new law schools in New York were recently announced. There are additional law schools being started around the country. The National Law Journal has an article on the “deluge of law schools” today. For the article, click here. More law schools – is that necessary? There are so many law schools producing lawyers, but not enough jobs to go around.

Many students think that a law degree will lead them to a $160K job in BigLaw. So they attend law school. Unfortunately, graduates of lower tier law schools have an incredibly hard time securing legal employment after graduation. Some of these newly-minted lawyers have crushing law school debts and no chance of the $160K job (or, in some cases, a job at all!) Graduates of non-accredited law schools are really behind the eight ball upon graduation.

If you go to a law school outside of the top 20, make sure that you graduate in the top 10% – otherwise you will have a very difficult time trying to recoup your law school investment.

Life in the Real World

When I speak with candidates, I really believe that honesty is paramount. After a conversation with a recruiter, a candidate should know his/her chances of success in the market and should have an assessment of the timing of the search, etc. Sometimes it is hard for candidates to hear the truth.

I was recently speaking with a first year litigation associate who had excellent credentials. The potential candidate came to me in her second month of practice and said that she had to leave her firm. She couldn’t stand it. Really. I am sure it wouldn’t surprise you to know that looking for a new position in the second month of your first year might set off a few red flags in a law firm’s recruiting department. Even though I had explained every one of the associate’s “negatives” to her, she insisted upon a job search against my admonition.

Fast forward a few months. I was right. This associate doesn’t have a new position. Why not? Well, the associate couldn’t understand the reality of the situation – the overall economy, her lack of experience, the non-existent litigation market. It was a confluence of many negative factors. According to the candidate:

I should have been marketable on the basis of my credentials alone, no matter what my seniority or the state of the economy.

That statement might be accurate when you are interviewing for a summer associate position but it is very different in the lateral hiring context. Some associates get the wrong idea about lateral hiring because their only experience involves interviewing for a summer position as a law student. It’s not like that in the “real world” – the post-graduation, first year associate world. I had a teacher in high school who would always reference a utopia called “the land of the bunnies.” Would that all job searchers could live there!

If only this associate could accept the reality of her situation. Some factors are beyond anyone’s – even an associate with excellent credentials – control. Sometimes it is best to wait on a job search until those factors lessen a bit.

Math for Lateral Partners

The lateral partner market is a flurry of activity right now. We are currently working with a number of lateral partner candidates. The most frequent concern among partners conducting a search? How to value their book of business in strange economic times. My colleague, Dan Binstock, just wrote a fabulous article on this very issue. In We Were Told You’d Bring Billables, Dan addresses the most effective way to value your book so that you are representing yourself in an honest, accurate and marketable way.

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!

Is the Versatility of a Law Degree Just a Myth?

How easy is it to use your law degree to secure a position in an alternate field? Ever wondered just how versatile your law degree will be? Steven Seckler, managing director of BCG Attorney Search, notes that a law degree might not be as flexible as one might hope in Is the Versatility of a Law Degree Just a Myth?, a National Law Journal article.

Stages of Life: Non-Attorney to Attorney to Recruiter

This weekend, I had the opportunity to revisit my pre-law school life. Between college and law school, I took four years off to live in Boston and D.C. and work for a nonprofit organization. It was that experience that ultimately led me to a career in tax and corporate law. It was incredible to become acquainted with the girl I was before law school and my law practice took over my life. I visited with old friends today who have never heard me talk about bar exams, billable hours, due diligence trips, merger agreements, etc. It was fascinating!

Life wasn’t better then – but it was surely different and less busy!

My friends and acquaintances will tell you that I am not a philosophical person. But, I believe that, as attorneys, our common experiences bond us. For this reason, I generally recommend that associates and partners work with a recruiter who was a practicing attorney (whether or not a BCG recruiter) – with, of course, a few exceptions. I think that former attorneys can bring an interesting perspective to our work as recruiters gained through many hours of one-the-job training (and schooling!) We’ve been there!

Personally, I enjoy speaking with attorneys who remain in practice – especially my fellow BigLaw tax and corporate attorneys. And I have a big soft spot for my fellow Fordham Law alums! I have sat in your seat – and feel incredibly qualified to help you craft the career that you want.

More on LinkedIn

I know that I have previously been exposed as a LinkedIn evangelist! I cannot say enough positive things about the potential for connectivity that LinkedIn provides. It is like the rolodex of the 1980s but completely souped up! (The photo at right is a tiny part of my LinkedIn network.)

Here is a Wall Street Journal article on LinkedIn. It has just received funding from VCs and it is here to stay. Venture capitalists have currently valued the business at $1B. It’s the business version of Facebook.

Interesting facts:

• Average user’s age is 41 and income of $109K+.
• Many people (including me!) have both LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. LinkedIn for work and Facebook for fun!

I definitely urge you to check it out!

Can Experience as a Patent Prosecutor Benefit a New Attorney?

Before entering law school next fall, I will have a year of high-tech patent prosecution experience as a patent engineer.  How much will this experience benefit me when seeking an IP/Patent associate position with the big firms?  Can it make up for not being at the top of my law school class or not being from a top 25 law school?

Your experience as a high-tech patent prosecutor will certainly strengthen your application and should compensate for the fact that you have not graduated from a top 25 law school or at the top of your law school class.  Patent prosecution attorneys are typically in high demand, and the pool of attorneys with the appropriate technical background is small.  Your background will likely make you eligible to sit for and increase your chances of successfully completing the Patent Bar.

Attorneys with scientific undergraduate or graduate degrees are highly in demand in the Intellectual Property arena.  Moreover, attorneys with technical expertise in certain scientific fields are far more likely to obtain employment as a patent attorney than those without such expertise.  As a result, the pool of potential candidates for patent positions is particularly small.  To top that off, your technical experience as a patent engineer will provide you with the technical know-how to understand the technical intricacies of patent prosecution, infringement and negotiating and drafting tech-related licensing agreements and briefs.  This puts you at an advantage over many of your law school classmates.

While there are certainly differences that could be pointed out, for the most part the expertise of patent attorneys falls into the following categories: (1) the life sciences, (2) chemistry & pharmaceutical, (3) material science, (4) electrical engineering, (5) physics, (6) mechanical engineering, (7) medical devices, (8) computer science.  In terms of demand, the greatest demand is for attorneys with backgrounds in electrical engineering or computer science. There is also a strong demand for attorneys with biotechnology, biochemistry or organic chemistry backgrounds.  The lesser demand is for those with mechanical or chemical backgrounds.

The fact that you appear to have both a technical degree and a patent prosecution background, when coupled with a law degree, makes you a unique and highly desirable candidate for law firms.  While there are certainly many people who graduate each year with technical and science degrees, very few of these people may have any interest in attending law school because there is usually a good market available for these individuals, even without a law degree.  Therefore, you will be a fairly unusual commodity with a law degree.  Additionally, the demand for patent attorneys is compounded by the fact that the need for patents has continually increased dramatically.  For example, a recent article in the Legal Times stated that the number of patents issued each year has increased 30-40% since 1990.  During the same period of time, the number of software patents increased by approximately 200%.

It is important to mention, one of the reasons your background is valuable is that it makes you eligible to sit for the Patent Bar.  In order to even sit for the Patent Bar, an applicant needs prior scientific or technical level training at the Bachelor’s degree level in a science or engineering field (or significant college credits in one of these fields).  Assuming you have the requisite training to qualify to take the Patent Bar, you must also pass it, and the pass rate for the patent bar exam is much lower than for most bar exams – it typically ranges from 28% to 40%. In the 1996 exam, for example, 968 people passed, and 1794 failed.  Your engineering background and prior patent prosecution background will certainly help your chances of completing the exam successfully.  Once you pass the Patent Bar, you will have all the elements in place to have a successful law firm career.

I did notice that your question assumes that you will not be at the top of your class in law school, even though you haven’t started.  Although you will likely be a marketable attorney, graduating at or near the top of your class will dramatically improve your opportunities with top-tier firms.  I strongly encourage you to focus on your performance in law school.  Although you may still be quite successful without stellar grades, graduating at the bottom of your class may be a significant hurdle for your success, especially with respect to opportunities early on.

In conclusion, it seems as though you have all the pieces you need to begin law school and do well throughout your career.  I recommend that you focus on your grades, and pay careful attention to the firms that have an Intellectual Property practice, especially those that offer summer associate internships.  One of the best ways to make inroads with a firm is to take a summer associate position, so that you will be in the pool of law students from which they choose full-time associates.  We wish you the best of luck!