''ASK THE EAGLE''
Q. Dear Legal Eagle,
I am a third-year law student at a second-tier law school. I have found that many of my fellow students who are not in the top 10% of their class are not finding jobs through the on-campus interview process. What is the deal?
Signed . . .Worried 3L
A. Dear Worried 3L
On campus interviewing gives the largest firms their chance to troll for what they consider to be the best candidates, breaking it down by grades, law review, and class ranking. However, you and I know that each person who has made it through law school has skills and knowledge to offer any employer willing to look at them. Many times, a law firm will consider a potential addition to their firm when they receive a resume in their ''off-season'', namely, before or after the on-campus interviewing program. Also, there are many firms that don’t want to go through law school’s frustrating on-campus schedule, and will gladly look at candidates who have the initiative to send them a resume.
One of the most interesting statistics from our standpoint are those published by U.S. News and World Report each year. These statistics show that at many law schools 60% of graduates are employed at graduation and, then, 90%+ are employed within six months of graduation. Because we speak with attorneys each day, the reason for this seems quite simple to us: The attorneys who are not employed at the time of graduation get positions later. Unfortunately, this ''other 30%'' is often getting positions that most often are a last result more than anything—poor paying jobs, or those with little chance of advancement.
The benefit of using
Legal Authority is that we help law students and practicing attorneys realize their true market value because we assist them in exposing themselves to the segment of the market they are interested in. While the number of success stories we have is profound, the fact of the matter is that by using Legal Authority you can expose yourself to the segment of the market you want at the point in time you choose.
In your example above about the on-campus interviewing process there is nothing at all surprising occurring. A small cross section of firms even do on-campus interviewing at second tier schools. Out of those firms, an even smaller percentage are even likely to do the type of work you want to do. And, even if the firms do the type of work you want to do, they are generally only seeking attorneys in the tops of most second tier law school classes. As a result, your universe of potential opportunities cannot help but be quite limited.
In contrast to this insanity—excuse the language, but it is ''insanity''—Legal Authority can assist you in contacting every single employer that does what you want to do. You will actually be competing for the hundreds, and even thousands of opportunities, if you choose, that are available in the market. By following this route, you can ensure that you have access to each and every opportunity possible and that you realize the greatest return possible in your search from both a financial standpoint and the additional standpoint of finding a firm which is a ''good fit'' for you.
Each day across the United States, law students are getting positions through Legal Authority and we do not believe there is a more effective means anywhere for them to do so. We have seen so many
law students succeed using our service that we often wonder what would have happened to the careers of the law students graduating from school each year if they had used our service. More so than on-campus interviewing, our service assists law students in locating the positions that best match what they are seeking to do.
