The Shark

save an annoyed boyfriend, hug a lawyer.

[julie anne]

Have you hugged a law student or lawyer lately? No? Well, maybe you should.

Turns out, underneath their hard exteriors, some of them have squishy insides that just need some squishin'.

Thanks to my Google Reader "law student" alert, I stumbled across GroupHug, a website that allows users to post anonymous confessions online a la PostSecret. Unlike PostSecret, however, members of the community can interact with the poster and send them a cyber "hug".

Here's the post that my GR picked up on:

• Confession #294244324: "I’m a law student who repeated 1st year 3x. I feel so ashamed. I know what my peers think of me. And while I love being a law student, I feel like I’m wearing an 'I’m stupid' shirt all the time."

Curious to see if other law students had posted as well, I searched the site and came across these:

• Confession #782743846: "Truth be told, I’m not smart enough for law school."
• Confession #228748274: "I lied to my family and everyone else about applying and getting in to law school because I felt too much pressure and wanted to take a year off before going. Now if I don’t get into the school that I have supposedly deferred from I might be found out! I hate lying because you have to follow your web of deceit around and make sure it isn’t found out."
• Confession #679368142: "i want to be a lawyer but i worry sometimes if i have what it takes!"

Of course, the lawyers need some McLovin too:

• Confession #762490921: "i’m a workaholic lawyer and i wish i could sit around all day smoking pot and playing video games."

Here's the kicker, though. Even though it's sad that a law student or a lawyer can't reach out to their families or friends and instead feel they have to post to the GroupHug site, what's even sadder is that the "hug" feature on the site has been disabled indefinitely.

a view of the profession, from summer associates' eyes.

[cynthia]

Are you worried about being a good summer associate? Are you worried about what other summer associates think of your "soft skills"? Are you bored as hell at work and want something to "integrity is important" you to sleep? Well! Look no further than the Young Lawyers Blog's Summer Associate Interview series.

In four installments, the somewhat tedious Q&As cover all the predictable territory, but I'm never one to underestimate the power of synergy, so I've collected some highlights below.

1.  Why did you want to become an attorney?
Becoming an attorney was just always something that I wanted to do as a child.  It was always there in the back of my mind. I've always viewed being a lawyer as a respectable profession where you could also make a difference.

2.  What do you think makes a great attorney?
Integrity. Being an attorney requires many traits: dedication, drive, sharp analytical skills, stamina, an ability to think outside the box, to name a few. These traits are, for the most part, common to all attorneys. However, I believe the characteristic that sets the great attorneys apart from the average is integrity.

3.  What do you see is the greatest challenge facing the Class of 2010?
Another challenge is a general feeling that firms can view associates as temporary revenue-generating workhorses. The feeling is that firms sometimes do not view associates as assets who should be able to become partners if both sides keep up their side of the bargain. (An associate puts in the time, works the hours, and learns the craft. In exchange, the firm provides mentoring, training, exposure, experience, and ultimately the ability to join the firm for life). This deal no longer exists. I heard a statistic that 80% of associates leave their first firm within 5 years. Finding a firm where both the associate values the firm, and the firm values the associate, will be a challenge for the class of 2010.

4.  What do you see is the greatest opportunity for the Class of 2010?
I am not convinced that the old model, or the "billable hour" is dead. So long as the class of 2010 is just the one more class, as all of the classes before it, I struggle to think of any real opportunities that are unique to the class.

Any thoughts? Please feel free to weigh in with your answers to these questions in the comments. Non-summer associates welcome!

given the choice, would you do it all again? law school grads report mixed reactions.

[julie anne ines]

The ABA Journal recently posed a question that I’m sure many a lawyer and many a graduating law student have been asked: “If you could start from scratch, would you opt to take the LSAT and go to law school?”

Basically, can you see yourself going back in time in order to prevent a depressing future, a la disturbingly hot man-boy Zac Efron in the movie 17 Again?

I haven’t had the, um, privilege of seeing the movie, but I imagine it has something to do with a troubled middle-ager who gets a second chance to do things differently and learns some things along the way to a happy ending.

Unfortunately, life is nothing like it is in the movies.

In real life, we live with the consequences of our actions. And, in the case of law school, those consequences can add up to debt in the six-figures and work that isn’t as fulfilling or as profitable as one pictured while an idealistic law student, according to many of the posters on in the ABA Journal’s comment section.

Here’s a gem from poster “Captain Obvious”:

“Let’s see. I now hold ten times the amount of student loans as I did after graduating from undergrad, at more than twice the interest rate. I’ve been unemployed since graduating from an allegedly strong Tier 2 law school two years ago this month. I live in my parents’ basement, and can afford neither health nor malpractice insurance. My last interview with a law firm was eight months ago. I would eagerly take a non-legal job if anyone anywhere was interested in hiring a JD. Sadly, no one is. I do not have ten dollars to my name. So, after careful contemplation, I would have to come to the conclusion that I would not go to law school again, if given the choice.”

And I just signed up for how many years and how much in student loans? Gulp.

More heartening comments after the jump.

building a better legal profession strikes again: this time with a panel for students.

[petra pasternak]

Stanford Law students are turning their anxiety about the job market into action this weekend. 

This afternoon and tomorrow, Stanford’s Building a Better Legal Profession organization is hosting students from across the nation for a series of panel discussions about the economic model of large corporate law firms. 

There will be peeks into the minds of managing partners whose firms have had layoffs and there will be laid-off associates sharing their experiences.  Panelists will be kicking around radical ideas such as unionizing associates at law firms so that they’d have more say in layoff decisions. Ralph Nader will present via teleconference Saturday.

Students are scared because they’re in the dark, said BBLP organizer and second-year Davida Brook. “There’s a lot of anxiety because there’s very little honest discussion about how decisions are being made about who’s getting laid off, and why some firms are laying off and others are not,” she said. “Our understanding is that all these people laid off are will be replaced by us when we graduate.” 

One question Brook said she’d like to ask managing partners is how her summer job last year at a public interest organization might affect her chances at a corporate law firm. “Will they assume that I’m not really interested in corporate law and I’m only there to pay off my loans?”

hastings' alumni mentor program offers reassuring view of a broader legal world.

[justin gosling]

Along with the rest of you, I am worried about the sour economy and the effect it will have on my job prospects. Not only are there fewer jobs available, but firms are applying pressure even to those that receive summer offers.

This is not a time to sit idly or bury my head until springtime.

So off I went to Career services to take advantage of the UC Hastings Alumni Mentor Program, which pairs up interested students with alum that have similar interests. While the program isn't directly about finding the student a job, the process is a great opportunity to ask a practicing attorney questions about real life layering in a specific field. The mentor may reveal practice areas you didn't know existed, or may help you realize that your dream job probably won't mix well with your dream social life. All in all, the process seems very cool, and will give students a better idea about how and where to search for jobs.

The only problem is that our program is also very popular.

gavin newsom loves millenials, even if everyone else thinks we're lazy and entitled.

[brian lauter]

According to Wikipedia I am a millennial.  You probably are, too.  If you’re confused, the Millennial Generation is the same thing as Generation Y, they just thought of a cooler name a couple of years too late.

I’ve been getting mixed signals about millennials.  Yesterday, I read a write-up in the Wall Street Journal of a new book by Ron Alsop called The Trophy Kids Grow Up:  How the Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up the Workplace.  The book is about how horrible millennials are to work with.

According to Mr. Alsop, millennials “feel a strong sense of entitlement.”  We expect higher pay, flexible work schedules, a promotion within a year, and more vacation and personal time.  Mr. Alsop has empirical data to support all of this.

The article goes a little bit Dr. Phil, however, when Mr. Alsop attempts to explain the reasons for this millennial entitlement.  We are a generation, apparently, of “trophy” kids.  Doting parents, teachers, and coaches are to blame (even Mr. Alsop apparently can’t bring himself to place any blame on millennials). 

I’m not sure where the evidence of this causal relationship is, but as I read Mr. Alsop’s reasoning I couldn’t help but wonder whether he was going to offer up some “life strategies” or tell all of us millennials to “get real.”

Needless to say, I was a little bummed out after reading all of this.  Luckily, I was invited to hear San Francisco Mayor (and likely 2010 gubernatorial candidate) Gavin Newsom speak during the lunch hour.  Mayor Newsom seems to hold millennials in slightly higher regard.

In a short speech and long question and answer section, Mayor Newsom, who seems to really enjoy coming to UC Davis, discussed the importance of the millennial generation, calling us “tolerant,” “open-minded,” and “global thinkers.”

Mayor Newsom went on to discuss his pride in seeing the millennials come into their own in this election cycle, and his hope that our generation will be able to fix major political and social problems in dynamic ways unavailable to past generations.

He makes a good point, and one that Mr. Alsop might consider.  I don’t see a sense of entitlement in my peers, but if one exists, maybe it is deserved.  Maybe our parents lavished praise on us because, even in our failures, we were approaching new issues in different ways, and mastering new tools.  Maybe some of the new challenges we’ve faced, such as higher education costs, require us to expect more.

Maybe this millennial entitlement is really just a paradigm shift that includes positives as well as negatives, and maybe, instead of complaining about perceived entitlement and making unsubstantiated assertions about the causes of said entitlement, we should all chalk it up to progress and move forward.

how to stay sane while employed. it's probably harder than you think.

[brian lauter]

There’s plenty of advice out there on how to get a job, but once, you have the job, how do keep it and your sanity?

The Complete Lawyer’s most recent issue is dedicated to answering this question in the near and distant future. The issue delves into several subjects that might be of interest to 3Ls with offers and maybe even very forward-thinking 2Ls and 1Ls.

Several of the articles offer interesting approaches to success as an associate. For instance, Susan Cartier Liebel, of the Build a Solo Practice, LLC blog, contributes an article discussing strategies associates can learn from solo practitioners.

An article, titled Five Strategies to Set the Pace for Associate Success and written by a real life wealth manager, also appears in this issue, and it spoke to some issues raised by my experience this past summer. A few weeks ago I was talking with a few friends about the financial advice we got from older attorneys this summer. I was surprised by the range of advice I’d received, and my friends felt the same way. Some attorneys told us to enjoy our young lives and not worry about saving, others told us to save every penny. This article imparts some well-reasoned and practical strategies that are a lot more helpful than most of the advice my friends and I received.

For those looking way way down the road, there’s even an article about when its appropriate to ask your parents to relocate due to old age (including advice about what to do if they don’t want to). 

There’s a lot of interesting stuff in this issue, and its not just the same old advice.

building a better worldview.

[abony holmes]

I know I said I wouldn’t be controversial, but I have something I need to get off my chest. It’s about Building a Better Legal Profession. Now that they are “itching to grow” and targeting my law school, I think it’s time I speak up about how I feel about the “movement.”

First, some background. BBLP’s mission is “to ensure that practicing law does not mean giving up a commitment to family, community, and dedicated service to clients.” Sounds nice.

But something is missing. BBLP admirably wants “a renewed and meaningful commitment to real, measurable improvement in gender and racial equity and diversity” and wants “firms [to] replace billable hour systems with transactional billing.” However, nowhere on the website does BBLP call for lower pay to ensure a higher quality of life.

And herein lies my problem.

linx: shining the spotlight on law schools' deficiencies

[cynthia foster]

Many interesting links this weekend.  The best:

• The Imminent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Debacle (stephenbainbridge.com - UCLA law prof)
• How to Compare Value Added Across Law Schools (PrawfsBlog)
• UCLA Law Dean Says Students Haggling for Scholarships (LA Legal Pad)
• IRS: Law Students Need Not Pay Taxes on Loans Forgiven Under LRAP (ACSBlog)
• Do Law Students Get What They Pay For? A Partial Answer (Herein of Faculty Salaries). (Consumer Law & Policy Blog)
• Let's Make a Deal! Dickering Down Your Law School Tuition (WSJ Law Blog)
• Stress Core Competencies in Legal Education (The National Law Journal via law.com)
• Should I Drop Out of Law School and Become a Thug? (The Disgruntled Lawyer)
• Building a Better Legal Profession (Nuts & Boalts)

public defenders: maybe misunderstood?

[abony holmes]

If you are considering a career in criminal law, you should read Tamara Rice Lave’s thoughtful piece on her experiences as a deputy public defender in San Diego.

I worried Lave’s piece would be a cheesy clichéd story of her great sacrifice for the poor, and the selfishness of corporate lawyers who choose money over martyrdom. She began the piece with the obligatory ‘no one understands my sacrifice’ spiel: “When I graduated from Stanford Law School, I chose to work as a public defender rather than as a corporate lawyer or prosecutor. This was hard for my family and friends to understand.”

But the great thing about the piece is that Lave avoids (in some places narrowly) the cliché of the public interest attorney saving the masses.

Instead, much of the article centers on Rice’s struggle with representing accused criminals, and her attempts to explain to family, friends, and in some cases her own clients, that “those people” are as deserving of legal representation as anyone else.

To justify representing clients she believed to be guilty, Lave “thought like a social worker,” and believed that she could help her clients change their ways. As she matured in her position, it no longer mattered to her whether her client committed a crime, instead she focused on her job as an advocate, “and that means I must present the evidence in the way most beneficial to my client.”