How to be an Attorney: Part 6: How to Get a Job

Welcome back to my series on how to be an attorney. This is everything I wish I knew about how to find a job as a law student. You can read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 here.

 

Big Law:

What I didn’t know about law school before going, is that the kids within the top percentage of the class get hand selected for interviews from big law firms the summer going into their second year to serve as summer associates. The law school facilitates these interviews. Those interviews for the summer associate position start in the summer after your first year of law school. 

Once you become a summer associate you hopefully get offered a position by the end of the summer, and then you will have a job going into your last year of law school.

 

Internships:

In a similar realm, a lot of students get their full-time jobs after interning at a position over the summer going into their third year. 

 

On-Campus Recruiting:

Another way to get a job is through on-campus recruiting in the fall and spring of your last year of law school. This is usually from alumni who are hiring or firms that pull a lot of kids traditionally from your school. This also includes government positions like district attorney jobs.

Online Job Postings:

On top of all of the opportunities above, there are also job postings on LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor. Most of these postings don’t open up until the spring semester. 

 

A lot of jobs also open up after graduation, while studying for the bar exam, which is extra stressful, and I wouldn’t recommend. I would focus on studying and then getting a job after you finish all your studies. 

 

A ton of people get jobs post bar exam. Although this feels like the minority of cases, you would be surprised. There are so many job postings in the fall after graduation as firms figure out who else they need to add to their office. 

In Sum:

I wish I wouldn’t have been so stressed out about finding a job in my last year of law school. The reality is, you are graduating with a law degree. You are worth so much and you are so marketable. You will get a job, even if it’s not under the circumstances or the timing you want or you expect.

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